LONDON: Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel on Tuesday and summoned its ambassador to the foreign ministry in its toughest stance yet against Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza. Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “egregious actions and rhetoric” over its expansion of military operations in the Palestinian territory.
During an impassioned speech to Britain’s parliament, Lammy also said the UK government was imposing new sanctions on individuals and organisations involved in settlements in the West Bank. “The world is judging, history will judge them. Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop,” he said.
Lammy said Britain “cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration” in Gaza and was pausing negotiations with Israel on a new free-trade agreement.
He said Britain would be “reviewing cooperation” with Israel under its so-called 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel relations. “Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary,” Lammy said.
Israel’s government responded by saying “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction”.
“If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a statement.
Lammy said the Israeli’s government’s plan to displace the Gaza population and its limiting of aid to civilians “facing starvation, homelessness and trauma” meant the conflict was “entering a dark new phase”. Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was being summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office in protest against “the wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza”.
He added that Israel’s weeks-long blockade on aid entering the strip, which was marginally lifted on Monday, had been “cruel and indefensible”.
The UK government announced financial restrictions and travel bans, targeting prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss and two other individuals, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.
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