LONDON, England (AFP) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair was facing a possible Cabinet revolt today after his former foreign secretary Jack Straw broke ranks to attack Israel’s “disproportionate” assault on Hezbollah.

Straw, who was replaced by Margaret Beckett in a May Cabinet reshuffle, warned that Israel’s retaliatory attack on the Shiite militia group in Lebanon risked fuelling further violence in the Middle East.

He is the first ranking Labour Party member to criticise Israel in such a public way, though newspapers reported that other Blair allies were privately voicing their disquiet about his refusal to censure the scale of Israel’s assault.

Blair is in California on a trip aimed at promoting British business, but which has been dominated by the Middle East crisis.

“Disproportionate action only escalates an already dangerous situation,” Straw said in a statement to Muslims in his constituency of Blackburn, northwest England.

“One of the many serious concerns that I have is that the continuation of such tactics by the Israelis could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation.

“If you want to go for Hezbollah, go for Hezbollah, not the whole Lebanese nation,” said Straw, who was demoted in May to the lesser Cabinet post of leader of the House of Commons, responsible for arranging government business.

Sunday newspapers named several other key Blair allies known to be increasingly uncomfortable over his shoulder-to-shoulder stance with US President George W Bush in refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire.

The Observer weekly newspaper revealed that at a Cabinet meeting before Blair left for Washington for talks Friday with Bush, several ministers urged him to break with the US stance and publicly rebuke Israel for the scale of death and destruction in Lebanon.

Nobody, according to one unnamed senior minister present, weighed in to support Blair.

The prime minister “made it clear why he felt he had to choose the high-risk strategy of trying to move things forward for the future of the Middle East through his talks in Washington,” the minister told The Observer.

News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, backed Blair over “dangerously misguided” and “foolish” Cabinet ministers like Straw.

“The challenge is to defeat the cancer of terrorism, not appease it,” the weekly tabloid said.

“That is why our prime minister is absolutely right to stand firm in the face of his less resolute critics.”

The Sunday Telegraph also issued support for Blair’s line on resolving the conflict by laying the ground for a lasting ceasefire that tackled the root causes.

“This is a plan that should have our support,” the broadsheet’s editorial said.

“Blair was one of the first to see the storm clouds gathering… he is right to place the blame squarely on the terrorists and their state sponsors.”

Another debate continued to simmer over the authorised use of a British airport over the weekend by two US planes transporting arms to Israel.

They were due to stop off Scotland’s Glasgow Prestwick Airport during Saturday night to refuel.

A protest at the airport was planned for today.

A host of anti-war and pro-Palestinian groups were to hold another rally in London’s central Trafalgar Square to call for an end to Israel’s offensives in Lebanon and Palestine and for an immediate ceasefire.

A mixture of writers, artists and politicians were to take to the stage. Ex-Monty Python comedian Terry Jones has written a special piece to be performed.