Israel warned Britain that Iran was planning an attack on an air base weeks before five men were arrested on Sunday near a base in England used by the U.S. forces to launch strikes on Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, as he denounced the U.K. government for pressuring his own administration over the treatment of Palestinians.
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday there were “strong indications” that Iran was involved in suspicious activity near the RAF Fairford air base, which led to the arrests on Sunday. The release on bail of the five men the following day, without any criminal charges, was criticized by President Trump.
Netanyahu, speaking to Fox News late Wednesday, said Israel had given Britain information about a plot shortly before Burnham’s government, on Sept. 8, joined 11 other nations in announcing sanctions on products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“You want to hear how absurd things are there, and how far the anti-Israel propaganda has gone?” Netanyahu told the U.S. network’s conservative host Sean Hannity. “We gave the Brits the intel that there was going to be an attack, and it’s an Iranian-sponsored attack. And pretty much the next day, they slapped sanctions on us.”
President Trump earlier spoke of a possible Iranian role in the incident near the British base, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that it “clearly involved” a foreign actor, without offering any evidence.
The nature of the incident remains unclear, and police have said no viable explosives or weapons were discovered. The men, who arrived in a rural village near the base in the dead of night in three vehicles, had large plastic drums, many appearing empty from aerial video, and a quantity of gasoline.
According to British media, one of the five men called the police himself about an hour before they were reported by a resident. Police said Monday that the men could have been, “either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
Since taking office in late July, Burnham has taken a tougher stance on Israel, saying his predecessor did not do enough.
CBS/AFP
Source: www.cbsnews.com
