Israel Using A UK RAF Base in Cyprus As A Launchpad For Gaza Attacks?

Right, so Is Keir Starmer letting Israel use RAF Akrotiri, our air force base on Cyprus be used by Israel at a time when it is committing genocide in Gaza? It’s a question that should require a very quick and simple answer, no, you would hope, yet instead, the question got blocked and given it was a Labour MP who has asked this question, the refusal to answer it really ought to be making headline news, yet instead I’ll bet you’ve heard absolutely nothing about this. When Labour MP Kim Johnson submitted a question in Parliament concerning potential Israeli use of the British airbase RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, the government refused to answer it, instead announcing that the government has blocked questions on the use of military bases, basically saying even to their own MPs. How dare you scrutinise us, we won’t let you. For a government currently up to its neck in complicity, notably being dragged to court right now over arms sales continuing despite the suspension of several arms licences, this government also appears to be increasingly evasive on the question of UK involvement in Israel’s actions against Gaza, potentially being launched from one of our own air bases for all we know.
Secrecy, complicity, obfuscation, lies, so much for the promised honesty and integrity that Keir Starmer promised he stood for, like everything else though, that turned out to be a lie too.
We deserve to know, we have a right to know what you are doing in our name, from our military outposts, especially if it risks making us complicit in Israel‘s genocide. Kim Johnson’s question was a good one, it needs a proper answer, not yet more evasion, because right now Starmer and Co are looking guilty as all get out.
Right, so that was Kim Johnson there, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Riverside, raising her point of order in relation to that question of hers regarding RAF Akrotiri having been blocked. Johnson raised this point of order in the House of Commons last Tuesday, drawing attention to the fact her parliamentary question concerning whether Israeli aircraft were using RAF Akrotiri had been blocked from publication altogether. Now Johnson noted there that six other questions relating to RAF Akrotiri had been previously tabled and answered by Defence Minister Luke Pollard — including queries regarding logistics, support flights, and refuelling operations. Yet this specific question, which struck at the core of military complicity in war crimes, was censored.
Well, when I say answered, that is all but one of them was, and that was as Johnson said there, the one raised by the member for Hayes and Harlington, better known as John McDonnell and its worth raising that because this is a question that McDonnell asked last October. McDonnell’s question was:
‘To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any Israeli Air Force operated planes have landed at RAF Akrotiri since 7 October 2023.’
The response from said Defence Secretary, Luke Pollard, was:
‘For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the Ministry of Defence will neither confirm, deny, nor comment on any foreign nations’ military aircraft movement or operations within UK airspace or UK overseas bases.’
It’s a nonsense answer. Unless you want people to widely surmise we are complicit in Israel’s genocide, even more than we already are, now confirmed that we have been making surveillance flights from RAF Akrotiri to Gaza for Israel, the answer should be no. Instead, the government refuses to answer and actually Johnson’s question was essentially a repeat of much of what McDonnell asked, her question having been:
‘What assessment has [the minister] made of the potential conflict of the Israeli government access to the use of RAF Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus for military options?’
She basically gave the minister an opportunity to deny Israeli involvement and presence at RAF Akrotiri and instead of taking it, her question was blocked.
As Johnson remarked in her intervention, “Parliamentary questions are a vital tool for scrutiny and accountability. Blocking them sets a dangerous precedent.” She’s right. The deliberate withholding of such a question, especially amid an ongoing conflict that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians killed, is not simply a matter of procedure, we need to know we’re not complicit as a country. It is a political decision to not answer this that carries with it enormous ethical and moral weight, for a government already seen as sorely lacking in both for a multitude of different reasons now.
Johnson has previously drawn attention to the targeting of children by Israeli drones and supported calls for greater scrutiny of Israel’s actions in Gaza, this isn’t her first foray into this issue. For this, she has faced a barrage of attacks from all the usual suspects. One notable recent example from last December saw the Jewish News hack Lee Harpin demand that she be investigated for supporting the anti-terror advocacy campaign group CAGE International, labelling it an Islamist group and attempting to smear Johnson by association.
Another example came in early 2023, when Johnson was forced to apologise after calling the Israeli government “fascist” — a term a great many of use wouldn’t exactly argue against now. That forced apology as it was widely seen as, is emblematic of Starmer’s tight control over internal Labour Party discourse over Israel, setting the tone for a leadership that has prioritised political optics, populism and donor appeasement over truth and principle and becomes more and more hated for it nationwide.
Starmer’s silence and censorship looks like guilt and blocking answers to such questions betrays what is probably a deep anxiety about what the public might discover if questions like Johnson’s are factually answered.
RAF Akrotiri, situated on the southern coast of Cyprus, is one of the most strategically important overseas bases maintained by the UK. It is a hub for British military operations across the Middle East. In practice though, its role has retreated more and more into the shadows.
In an investigation by Declassified UK from back in March, they also picked up the baton somewhat from that question posed by John McDonnell and sought to investigate, though in truth they had been investigating RAF Akrotiri and its activities since shortly after the Israel genocide of October 2023 began. They found that the British government was stonewalling journalists and MPs seeking clarity on whether Israeli bomber aircraft, the specific aircraft Kim Johnson mentioned as well, were using the base to launch or refuel during operations over Gaza. The Ministry of Defence refused to confirm or deny yet again, a refusal that speaks volumes and has no operational issues from a UK standpoint, only from Israel’s if they are indeed using the base, so who’s military interests are being hushes up here? Such opacity is deeply suspicious and adds fuel to the already growing inferno of public concern about RAF Akrotiri’s real role here.
This is not the first time the UK has attempted to obscure its activities at Akrotiri either. One of the best known examples came about following the Israeli drone strike on World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, which killed three British nationals. Families of the victims demanded that the UK release spy footage, surveillance footage that could shed light on the attack. The government refused. Why? If the UK had surveillance aircraft in the region — as confirmed by an Action on Armed Violence report, the AOAV, detailing Britain’s extensive aerial surveillance over Gaza and indeed confirmed by defence minister Maria Eagle just the other day at a party celebrating the birth of the genocidal apartheid state, as I covered in a video yesterday, why withhold this evidence unless those surveillance flights are gathering more information than just the purported mission to find the hostages being held by Hamas?
The scale of the UK’s alleged intelligence contribution though, is staggering. According to AOAV and Declassified UK, Britain has flown over 500 surveillance missions over Gaza since October 2023, a figure correct only up until March of this year I might add, so its more than that now almost certainly. So what are they doing that is so awful, that you’re too afraid to release the footage?
Amid this mounting evidence, one curiously contradictory story emerged in comic masquerading as a newspaper called The Daily Express. The Express claimed that the UK had stopped allowing Israeli F-35 bombers to use RAF Akrotiri.
This is problematic for several reasons. If the MoD won’t answer questions put to them by MPs, why is this awful rag able to report a story like this, the MoD will neither confirm or deny Luke Pollard said, yet the Express publish a denial.
Now its easy for the average reader of said paper to figure this is transparency and accountability. But no other outlet has corroborated this claim, and the government has refused to , as we know, confirm or deny. So is this just more Express nonsense, actually providing cover for the government, because no reason to trust it without anyone else running this story. You get better politically informed by reading the Beano than you do the Express.
But which is it at the end of the day though? Is the UK enabling Israeli bombers through its Cyprus base, or has it withdrawn access in protest or precaution? Why not just say one way or the other? What’s the harm? What’s the operational reasoning to not clarify this one simple point? The lack of transparency itself becomes an even bigger problem. When the only outlet carrying a story of supposed disengagement has been one that’s only real purpose in life is as litter tray liner, it raises the possibility that this narrative is just a smokescreen designed to provide political cover rather than actual clarity.
The question Kim Johnson posed — and that was blocked — is now more important than ever. It asked simply whether Israel had been allowed to use RAF Akrotiri in its ongoing operations in Gaza. It was a legitimate question in the context of parliamentary scrutiny. The fact that it was refused publication, when six other questions on the same subject were answered, or five of them were, is indicative of something far more sinister in that it makes us all think that Starmer’s government is actively suppressing questions that strike too close to the truth.
This is not a government behaving like it has nothing to hide. This is a government acting like it’s already been caught and people will understandably be thinking that too.
The UK’s historical relationship with Israel has never been one to be proud of, has become an ever growing source of eternal shame, but its getting worse now. In the current context of Gaza, where over 52,000 Palestinians have been killed, including thousands of children, British complicity is no longer theoretical, it looks more and more likely that it is operational and to a growing and worsening extent given the refusal to give clear answers that even parliamentarians are getting.
The UK has continued arms exports to Israel throughout this conflict, despite warnings from humanitarian and legal bodies. It has provided logistical and intelligence support. And through its refusal to disclose RAF Akrotiri's role, it has crossed the threshold from passive enabler to active participant. Tell me I’m wrong MoD? Oh wait, you can’t, operational security.
A Westminster Hall debate in March forced the government to face these allegations as well, yet again, instead of providing clarity, Luke Pollard offered vague platitudes about the UK's "commitment to international law" while evading specifics. The debate, while spirited, was ultimately another exercise in managed obfuscation.
As public pressure builds, the UK government’s stonewalling is backfiring. Civil society groups, investigative journalists, human rights lawyers, and even members of their own party are increasingly demanding answers. The silence around RAF Akrotiri, rather than shielding the government from criticism, has instead amplified the calls for transparency.
The people have a right to know whether their government is facilitating war crimes. They have a right to know what is being done in their name with public money, from their bases, under their flag. This is not about party politics. It is about basic morality and democratic accountability.
The UK’s involvement in Israel’s actions in Gaza cannot be buried under bureaucratic jargon or redacted questions. The people deserve answers. The victims of Israeli bombardments — including British aid workers — deserve justice. And history will not look kindly on a government that chose silence when it could have stood for peace and accountability. It just makes them look guilty.
Keir Starmer’s government must answer the question it blocked. Until it does, the suspicion, the anger, and the blood on Britain's hands will only grow.
For more on the gaffe at that egregious celebration of Israel’s birth, whilst those of us with a conscience remembered the Nakba instead, get the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch.
Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t done so already so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new daily content as well as spreading the word and helping to support the channel at the same time which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.