Bases off Cyprus is a coalition of groups across the UK, Cyprus and US taking action against the colonial Royal Air Force (RAF) bases occupying the island. The UK currently occupies 3% of Cyprus with these military bases which have been used to commit genocide in Gaza, and bomb Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Cyprus must no longer be a military output for imperialist powers to inflict violence on the world. We demand the RAF bases are immediately closed and the land returned back to the Cypriot people.
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Despite this direct participation, Britain's role in the genocide has been less exposed and resisted. This campaign seeks to expand the demands of an arms embargo to include these bases which are transporting US weapons and Special Forces as well as providing intelligence to Israel that it is using to target its massacres.
There has been a near total media blackout about Britain's use of the Cypriot bases. For almost a year, only very few media outlets, including Declassified UK and Socialist Worker, have reported on the surveillance flights. This is the result of a D notice on media, a state instruction not to report on British forces in the Middle East, which are usually deployed to protect British spies and the military.
On 2nd December 2023, the Ministry of Defence revealed that it was sending Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircrafts "over Israel and Gaza." They declared that "only information relating to hostage rescue" will be shared. Despite the fact that there are likely only one or two British hostages in Gaza, 'hostage rescue' is how Israel is justifying its indiscriminate genocidal attacks. On 8th June 2024, almost 300 Palestinians were killed and over 1,000 wounded in the Nuseirat massacre. Soldiers entered through the US’ so-called humanitarian port and British spy planes were patrolling in the sky. The massacre was justified by the United States and Israel as a ‘hostage rescue operation’. So, when Britain says the flights are for hostage rescue, they are admitting to their role in the massacres of Palestinian people in Gaza. But it is also clear that Britain has no control over how the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) uses this footage, which can identify hospitals, families forced to live in tents, schools sheltering displaced people, ambulances, all of which have been targeted and bombed by Israel.
Media reporting and awareness of Britain's reconnaissance flights is slowly growing. Some of this has followed the reporting on the presence of British flights over Gaza during massacres including at Nuseirat refugee camp on 8th June and the killing of aid workers with World Central Kitchen on 1st April 2024.
While there is strong public awareness of Britain's sales of arms to Israel and the calls for an arms embargo grows louder each day, the UK's lead role in intel and surveillance flights remains largely unknown. There is an opportunity to expand public discourse and understanding around the UK's full role in this genocide, beyond arms. While Britain continues to sell arms to Israel, the Labour government's suspension of 9% of sales to Israel indicates a response to the mass movement for Britain to stop arming Israel. While we support the demand for a full arms embargo, we urge an expansion of this demand to include Britain's specific role in intelligence gathering for Israel.
Britain has provided thousands of hours of footage of Gaza to Israel, and using its base in Cyprus to facilitate an unknown number of arms and soldier shipments. But there is silence in the mainstream media and the government deflects when asked to explain what it is using the footage for. It is essential for the public to be aware of Britain's specific, particular role in the genocide in Gaza and Cyprus' facilitation of these flights using their own controlled bases too.
We need an organised campaign in Britain and Cyprus to demand the footage is handed over to the ICC, the surveillance stops, and British colonial bases are shut down.
In Cyprus and in Britain, we are organising to raise public awareness of the existence of these bases. We know that together, we can show that the people of Britain do not want to occupy Cyprus and the people of Cyprus refuse to be occupied. Without the bases in Cyprus, the US could not be arming Israel’s genocide, Britain could not be providing the intelligence for Israel’s targeted attacks. We’re sick of being ignored and lied to, if you are too, join us.