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Analysis

The Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry on UK’s role in the fight against ISIL – BICOM’s Written Evidence

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BICOM has submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry on ‘The fight against ISIL: the UK’s role inquiry’. The Committee is looking into the Government’s approach to the threat from ISIL and the UK’s role in the international response.

The Committee will examine the extent of the threat itself, including related challenges such as migration and sectarianism. It will also explore the policy and action of regional partners as well as the international coalition against ISIL, and the need for political and governance solutions.

Read the executive summary of BICOM’s submission below and click here to download the whole submission.

Executive Summary

  1. Israelis share the concerns of the UK and other Western powers that ISIL is a major threat and support the goal of destroying it. ISIL and its proxies in both Syria and the Sinai Peninsula pose a direct threat to Israel, are a spur for Jihadists across the region and globally, and threaten the stability of Israel’s neighbours.
  2. Israelis are concerned that efforts to defeat ISIL should avoid further strengthening or empowering of Iran and its proxies, especially Hezbollah. Despite the grave threat ISIL constitutes to the region and the potential future threat it poses to Israel, there is a consensus in Israel that Iran and its proxies present the gravest threat to Israel, and that Iran continues to pose a major threat to regional stability as a whole.
  3. Some in Israel’s security establishment believe that successfully defeating ISIL rather than simply containing it will almost certainly require the need for greater NATO commitment and ground troops, including a multi-national military coalition based on local Kurdish and select Sunni forces who should be given military support.

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