What more is it going to take to bury the notion that the UK remains an ally of Israel? It’s been revealed today that the Government has banned Israeli officials from attending DSEI, the international defence conference and exhibition which is due to take place in London between 9 and 12 September. Although Israeli companies are still being allowed to come, all Israeli officials – political, defence or administrative – have been told to stay away.
The message could not be clearer or more consistent. From its first days in office, Labour has been ever more zealous in its treatment of Israel as an enemy, rather than a key strategic ally.
Within weeks it had restored funding to Unrwa, the UN agency, despite allegations that it employed some of the terrorists behind the October 7 2023 massacre; had banned the export of some arms to Israel; and had backed the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Then it imposed sanctions on two members of the Israeli government: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. These are awful men with disgusting views. But the sanctions took hypocrisy to new levels, given that we do not sanction Qatar, which funds and houses Hamas; we prostrate ourselves before its moneymen begging them to invest.
All of those decisions were symbolic of the Government’s stance – a stance driven more by crude domestic UK political calculations than anything else, as I have written here before. But they were little more than symbols with little real impact.
All the obligations demanded by the Prime Minister have been placed on Israel, as some sort of recalcitrant state which needs to be brought to heel. How much clearer could Starmer, Lammy and the rest of them be that they seem to regard Israel as the enemy whose government needs to be defeated by outside pressure, and that the UK must support Israel’s enemies in their demands?
Now comes this latest move against Israel. The UK Government now seems so hostile to Israel, perhaps Israel will take the hint. It is not as if Israel does not have cards to play. The UK and Israel have had decades of cooperation in counter-terrorism and work closely in cyber-security and defence technology. Our joint military exercises have helped keep British troops safe, especially through drone technology, missile defence and radar systems based on Israel’s world-leading expertise.
Israel has also shared critical counter-terror intelligence with the UK on threats to Britain posed by Iran, ISIS and others. Our intelligence services regard that cooperation as vital to security. If Israel is regarded as a bad actor to be punished, why should it work to help the Government seeking to punish it?
At a time of grave threats across the globe, when the reliability of the US in these areas may be compromised, we should be deepening and strengthening our links with countries with which we have always worked so well. Instead, we have a Government which regards political posturing, perhaps driven by fear of a Muslim vote backlash, as more important. For shame.
What more is it going to take to bury the notion that the UK remains an ally of Israel? It’s been revealed today that the Government has banned Israeli officials from attending DSEI, the international defence conference and exhibition which is due to take place in London between 9 and 12 September. Although Israeli companies are still being allowed to come, all Israeli officials – political, defence or administrative – have been told to stay away.
The message could not be clearer or more consistent. From its first days in office, Labour has been ever more zealous in its treatment of Israel as an enemy, rather than a key strategic ally.
Within weeks it had restored funding to Unrwa, the UN agency, despite allegations that it employed some of the terrorists behind the October 7 2023 massacre; had banned the export of some arms to Israel; and had backed the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Then it imposed sanctions on two members of the Israeli government: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. These are awful men with disgusting views. But the sanctions took hypocrisy to new levels, given that we do not sanction Qatar, which funds and houses Hamas; we prostrate ourselves before its moneymen begging them to invest.
All of those decisions were symbolic of the Government’s stance – a stance driven more by crude domestic UK political calculations than anything else, as I have written here before. But they were little more than symbols with little real impact.
All the obligations demanded by the Prime Minister have been placed on Israel, as some sort of recalcitrant state which needs to be brought to heel. How much clearer could Starmer, Lammy and the rest of them be that they seem to regard Israel as the enemy whose government needs to be defeated by outside pressure, and that the UK must support Israel’s enemies in their demands?
Now comes this latest move against Israel. The UK Government now seems so hostile to Israel, perhaps Israel will take the hint. It is not as if Israel does not have cards to play. The UK and Israel have had decades of cooperation in counter-terrorism and work closely in cyber-security and defence technology. Our joint military exercises have helped keep British troops safe, especially through drone technology, missile defence and radar systems based on Israel’s world-leading expertise.
Israel has also shared critical counter-terror intelligence with the UK on threats to Britain posed by Iran, ISIS and others. Our intelligence services regard that cooperation as vital to security. If Israel is regarded as a bad actor to be punished, why should it work to help the Government seeking to punish it?
At a time of grave threats across the globe, when the reliability of the US in these areas may be compromised, we should be deepening and strengthening our links with countries with which we have always worked so well. Instead, we have a Government which regards political posturing, perhaps driven by fear of a Muslim vote backlash, as more important. For shame.