‘Mixed signals’ and ‘misguided’ actions - Netanyahu again blasts UK government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again spoken out against the new UK government’s recent announcement to suspend some arms exports to the State of Israel.

In an interview with the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Netanyahu said the UK’s Labour administration had ‘undermined’ his country and sent a ‘horrible message’ to the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of 30 licenses, including those for fighter jets, helicopters and drones, just one day after the news emerged that six Israeli hostages had been found murdered by Hamas terrorists, shortly before special forces were close to rescuing them.

The day after Lammy’s speech, Sept. 3, Netanyahu tweeted that the decision was misguided and would only embolden Hamas.

He elaborated in this week’s interview: “Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defeating barbarism, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror.  

“Israel will win this war and secure our common future,” the Israeli prime minister added.

There was also a comparison drawn with the Conservative government of former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, defeated roundly in a general election on July 4.

“After the October 7 Hamas massacre, the previous British government was clear in its support. Unfortunately, the current government is sending mixed messages."

“They say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but they undermine our ability to exercise that right both by reversing Britain’s position on the absurd allegations made by the ICC prosecutor against Israel and by blocking weapons sales to Israel as we fight against the genocidal terrorist organisation that carried out the October 7 massacre.”

Netanyahu reminded readers that 14 of the victims of the Hamas massacres were British citizens, as were five of those taken hostage. He added that the UK’s decision “will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that brutally murdered 1,200 people…”

Former UK Prime Minister and recent Foreign Minister David Cameron, spoke out against Hamas in May, after learning the fate of British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell ( 51) who was murdered in captivity. 

Nine-year-old Emily Hand was released after 50 days in captivity, as part of a temporary truce last November. The only British hostage now remaining in Gaza is Emily Damari (27).

Cameron also ruled out any ban on arms sales to the Jewish state. 

UK Lawyers for Israel has challenged the legality of the government’s partial arms suspension, calling it a “political decision,” and has requested a response to their letter by Friday. 

One of the current Conservative party leadership candidates, Kemi Badenoch, responded to the Starmer government’s decision in a post on 𝕏, ahead of the UKLFI submission on Sept. 4.

“It is not true that the removal of Israel arms licences was a legal decision. Keir Starmer should not hide behind this fig leaf. It was very much a political decision… I know this, because as Trade Secretary, responsible for arms licences, I saw the legal advice. So why has the decision been made? It’s because Labour are scared…”

The UK was not one of the countries that supported Israel in the latest non-binding UN resolution calling for Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders within a year. British Foreign Office policy has long been to abstain on controversial votes.