Rishi Sunak on Friday warned Benjamin Netanyahu of “international concern” over “growing tensions” with the Palestinians and a controversial judicial overhaul, as the Israeli prime minister’s visit sparked protests from members of the British Jewish community.
Britain’s Prime Minister has issued an ambiguous message after events in Israel prompted leading Conservative MPs to suggest that London should be a “critical partner” of the country.
In recent weeks, protests over fierce reforms that would weaken the power of the judiciary have drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators across Israel and fueled political unrest. On Friday, hundreds of Jewish protesters stood near pro-Palestinian groups and jeered Netanyahu as he arrived at Downing Street for bilateral talks.
Jonathan Wittenberg, the senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism in England, who attended the protest there, said it was important to defend Judaism against “nationalist, literalist narrowing down”.
Downing Street said Sunak raised the issue with Netanyahu, and “underscored the importance of upholding the democratic values that underpin our relationship, including in the proposed judicial reforms in Israel”.
He added that the British prime minister had also “underscored international concerns about tensions in the West Bank and the risk of undermining efforts for a two-state solution” following comments this week by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who claimed they were “absent”. like the Palestinians”.
Some British politicians from Sunak’s own party questioned the visit, with Alicia Kearns, the Tory chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, questioning earlier whether it should go ahead.
Kearns said it is important that the allies speak “clearly”. “This could be the start of Britain establishing a relationship with Israel where we can be critical partners,” he said.
Steve McCabe, a Labor MP and chairman of the party’s Friends of Israel group, also expressed concern, telling an Israeli TV channel that Netanyahu’s reform of the country’s supreme court was seen as “an extraordinary attack on the independence of the judiciary and at the very core of Israeli democracy”.
Number 10 said Sunak has expressed “solidarity” with Israel in the face of a series of recent terrorist attacks by Palestinians in Israel, and London will always “stand with Israel and its ability to defend itself”.
But Downing Street also expressed concern that rising tensions in the region risked undermining efforts to reach a “two-state solution”, in which the Palestinian and Israeli states would coexist.
Israeli Embassy in London wrote on Twitter that the two leaders had met and discussed the “Iranian nuclear issue”.
“The Prime Minister of Israel thanked PM Sunak for his country in this matter,” he said.