UK Foreign Secretary: ‘Halting arms sales to Israel would only strengthen Hamas,’ ‘not a wise path’

Although UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says that the UK won’t stop arms sales to Israel, citing the obvious fact that such a move would “not be a wise path” and “would only strengthen Hamas,” he also agreed with the Biden administration that Israel should not carry out its planned offensive in Rafah without a “clear plan” to protect civilians there. Cameron did ask, however, the question that more in the media should be asking:

“So the question really, I think, is for Hamas, you know, why are you allowing this suffering to go on when you could stop it now?”

Hamas is an extremely violent jihadist group with no regard for human life. The group is infamous for its use of human shields, so it should be expected that Hamas would hide in Rafah precisely because of the high civilian population there. Its leaders know that this would draw international criticism of Israel if and when the IDF launched an offensive in Rafah. Hamas’ plan for survival and regrouping is to remain in Rafah. This puts Israel in the position of choosing a high Palestinian casualty rate if it proceeds, or risking the demise of its own state and civilian population, given the demonstrated savagery of Hamas.

The allied forces of World War II were forced to make a similar choice. In the end, the damage was 38 million civilian casualties. 15 million military personnel also lost their lives.

Many of those same allied forces are now demanding an Israeli ceasefire in order to avoid the devastating collateral damage of war, without considering the cost to Israel and its citizens. Israel has no choice but to act in its interests.

Israel has called on residents of Rafah and the surrounding area to evacuate ahead of its military assault.

“UK foreign secretary says halting arms sales to Israel would only strengthen Hamas,” Associated Press, May 12, 2024:

LONDON (AP) — Halting arms exports to Israel is “not a wise path” and would only strengthen Hamas, Britain’s foreign secretary said Sunday.

Asked whether the U.K. would follow the U.S. in threatening to cut the supply of offensive weapons to Israel if it carried out an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the two countries cannot be compared because unlike the U.S., Britain supplies a very small amount of Israel’s weapons.

“The U.K. provides less than 1% of Israel’s weapons and it’s not a state supplier,” Cameron told the BBC on Sunday. “We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it’s judged there’s a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.”…