Starmer's ill-considered ceasefire calls will make a far greater war inevitable

24 October 2024, 14:58

Calling for a ceasefire denies Israel’s most basic right – to fight to protect its citizens’ lives.

Peace does indeed have a seemingly irresistible and unarguable allure. War is over if you want it, as John Lennon once sang. But Sgt Pepper is no guide to the harsh realities of military conflict and global geopolitics.

Earlier this week, Sir Keir Starmer posted about his engagement with members of the Palestinian community on X. He expressed his condolences for the Palestinians who had lost lives, demanded Israel let in more supplies to Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Anything missing? The 101 hostages who have been held by Gaza's Hamas authority since October 7th, perhaps? Not even an afterthought for Sir Keir, even when given the opportunity to raise the issue directly with a Palestinian Authority representative, as last month, he promised Mandy Damari, mother of British hostage Emily, that he would.

Across Europe, nations have tried to deny Israel’s most basic right – to fight to protect its citizens’ lives – and demanded a ceasefire. Israel cannot afford to listen.

It continues this war because it must. How is it possible to negotiate with a group quite openly dedicated to killing Jews and expect them to act in good faith?

The massacre of more than 1,200 people a year ago was an atrocity of such savagery and evil that the war that followed was inevitable and, to my mind, as ethically and politically just as any war can be.

Any government would have done all in its power to ensure the perpetrators were stopped from ever being able to carry out such an act again and that those taken hostage were brought home.

Having closely studied the IDF and visited Gaza myself, I know few other nations would have gone to such lengths as Israel to minimise the sadly inescapable civilian casualties in Gaza.

These deaths are entirely a consequence of Hamas using their own people as a human sacrifice.

As for the war with Hezbollah, after months of bombardment which have forced more than 60,000 residents to flee, the international community still calls for ceasefire.

Ignoring the fact that Hezbollah initiated the conflict and had 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel with the sole purpose of claiming as many civilian lives as they can, indiscriminately.

Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon has simply looked on as Hezbollah grew and grew – and the only force they have found the willingness to confront is the IDF, refusing to evacuate as Israel seeks to protect its borders.

It’s foolish to call ‘ceasefire’ without thought for the consequences.

An emboldened Iran. Hezbollah still holding Lebanon hostage. And Hamas with Gaza in its grip. All hell-bent on destroying Israel.

Israel is at the front line of a conflict that involves us all, whether we recognise it or not. We should all thank Israel for risking the lives of its soldiers to enforce international law.

Imposing a ceasefire now that denies Israel victory will make a far greater war of an unimaginable scale inevitable.

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Andrew Fox is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, specialising in the Middle East, Defence, and Disinformation.

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