The UK has slapped Israel with further sanctions and suspended trade talks with the country.
This came as it dramatically stepped up its response to violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
Speaking in the Commons, British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said that Israel’s Cabinet Ministers’ calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling Palestinians were repellant, monstrous and extremist.
Lammy condemned Israel’s refusal to allow thousands of aid trucks access to starving Palestinians and said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was “an affront to the values of the British people” and “incompatible with the principles that underpin the UK-Israeli bilateral relationship.”
Also, Lammy said that the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces was “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counter-productive.”
“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
David Lammy
He added that the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was being summoned to hear British demands that the latest assault on Gaza be halted.
Lammy stated that Israel had suffered a “heinous attack” on 7 October 2023 and that the UK government backed Israel’s right to defend itself.
The British Foreign Secretary said that Israel would not secure the release of the hostages by creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Civilians in Gaza facing starvation, homelessness, trauma, desperate for this war to end, now confront renewed bombardment, new displacement and new suffering. And the remaining hostages kept apart from their loved ones by Hamas for almost 600 days are now at heightened risk from the war around them.
“They are going to take control of the strip and will allow just enough to prevent hunger…”
David Lammy
Moreover, Lammy imposed sanctions on a further three Israeli settlers and four entities on the West Bank, including veteran settler extremist Daniella Weiss, Head of the Nachala movement, who featured in Louis Theroux’s recent documentary, The Settlers.
Other individuals targeted were Zohar Sabah, an Israeli who the US imposed sanctions on in November.
It was from the Zohar Zabah farm, that settlers, some of them minors, set out to attack the principal of a Palestinian school in the grounds of the school.
However, Lammy held back from imposing sanctions on two Israeli cabinet ministers, the finance minister, Smotrich, and the interior minister, Itamar Ben–Gvir, although he said some of their language would be kept under review.
Speaking in the Commons ahead of Lammy, Keir Starmer said that Netanyahu’s government’s decision to allow a “basic” amount of aid into Gaza to prevent a “hunger crisis” was “totally and utterly inadequate.”
“We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve. We repeat our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to free the hostages. We repeat our opposition to settlements in the West Bank, and we repeat our demand to massively scale-up humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
Keir Starmer
Israel Accuses UK Of Having An Anti-Israel Obsession
Responding to the suspension of trade talks, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Oren Marmorstein said that Britain was harming its own economy due to Labour’s fear of alienating pro-Gaza voters and an “anti-Israel obsession.”
“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.”
Oren Marmorstein
He said that the sanctions in relation to the West Bank were “unjustified and regrettable,” adding, “The British mandate ended exactly 77 years ago.”
He added that external pressure will not divert Israel from “its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”
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