Gordon Brown is the first British prime minister to address the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.

He used the occasion to launch an extraordinary attack on Iran, saying that Britain would stand beside Israel in its fight for liberty.

The fear of Brown and the Israelis is that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon.

Unmentioned in the Knesset speech was the fact that Israel, alone in the Middle East, has nuclear weapons already.

At a time when the hawks in the US have apparently drawn back, at least temporarily, from military attack on Iran in favour of increased diplomacy, Brown's statement can only ratchet up the calls for war again and give comfort to those in Israel who want aggression against Iran.

Brown is calling for stiffer sanctions initially but implicitly signalled today that he would back unilateral action by Israel. This would plunge the region into much greater war, exacerbate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and worsen the oil crisis internationally.

The Stop the War Coalition opposes all intervention in Iran. Our prime minister could help peace in the region by pulling all British troops out and by demanding justice for the Palestinians.