David Lammy has been criticised for removing a yellow pin badge expressing solidarity with Israeli hostages when meeting the Palestinian prime minister.
The Foreign Secretary and Stephane Sejourne, his French counterpart, wore the symbols on their suits as they met with Israel Katz, the foreign minister of Israel, on Friday.
But both men had removed their badges by the time they sat down for a separate meeting with Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinian prime minister, later in the day,
Mr Lammy had vowed to “use every diplomatic lever” to achieve a ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas ahead of his trip to the region.
Gesture ‘would have sent message to Hamas’
But critics lamented the decision by the Foreign Secretary and Mr Sejourne not to wear their yellow badges in solidarity with the hostages as they met with Mr Mustafa.
Elyon Levy, a former spokesman for the Israeli government, said: “They wore the hostage pin for the Israeli meeting. They took it off for the Palestinian [meeting].
“Just imagine if the UK and French foreign ministers had made the tiny, effortless gesture of keeping the hostage pin for their meeting with the Palestinian prime minister.
“It would have sent a message – stop making excuses for Hamas. Tell it to free the hostages, now!”
Arsen Ostrovsky, the chief executive of the International Legal Forum (ILF) – an Israel-based coalition of lawyers – added: “Imagine the powerful message it would have shown had they kept it on. But instead, it was just for show.”