A COALITION of organisations have launched a campaign opposing British military bases in Cyprus for their use in allegedly facilitating Israel's genocide against Palestinians.
The UK-US: Bases Off Cyprus campaign launched at a webinar on Wednesday, following British spy planes' involvement in Israel’s assault in Gaza.
Matt Kennard, former head of investigations at Declassified UK, opened the webinar by discussing his research, which was described by orgainsers as the source for the Bases Off Cyprus campaign.
RAF Akrotiri, which is used by Britain as a base for overseas operations in the Middle East in Cyprus, was described by Kennard as a “central node in the Anglo-American empire and its control of the Middle East”.
Kennard highlighted the potential significance of Britain’s sharing of surveillance for the live cases against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant last year.
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the court said have been committed from at least October 8, 2023.
Along with the campaign, a petition has been launched to the ICC to request British surveillance footage over Gaza and to assess whether it constitutes aiding Israeli war crimes.
Matthew Stavrinides, of Genocide-Free Cyprus, also discussed the work of the group in researching the spy flights and weapons transfers from the British bases at the webinar.
Stavrinides also criticised the Cyprus government in facilitating British spy planes in an attempt to further their relationship as he said the country’s president “didn’t even attempt to criticise the British government because he wouldn’t risk sabotaging the military relationships that he’s slowly developing”.
Jeremy Corbyn (below), independent MP for Islington North, was scheduled to speak at the event but was unable to make it due to Parliamentary commitments.
According to event organisers, Corbyn reaffirmed that he has regularly raised the issue of RAF Akrotiri’s weapons transfers as well as surveillance flights over Gaza.
Campaigners hope the UK-US: Bases Off Cyprus is the beginning of a wider campaign of education and pressure.
They aim to achieve the five demands outlined in the campaign:
- Stop surveillance flights over Gaza
- Release surveillance footage to the ICC
- Cypriot refusal for US and UK operation on the island
- The removal of US troops
- The closure of the British bases
