Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a fierce attack on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the premiers of France and Canada, claiming they had “effectively said they want Hamas” to maintain power, the BBC reported on May 23rd.
Netanyahu spoke after the fatal shooting of Israeli embassy staff in Washington. He accused Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
The UK, France and Canada had recently denounced Israel’s widened military campaign in Gaza as “disproportionate” and called the humanitarian circumstances “intolerable”.
Despite the shooting, the UK, France and Canada reaffirmed their support for Israel following the Hamas-led attacks 19 months ago. Starmer condemned the Washington attack, referred to antisemitism an “evil we must stamp out”. However, on May 19th, the three countries issued their strongest criticism yet, urging Israel to halt its offensive and threatening “concrete” actions, Reuters reported.
Starmer also called Israel’s aid efforts in Gaza “utterly inadequate”, leading the UK to suspend trade talks. Netanyahu said Hamas welcomed Western criticism and he accused allies of pressuring Israel to let Hamas survive. He added: “When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice… humanity… and history.”
Netanyahu said the UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher’s claim that thousands of Palestinian babies would die without aid fuelled the Washington attack. “The press repeats it. The mob believed it. And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli Minister Amichai Chikli echoed the criticism, accusing Western leaders of “emboldening the forces of terror”. UK Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard denounced the Washington attack but rejected Netanyahu’s accusations. He reaffirmed support for Israel’s right to self-defence within the remit of international law and urged immediate aid delivery.
France’s foreign ministry demanded “massive and free” aid access to Gaza. The UN said the 90 lorries allowed in on May 22nd were “nowhere near enough”. After an 11-week blockade, air strikes restarted in March, killing 3,613 people, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticised Netanyahu’s government as a “gang of thugs” and vowed to continue opposing its “atrocious policies”. However, Middle East Eye reported on May 21st that 53% of Israeli respondents in a Channel 13 survey are against humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
BBC, Middle East Eye, Reuters
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