Why the British Government is Wrong to Abandon Israel

Andrew Fox served in the British army for sixteen years. He served three tours of duty in Afghanistan. In 2021, he retired as a major in the Parachute Regiment. After Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the British embargo on weapons for Israel, Fox addressed a crowd of Israel supporters who had gathered in front of the Foreign Office. His words on why the British government must not abandon Israel can be found here: “Opinion | The British Government Must Not Abandon Israel,” by Andrew Fox, Fathom Journal, September 2024:

In the last six months, I have visited Israel three times. I have had meetings with President Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defence Minister Gallant and Foreign Minister Katz. I have met every level of the IDF, from strategic planners in Tel Aviv, to Commander Southern Command, two the commanders of both Divisions who fought in Gaza, to ordinary IDF soldiers. In the last month, I have been to Gaza and witnessed the destruction there first hand.

The international attacks on Israel come on three fronts: Israel’s reasons for going to war; Israel’s conduct during the war; and international lawfare.

Firstly, propaganda is used to diminish and downplay Israel’s reason for this war in the first place: 7 October. I have seen demonic footage of that day above and beyond that which is publicly available. I have watched video recorded by Hamas themselves as they slaughtered Jews with inhuman glee. I have walked in human ashes in Kibbutz Be’eri, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza. I have seen the Nova festival site and spoken to survivors. I have visited the IDF base at Nahal Oz, where amongst other atrocities, Hamas burned alive 22 IDF soldiers. I am friends with hostage families. There is no question – none whatsoever – that Israel’s war in Gaza against the monsters of Hamas is both just and legitimate. Even after three fighting tours in Afghanistan, I have never seen horror that comes close to that which Hamas perpetrated on 7 October.

Secondly is the international propaganda campaign to force Israel to lay down their arms. Israel is fighting against a disinformation machine, funded by their allies in Iran, Qatar, Turkey and other nations. Their aim is to persuade the world that Israel is committing war crimes, so they will pressure Israel to ceasefire, so that Hamas can survive….

This all links to the third and final element of the campaign against Israel: lawfare. We have seen cases in the ICJ and ICC. Even today, reports suggest that South Africa have asked for more time to submit their ICJ case due to a lack of evidence of genocide. The very fact they are asking for a delay exposes the fraudulent basis of this case. If Israel was plausibly committing anything like genocide in Gaza, the submission of evidence by South Africa would, by definition, be of the utmost urgency. This lawfare is nothing more than a tactic to once again force Israel to stop fighting and for Hamas to survive.

And this British government, shamefully, is now participating in this lawfare. From withdrawing our opposition to the ICC arrest warrant application, to our Foreign Minister touring the Middle East trying to force Israel to surrender, to this farce of an arms sales ban. It will have absolutely no effect on the course of the war, and is simply a performative measure to continue putting international pressure on Israel.

Israel is our ally. It is unconscionable that the British government is abandoning them at their hour of greatest need. It laughs in the face of the exceptional civilian protection measures Israel has undertaken. We should, instead, be doing the opposite. We should back Israel to the hilt. They are fighting this war not just for 7 October, but for the values of the West in facing down murderous Islamic extremism. Iran is the foundation of everything Israel faces. They threaten not only Israel, but all of us, too. Shame on this government for aligning themselves with Iran, Hamas, and the other malign international actors who threaten our very way of life.

Andrew Fox wants the British public to understand why, and how, Israel is fighting for its very survival in Gaza, which now is the most active front in what has become, for the Jewish state, a seven-front war. To wit, it is a war against Israel’s enemies in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Fox wants his countrymen to understand how damaging both to Israeli, and to Western, morale, are these embargoes on arms to Israel, by Canada, Germany, and by the U.K. He wants the Western publics to understand that Israel is not fighting just for itself, but “for the values of the West.”

And he roundly declares “We should back Israel to the hilt.”

I was impressed by Andrew Fox’s lucidity and forthrightness. I thought you would be, too.