Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240703 : vimarsana.com

BBCNEWS BBC July 3, 2024

Welcome to bbc news. Lets return to the middle east, where israel has launched further air strikes on the gaza strip. These are live pictures coming to us from the israel gaza border. Palestinian Officials Say two doctors were killed in the central city of deir al balah, and more than 30 civilian deaths were reported on saturday. It comes as the un chief, antonio guterres, has repeated his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and the unconditional release of all hostages. The Foreign Secretary has reiterated the government doesnt support a � major operatation� in rafah, without a plan to protect civilians. Speaking on sunday with laura kuenssberg, lord cameron says hes not seen such a plan. It comes after the Israel Military intensified its operations in southern gaza, telling Tens Of Thousands Palestinians to leave rafah. Lets take a listen to lord camerons interview. We dont believe they should go in for a major operation in rafah, unless they have a plan to move people out of the way to make sure they have shelter and food and medicine. We have not seen that plan so we dont support a major operation in rafah. But i do think the us and uk are in quite different situations. The us is a massive Bulk Supplier of weapon, so state to state. We dont do anything like that. Indeed, uk export of weapons under our very strict Licensing System is less than i of israels weapons. But this is a question of principle. President biden has very clearly said, if you take this action, there will be this consequence. It is not about how much is supplied, but the principle, isnt it . The principle in our case is we have a very strict system, based on legal advice to the Foreign Secretary and ourjob is not to publish that legal advice or comment on the legal advice, it is to act consistently with it and thats what we do. It is a rolling process that looks at what israel is doing, looks at humanitarian aid, looks at the treatment of detainees and crucially, looks at the behaviour of the Israeli Defence forces and asks that central question, is there a serious risk of a serious breach of International Humanitarian law . And at the the answer to that is . The answer up till now has been we have allowed the Export Licensing to continue. That is a rolling process and we work on the basis of the advice. In terms of President Biden� s very clear warning that if they go into rafah, you said that you dont want them to go into rafah, he said there will be a cost and that is not about what is actually sent or supplied, it is also about a powerful diplomatic message. It is about a principle. One of our viewers wanted us to ask you about this. D thomas has been in touch to say, this is a point of principle, regardless of the amount of arms supplied, the act of stopping the delivery carries a much, much stronger message. It is undoubtedly true. We could, if we chose to, make a sort of political message and say were going to take that political step. The last time i was urged to do that, i didnt do that, and just a few days later, there was a brutal attack by iran on israel, including 140 cruise missiles. It was not tiny drones, huge cruise missiles, blasting into israel and i think it would entertain entirely the wrong message. It would have been a very unwise move. As we stand here today, i think there is a better answer, which is hamas must take the hostage deal. You get the pause in the fighting and build a ceasefire out of that. But i think actuallyjust simply announce today, were going to change our whole approach to arms exports rather than go through archival process, it would strengthen hamas i make a deal less likely. Is President Biden wrong to take that approach . He is another totally different position. For them it is not so much a principle because it is really, they are a massive State Supplier of weaponry. They are involved in the idf tactical and strategic thinking, its a totally different situation. What i want to do is make sure british policy has impact. We have three things we want to achieve. We want to stop the fighting, get to the hostages out and remove the hamas threat. We want to get aid into the Palestinian People in gaza and crucially want the long Term Solution of the two State Solution that nadhim was talking about. Are we making progress on those things . It is frustrating, not enough aid is getting through but we are hammering away every day, opening the port, getting this pier built of the girls on beach, switch on the water and the fuel back into gaza. I want to know what we can do to maximise the british pressure and to help people in their lives, including getting the hostages, including british nationals, released. You seem very frustrated by what is happening . It is very frustrating because i am a supporter of israel and of the two State Solution but im a massive believer in the importance of getting aid through to the Palestinian People. We had some big promises from benjamin a few weeks ago and we have seen some changes that are positive but not enough. I was on the phone to his right hand man in the cabinet for an hour on friday, making these points. It is not all bleak, though. 0n the issue of the treatment of the detainees, i went to see netanyahu and said it wasnt good enough and we needed a proper system for regulating. The israelis have announced they are going to do that. We shouldnt overstate what britain can get done but nor should we understate it. What is interesting in the context of all of this is the united states, very close ally, said on friday in their report looking at what was happening in terms of breaches of International Law, they said it was reasonable to assess there were breaches of International Law going on. Are they wrong . We certainly havent given israel a clean bill of health and on the issue of humanitarian aid, ive repeatedly said that the israeli performance is not good enough. In terms of this point about breaking International Law in the way that the war is being conducted, the State Department has said it is reasonable to assess. I heard that. We have a different approach. We have a legal assessment, comes to the Foreign Secretary, we dont publish that legal assessment or comment on the legal advice but must act in a way that is consistent with it. Of course, as we do that, we make statements to parliament, we give interviews like this to explain our approach. As i say, israel has not had a clean bill of health. 0n humanitarian aid there have been realfailings and they need to do better. 0n the crucial question we have to answer, which is is there a serious risk of exports being used for a serious breach in International Law . Up to now, in the assessments we have done, we have continued with the Export Licensing but it is a rolling process and it looks at what is happening on the ground. Are they on notice, then . You have used the term rolling process several times. It is in a way, yes. We go back to the israelis and we point out individual instances we are concerned about and ask questions about that, as i did with the detainees. Sometimes we get good answers and sometimes we dont but it is an ongoing process. So it is, in spite of what the labour mp said over there, it is one of the most rigorous processes anywhere in the world. Just explain that, its interesting, you are suggesting essentially British Government lawyers go to the israelis and say, explain yourself on this incident . Yes, yes, that is absolutely the process. As part of the assessment, there are issues we are concerned about, including on humanitarian aid, then we go to the israelis and ask a series of questions about individual incidents and crucially on the humanitarian aid, where i am pushing the hardest. Because of our engagement, my envoy on humanitarian aid, next week will be in the room with the israeli relevant cabinet minister, going through all of those bottlenecks about where aid is not getting through. As i say, what matters to me is, are we making an impact on those three things we are trying to fix . One of the ways other countries are trying to have impact on humanitarian aid is funding being restored to the un relief agency. It was investigated over claim some of its staff had links with hamas. That investigation has been done and other countries, there has been enough in that investigation that has come out for other countries, including canada, australia and sweden, who have started giving it money again. If you care, as you appear to do very passionately about getting aid in, why not turn the taps back onto that aid agency that is on the ground . Iam being i am being a bit more demanding. There were two reports, my former french counterpart did a good report and some good undertakings were made but the actual investigation is done by the office of independent investigations, they havent completed their report and i want to see real undertakings from unrwa including the man who leads it that they are going to investigate these things properly, that it wont happen again, that changing their procedures and everything else, because you cant expect us to pile back in and start funding and organisation when some of its own workers were involved on october the 7th. Its good enough for some other countries though. Well, im being more demanding. We havent seen the investigative report into what actually happened so i want to see both of the reports and then well make our decision after that. In terms of another idea that could have helped, there was a proposal that uk troops could have helped on the beaches in gaza, taking aid from a pier from the americans directly in, why is that not happening . We are playing a very full part in this in terms of the whole movement of aid from cyprus to either ashdod port or the pier on the beach in gaza, it will be a British Royal navy ship, rfa cardigan bay, that will be one of the Logistics Hubs off the pier but the view the Prime Minister took was putting british boots onto the beach was not a good move, its not necessary, there are other people who could do it. Whos going to do it then . I think it will be by tractor, it will be secure, the arrangements are secure but we have tojudge again, where can we make the biggest difference . We are brilliant at the logistics, very good with the royal navy, great in our work with cyprus, weve trebled our aid, getting in by air, land and sea, but british Boots On The Ground is a risk we shouldnt take, particularly its why the americans are not putting their Boots On The Ground in the same way, there might be specific targeting of british or american troops so i think its a wise decision. In terms of the fortunes it appears very sadly of a british israeli man who had joint citizenship, Nadav Popplewell, we have had reports we think coming out from hamas suggesting he has now died. He was taken hostage in the terrible attacks on october the 7th. Is there any information you can give us . I cant give you any new updates this morning. Like everyone else i watched the video on twitter last night, put out by hamas, of nadav answering a question as to who he was and i watched that video and you just think, what callous people they are to do that, to play with a familys emotions in that way. I met nadav� s family, i met his sister, and i know the heartbreak theyve been going through and when you see what hamas are prepared to do you just realised the terrible, dreadful inhuman people frankly that we are dealing with. Maybe its a moment for the bbc to ask itself again, shall we describe these people as terrorists . They are terrorists. If you kidnap grandmothers, babies, rape people, shoot children from in front of their parents, what more do they need to do for the bbc to say these are terrorists, they really are. Can you confirm if youve been in contact with the family . I have met with the family, ive spoken with the family on previous occasions, ive seen the video, we are trying to work out whats happened, we dont want to say anything until we have better information. You made a speech this week talking about the threats around the world and the last time you were here you said the Danger Lights were flashing. Weve seen in ukraine in the last day or so what appears to be new russian advances in the north east around the area of kharkiv, where people are familiar with the Geography Given what has happened, does this look to you like the start of something very serious, a major Summer Offensive . What its the start of his another invasion by putin into ukraine Crossing Over into their border and violating their sovereign territorial integrity. You see this as another invasion . Thats whats happened, north of kharkiv, there is a russian pawn that their anti troops have come over. Whether its a full scale assault on kharkiv or an attempt to create a buffer zone its time early to say but there is no doubt what it is which is another part of the invasion. It sums up the importance of making sure that the support from allies gets through to ukraine. Thats why the move that the americans have made, belatedly, but luckily now its happened, of getting that 60 billion flowing will make a difference. Weve got to do everything we can to support the ukrainians, as we do we should zoom out a bit and see while they have lost some ground on land they have sunk about 25 of the Russian Black Sea fleet, theyve been incredibly effective as a set of armed forces and as a country and they deserve our support. You used the phrase this week, you said the uk must have the courage to act. To some of our viewers� ears it sounds like more conflicts, more intervention, what do you mean by that . We have to do more to keep ourselves safe and thats notjust how we act overseas, if you take the last few months in britain weve had China Cyberattacking the Electoral Commission and members of parliament, weve had russia sponsoring sabotage of factories in london and weve had iran trying to target and killjournalists, british iranian dual nationals, working for iran tv, so we are in a much more dangerous world and it impacts us, the things overseas impact is back here but there are things happening here. The courage to act means that right across the piece, whether its the National Security act, whether its in funding our intelligence services, strengthening our police, policing our borders and strengthening our borders, or whether its making sure putin doesnt win in ukraine, all these things are connected and i think one of the crucial questions in british politics and public life in the next six months is going to be how do we make sure we deliver that sort of security in a very dangerous world . I note that you said definitively that china was behind that cyber attack on parliament. That is our view and that is why the Chinese Ambassador was summoned and why we are taking it so seriously. Ok, lets talk at the end about politics. Natalie elphicke until a few days ago was in your party. The sunday times reports she is a labour mp, she lobbied ministers about her husbands court case. If that is the case why did your conservative colleagues not say anything about it at the time . Ive onlyjust seen this story in the papers, ive got no idea about it. All i know is Natalie Elphicke� s defection said a little bit about Natalie Elphicke but says a lot more about the labour party, here is a right wing mp who had no affinity with labour policies or labour people or labour philosophy and they welcome her aim. Philosophy and they welcome her in. It says a huge amount about the labour party. If you dont have a plan, policies, things you stand for, you will literally fall for anything, so Natalie Elphicke is now frankly a Labour Press Office problem, i expect their phones are ringing off the hook this morning, its not a conservative problem any more. You sound pleased she is in their hands, not yours. Sometimes it politics it looks like its bad for one party, a tory has left and all the rest of it, but you zoom out and it says a lot more about keir starmer� s labour party and the utter lack of a plan than it does about the conservatives who this week, the economy is growing, Cutting National Insurance by £900, pensions up by £900, you see a situation where inflation is falling, Interest Rates are coming down, taxes are coming down, the plan is working. That was the Foreign Secretary speaking to laura kuenssberg. Footballing history will be made at Wembley Stadium today, when a new name will be etched on the womens fa cup trophy. Excitement is building ahead of Manchester United taking on tottenham. The match is sold out. We can speak to two fans on both sides. Anna howells is a Tottenham Hotspurfan and Natalie Borel will be cheering on Manchester United. Anna, you are travelling down on th

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