Britain should protect its allies in the Gulf and Middle East – but Israel is not one of them

For Britain, Israel is primarily a strategic responsibility – but it is also a very close ally to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Now that Israel’s war with Iran is in trouble, Britain is rushing to send some Royal Air Force aircraft to the region, a relationship that requires careful management.

As far as Israel’s campaign in Gaza is concerned, the UK cannot be regarded as guilty by the association or suffered reputational damage by providing Israel with unnecessary help – and beyond that, the Royal Air Force has a lot to do.

Prime Minister Rachel Reeves said the plane could be used to defend Britain’s allies – in other words, shooting down Iranian missiles towards Tel Aviv.

It is clever to help Israel stop the unstable and vicious Iranian regime from creating atomic bombs. Being thought to do so and protect Israel from its efforts, not.

Iran threatens to attack any U.S. allies defending Israel. The United States has helped shoot down the ballistic missiles launched in Tehran in retaliation for ongoing, as well as a widespread Israeli attack on Iran’s air defense, missile systems, military leadership and nuclear program.

The United States has numerous military assets, very close to Iran, with air and naval bases located in the Persian Gulf, located in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. These are all vulnerable.

Given that the UK is a NATO member, joining the defense of these locations would be a good politics and could be seen as part of the obligations of the Union under the Article 5 Common Defense Agreement. But Reeves is opaque to a handful of RAF aircraft, probably something that runs in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

When asked if Britain was asked to come to Israel, the Prime Minister told Sky News Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips: “In the past, when missiles came in, we had already supported Israel. I wouldn’t comment on what might happen in the future, but so far we’ve not been involved and we’re sending assets to protect ourselves and potentially supporting our allies.”

Let us be very clear. Israeli cabinet ministers say Israel is prosecuting Gaza’s population against Gaza to clear the territory of 2.5 million people. It also ran in the West Bank, illegally occupying land from the Palestinians there, establishing colonies, and imposing apartheid on the non-Jewish population.

Britain has attracted widespread criticism for its reluctance and sluggish criticism of these operations and has continued to operate a spy plane on the ground of Gaza while providing a small amount of military equipment to Israel. It’s a very bad look – a moral failure that could lead to a rebound in forms of violence against Britain.

“You can’t pretend that the international environment, our foreign policy or the West is not considered an important driver of all this,” former MI6 Alex Younger told the House of Commons committee last April.

This is obvious. For the British government, this should also be obvious that Britain’s military capabilities are very limited and there is no difference in Israel’s defense.

Israeli forces flew 200 planes in the first attack on Iran this week. Under no circumstances can the UK bring many people into the air.

According to a report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in 2025, Israel has 240 fighter jets. There are 113 in the UK. Israel has more attack helicopters (mainly Apache) – 38 vs 31 – Compared with Israel’s 14, the RAF has only 9 air tankers.

Israel also has the ability to defend air in the UK. This includes the Iron Dome system, thus effectively resisting Hamas attacks. It also has David’s sling system, which has a range of about 185 miles, like the Iron Dome, which can shoot down medium and medium missiles by hitting them in the middle of the flight.

Meanwhile, its Arrow 2 defense system can impact incoming missiles 30 miles away at very high altitudes, while the Arrow 3 has a range of 1,500 miles and can shoot down missiles in space.

The UK and the US do have a very important listening station in Akrotiri, which is also a busy airport with planes flying over Gaza and throughout the Middle East. It is within the range of Iranian missiles and needs to be defended by additional British jets and other assets.

Iran may try to strangle oil traffic through the Gulf. Britain has helped patrol the area in the past, but the Royal Navy has been steadily reducing its presence there.

Meanwhile, the UK operates a British maritime trade operation service that provides cargo related to security threats for transportation in the Gulf and Red Sea. It has stepped up warnings of transport in the Gulf and reported that small vessels before Israeli attacked Tehran were attacked by navigation systems and impact attacks. These operations were clearly being conducted in rehearsals and training carried out by Iranian forces.

So there is a lot to do in the UK without risking reputational damage, which could lead to Israel’s access to military aid that is almost unnecessary now. This is geopolitical dirty linen.