MINISTERS have denied that they are “turning a blind eye” to atrocities in Gaza despite routinely flying RAF spy planes over the territory.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard rejected claims that the UK Government was “looking the other way” when confronted with the images of destruction in Gaza believed to be captured by British reconnaissance flights.
The UK Government has flown spy planes over the besieged territory since the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza and has repeatedly insisted the data gathered is solely to assist in the recovery of hostages held by Hamas.
Representatives of the three Government departments responsible for arms export licencing – Hamish Falconer at the Foreign Office, Chris Bryant at the Department for Business and Trade, and Pollard (below) at the Ministry of Defence – were summoned before the Business and Trade sub-committee on arms exports on Monday.
Labour MP Matt Western asked Pollard whether the information gathered by UK spy planes flown over Gaza could be used to inform ministers’ assessment of the risk that genocide was being committed in the territory.
Pollard replied: “It’s difficult to go further in answering the question due to the fact that we don’t routinely comment on intelligence matters.
“If there were additional taskings placed on those aircraft beyond just hostage rescue, I think the ability of those aircraft to be able to deliver those activities would be more constrained, so as a result, it has been the clear policy of this government that those aircraft are only and solely used for hostage rescue and we don’t provide any other data or collect any other data beyond hostage rescue.”
Western said that the Government was “looking the other way”, to which Pollard said: “No, we are absolutely looking for the hostages.
“That’s the sole purpose of those flights, that is the mission that they’ve been tasked with to try and locate the hostages that are continuing to be held in Hamas captivity. That’s their job, that’s the sole purpose and all the capabilities that the aircraft may possess are tasked with that in mind.”
Chair Liam Byrne (below) asked whether the data captured was shared with the Foreign Office’s unit assessing compliance with international humanitarian law, to which Pollard replied: “If the Foreign Office would want to know about hostage rescue data, then there would be a conversation that would take place but as the aircraft is solely focused on hostage rescue, using the capabilities for hostage rescue that may not necessarily be of interest to other government departments, unless it’s around hostage rescue, which is what the data is there for.”
Asked if the Foreign Office had ever asked for this data, Pollard said he was “not aware” and would need to “check the wider conversations”.
LibDem MP Charlie Maynard accused the Government of being “wilfully ignorant” on the issue of whether F-35 jets, for which the UK Government allows parts to be sold to Israel despite banning other arms sales, were being used in Gaza.
Pointing out that the Israeli Air Force has boasted of F-35 jets racking up more than 15,000 hours in service in "all theatres" during the blitz on Gaza, Maynard said: “I don’t understand how you can sit there and say the F-35 is not involved in Gaza when the Israeli Air Force is saying how many hours it’s done.”
Falconer responded that a “sortie is not a strike”.
Maynard added: “I go back to wilful ignorance. To that point: we have planes going over there, we can see bombs being dropped, we can see whether those are, we can join those dots and we are choosing not to.”
Falconer said: “I am not showing wilful ignorance, I am not ignoring evidence that is before me ... It may be how it looks but I am telling the committee that every piece of evidence which is before me and every piece of evidence that is before the Foreign Secretary, we consider.
“There is a difference, as I’m sure you know, between a drone flight which happens at a much lower height and an F-35 flight. You cannot tell from a drone, necessarily, that there is an F-35 above you unless it strikes beneath you.
"I would prefer not to be told that I’m turning a blind eye to things when I’m telling you that’s not what I’m doing.”
