The United States is talking about using cruise ships and evacuation flights to get American citizens out of Israel but the UK Government is keeping much more tight-lipped. Why?
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to the United Nations, issued an “urgent notice” to “American citizens wanting to leave Israel”. He said the US Embassy in Israel is “working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures”.
Britain is taking a very different approach when it comes to evacuation plans – in public, at least.
When asked whether the UK will take similar action to the Americans, a Downing Street spokesman said: “I am not going to get into the details of our contingency planning here but there is a huge amount of work going on. It’s clearly a very live and febrile issue at the moment.
“Our diplomats and staff in the Foreign Office are working 24/7 to provide consular services to those who require assistance.”
The spokesman said it is a “fast-moving situation” but the “safety and security of British nationals remains our priority and we keep all our advice under constant review as you’d expect, and likewise as you’d expect we plan for a variety of scenarios and contingencies. We’ve encouraged British nationals to register their presence and pay close attention to the travel advice.”
The UK Government is focused on trying to “de-escalate” the crisis and resuscitate the diplomatic process. It is likely ministers are wary of saying anything which makes it sound as if all-out war between Iran, Israel and potentially the US is more likely.