Israel has hit back at Britain after the UK government cancelled trade negotiations over a “cruel and indefensible” Gaza aid blockade.
On Tuesday, the foreign secretary announced an immediate pause in trade talks with Israel, following Benjamin Netanyahu rapidly rejecting a joint plea with France and Canada for a halt to Israel’s Gaza offensive and allowing aid into the Palestinian territory
David Lammy told the MPs in the House of Commons that the world was entering a “dark new phase” of the conflict.
“We have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement. We will be reviewing co-operation with them under the 2030 bilateral roadmap,” he said.
“The Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary.”
Middle East minister Hamish Falconer has also summoned Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely to the Foreign Office, telling her the blockade of aid is “cruel and indefensible”.
Lammy warned against “extremism”, saying: “The world is judging. History will judge them. Blocking aid, expanding the world, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop.”
But, Israel’s foreign ministry has criticised the UK for suspending free trade agreement negotiations, claiming that even prior to today’s announcement, negotiations were “not being advanced at all by the current UK government.”
“More than that, the agreement would serve the mutual benefit of both countries. 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,” the foreign ministry said.
The UK foreign secretary added: “The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril.”
Labour MP Nadia Whittome warned that the government’s decision to freeze trade talks with Israel did not go far enough.
In a post on X, she said: “The UN warns that in the next 48 hours, 14,000 babies in Gaza could die due to Israel’s blockade.
“The government has now suspended Free Trade Agreement talks, as many of us have long demanded. But we need to show we mean what we say: immediately recognise the state of Palestine, and stop all arms sales and implement sanctions until Israel ends its genocide and illegal occupation.
“No amount of political pressure or culture-washing can ever hide the fact that Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza, nor that these war crimes span 77 years. Since the Nakba, Palestinians have faced forced displacement, home demolitions, dehumanisation, torture, and state-sanctioned murder.”
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