Brits in Lebanon ABANDONED by Starmer?

Right, so on the face of it, you would imagine that with war looming in Lebanon now, with Israel having been amassing on the Lebanese border, with rocket fire being exchanged between the two states a million Lebanese nationals, a fifth of the population having been displaced reminiscent of what we have observed for months in Gaza, this would be a golden opportunity for Keir Starmer’s government to show leadership, to do right by British nationals living in Lebanon, of which there are estimated to be between some 5 and 6,000 and move heaven and Earth to get them out and bring them home. It would give him and his government some much needed brownie point as polling of buyers remorse for electing him and his party to power has now seen polling slump so hard and fast, Rishi Sunak’s Tories, after 14 years of their cruelty, are now preferred again!
Instead, Starmer and Co have managed to balls this up entirely, done something so abominably offensive, the clamouring for him to go will only grow louder, because not only has the UK government failed to charter sufficient flights out of Lebanon to rescue every Brit that may be out there, but they’re going to charge them for being rescued too.
Right, so the Starmer government, if there is anything consistent about it, it is their uncanny ability to lurch from one self inflicted crisis to another. Starmer is up to his eyeballs in donations scandals as still more comes out, there’s no money to lift kids out of poverty, there’s no money to keep pensioners warm this winter, there’s no money to scrap tuition fees as once promised, but there’s always money for war, there’s always money for Ukraine, what exactly is happening with regards to our military and Israel as any questions by MPs in relation to the goings on from the RAF base on Cyprus have been banned and now, the news comes out that Starmer and Co are going to charge people to be rescued from Lebanon as Israel prepares and indeed as I’m writing this there are articles saying it has already begun coming out, that Israel are now moving into Lebanese territory. Literally charging people to be rescued. What if they can’t afford it? What do they do if they can’t pay? Oh well, there’s not enough space for everyone anyway it seems, so it’s survival of the richest then? Abandon the rest?
What the heck Damo, Starmer’s charging people to be rescued? I know I’m as incredulous as you no doubt are by this, but the BBC has clumsily dropped a clanger, as out of touch as their head honchos are these days, the sort of people who sit on their board, perhaps they simply couldn’t see the problem at editorial stage, but here’s an excerpt from their online coverage where they, I can only presume accidentally tell us everything:
‘The UK government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon to assist British nationals trying to flee the fighting, the foreign secretary has announced.
The situation was "volatile" and had the potential to "deteriorate quickly", David Lammy said, just hours before Israel announced the start of a "localised and targeted" ground operation in southern Lebanon.
British nationals and their spouse or partner, and children under the age of 18 are eligible to take the flight, with vulnerable people a priority.
The plane is scheduled to leave on Wednesday from Beirut, which was hit by fresh Israeli air strikes overnight.
As of last week, there were thought to be between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals, including dependants in Lebanon.
The UK government will pay to charter the flight, which will depart from Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, but British nationals will be expected to pay a fee of £350 per seat.
British nationals and dependants will be eligible to request a space on the flight. Any non-British dependants boarding the flight will require a visa, granted for at least six months, to enter the UK.
Any further flights in the coming days will depend on demand and the security situation on the ground, the Foreign Office said.
“The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority," Lammy stressed.’
You just can’t make this up. This level of incompetence, by presumably Lammy, is off the charts, it is so utterly, offensively inept. ONE plane has been chartered and it isn’t taking passengers until tomorrow, when Israel is invading today. It is leaving Beirut, which has already been one of the hardest hit areas by Israel courtesy of rocket fire. Assuming it’s a commercial passenger jet or some such, the number of seats could be up to 800. I’ve no idea if military craft are capable of taking more than that, but I can guarantee they can’t take up to 6,000 and that is still only an estimate.
Lammy wants to wait and see what demand to leave is and says the safety of British nationals is a priority. I guarantee that the demand will be close to 100% because the whole damn world has already seen what Israel have done to Gaza and if they now plan to invade Lebanon, that is exactly what everyone expects to see again whilst western leaders, western politicians too in hock to the Israel Lobby, like Starmer, like Lammy wring their hands and still hope for the best as Netanyahu spits in their faces. It’s not Palestinians in the firing line now, it’s British nationals, Israel couldn’t give a damn who is in their way, they have been utterly indiscriminate, so this is anything but putting people’s safety first.
One plane. It’s reminiscent of the sinking of the Titanic – not enough lifeboats, in this case not enough seats on one plane, but when they said women and children first, they weren’t charging for places on said boats, yet Starmer and Co are going to charge Brits lucky enough to get a seat £350 a head! Survival of the richest. If you can’t afford it, well, you’d better flee to Syria like to so many Lebanese people are doing, it seems they might treat you better than your own government will!
I googled the price of a standard one way flight from Beirut Rafic-Hariri Airport to London Heathrow, they’re showing dates from the 1st November currently, but a one way, non stop flight from Beirut to Heathrow via Middle East Airlines costs £207. Assuming they have to make a profit, it’s damn sight cheaper than what Starmer and Lammy are charging for what is supposed to be a rescue and even if you factor in that it might be a commercial flight, or that it’s last minute, it’s still a lot of money, it still feels like people are being overcharged even if it was just a normal flight, so they can’t even negotiate a charter properly and then have the nerve to charge those being rescued the cost!
But then it gets even worse. Although they are prioritising the most vulnerable, as long as they can pay of course, the flight is only valid for British citizens, their spouses and their British born dependants. Any non British dependants, ie, anyone, anu children that may have been adopted out there or were born out there and registered as Lebanese, require a bloody visa! I’m sure there’s time to nip down to the embassy and get that all sorted and not miss the flight, oh whoops, sorry, already booked and even if they have a visa, they may still be barred from taking a seat on this one plane leaving Lebanon tomorrow.
Lammy compounded his idiocy even more by speaking the press and saying the situation is fast moving and that he urges people to leave, but they can’t all leave because there aren’t enough seats, because you only booked one bloody plane and if they can’t afford £350 a head, they can’t leave anyway or will have to make their own way if they can and to that end the BBC also very helpfully provided some further information on that having interviewed a Brit who is not taking this charter flight, but you wouldn’t believe the measures she’s had to take.
‘Victoria Lupton, 37, is planning to leave Lebanon on Wednesday with her young family - but not on the flight chartered by the UK government.
"A week ago the British government emailed us saying we should be buying our own flight, which was quite a difficult message to receive because there were no flights to be had," she told the BBC on Tuesday.
"I eventually managed to get a flight to Athens, which is leaving tomorrow. Then last night, late at night, the British government messaged saying they had chartered one flight that goes to Birmingham and would I like a place on it. But that's leaving tomorrow so I am sticking with my existing flight."
She spends a couple of months a year in Lebanon as the founder and chief executive of Seenaryo, a non-profit organisation which helps educate Middle Eastern women and children through theatre and play.
She told the BBC: "I'm feeling sick. All of us are feeling sick and living in a state of terror."
"I have a three-year-old and I was moving my daughter's cot as far away as possible from the windows to make sure she didn't get hit. None of us are sleeping. We are only sleeping a few hours a night. It's a very, very difficult worrying time."’
Told to make their own way, understandably there are few flights right now available, and so she’s having to get out via Greece, but also the terror being felt amongst British citizens there right now is clearly palpable. They have all seen after all, just like the rest of us, what has become of Gaza and the British governments, both Tory and well Red Tory now’s response to that which has amounted to wishing Israel well and sitting on their hands as they carry on with their genocide. Now it’s aimed at Lebanon and a repeat is on the cards because Israel continues to be armed by the west, seemingly more important than the rescue of our own people.
Instead of laying on more flights, getting planes out there from here if needs be to get our people out of harms way, the MoD has sent 700 troops to Cyprus in preparation for evacuations, but that’s got to be more expensive than getting more planes where they need to be and certainly something British people here would not begrudge being a cost met by the public purse. It’s a choice to not do that, its economic stupidity as well as a completely callous and unfeeling choice to settle on.
As you can imagine, I’m not the only one to have picked up on this story, as social media has had a field day.
EnEyeCee said:
‘I’m sorry, maybe I’m dumb (and that is a possibility), but how does our government actually justify CHARGING its nationals £350 PER PERSON to leave Lebanon on the eve of war?! What for we pay taxes for? What does our government actually give us? Surely a free safe flight home?!’
You’re not dumb sunshine, our government are just that much of a disgrace.
Ben Tomeo is possibly even more jaded than I am on this story, having said:
‘The British government is charting a single flight out of Lebanon to 'help' Brits escape death by American and British weaponry being unleashed on Beirut. Presumably the Foreign Office first asked permission from Netanyahu to get one plane-load of British citizens out.’
I wouldn’t bet on Netanyahu giving the remotest semblance of a toss even if the UK had asked him to be honest.
And commentator Zoe Gardner made the salient point of so we’re rescuing Brits, what about he Lebanese when she wrote:
‘We’re telling Brits to leave Lebanon & sending troops to Cyprus to assist with evacuation if needed. If you have a British passport that’s what you get. If you have a Lebanese passport we sold Israel bombs that they will use against you. If you try taking a boat to safety… well.’
Will we have Lebanese people in small boats arriving on our shores in the future, because we abandoned them, whilst handing more military gear to Israel to target them with? Don’t go complaining about it if they do.
This is frankly obscene. To charge people for rescuing them, Starmer and his rancid government cannot go fast enough. They are hardly working in our interest if everything they do for us, even to the extent of saving our lives, comes at a price.
Where the Western allies of Israel appear content to continue aligning themselves with Netanyahu’s genocidal aims and continue equipping him whilst they’re at it though, the worm might be turning in Jordan, as comments from the Jordanian foreign minister aimed at Israel have gone viral, possibly the most ardent takedown of their conduct by a government official to date, it’s well worth the watch and you can do that and more if you hit up this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.