Britain’s use of its air force to defend Israel against Iran at the weekend was an emphatic intervention in the war in Gaza. It was more than Britain has done for Ukraine. And while the war in Ukraine does at least have implications, albeit distant, for Britain’s long-term defence, Israel’s dispute with Gaza has none. It is not Britain’s business. So why did we get involved? Better by far to stick to Britain’s sensible decision to keep open a diplomatic presence in Tehran, at least more influential than a few downed drones.
The answer shone through in the remarks of the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to the BBC on Monday morning. He could not resist reverting to Britain’s one-time role as police officers to the world, telling it how Britain expects it to behave. The eagerness of British leaders to cut a dash on the world stage, usually on the coat-tails of the US, seems irresistible. In the past decade, it has sent the Royal Navy to the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. This craving seems to be resisted by most other European powers (France being occasionally an exception), who sense no similar threat to their security. Britain has a craving to project “global power” that is unrivalled by most other European powers. It is costing British taxpayers billions of pounds.
The war in Gaza is a tragedy for all concerned. It arose from history, geography, politics and religion, from a longstanding conflict. It is a classic of what modern strategists such as Sir Rupert Smith have called “wars among the peoples”. These are not confrontations of weaponry against weaponry. The “utility of war” has shifted to one of people against people, of cities, crowds, streets, houses. There are no rules of engagement or laws of war, only an awful asymmetry of death, as between terrorism and mass destruction. Civilians are its chief casualties and humanitarians the chief heroes.
These wars rarely concern outsiders. As now in Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Myanmar, they concern authority over territory. Yet they acquire an awful appeal to vain outsiders. They drew Cameron into Libya and tried to draw him into Syria. They embedded Tony Blair for years in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even the most tenuous supposed “threat to British security” – such as Iraq’s ludicrous threat to Cyprus – will suffice. Gordon Brown said, when he was in Afghanistan, that it was to keep the streets of Britain safe. The game is merely to find an excuse to intervene. I have lost count how many times I am told we must fight to fend off a third world war. It is the new battle cry of the warmongers.
There is no question of the widespread involvement of Russia, China and Iran in local conflicts that inevitably break out across the world. It can be seen in Syria and Gaza, and from central Africa to Latin America. There is every reason for western nations to discuss how to react to this, as there is for them to seek peace in Israel. Intervening to prolong war cannot be the way to do it.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
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