Israel has betrayed allies like Britain, says former Tory foreign minister

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The killing of seven help employees in Gaza is a “tipping point” for Israel’s worldwide status and Britain ought to rethink whether or not the nation is an “ally”, a former Tory foreign minister has stated.

Sir Alan Duncan, who served as a Conservative minister between 2010 and 2019, strongly condemned Israel’s killing of seven help employees – three of whom have been British – as “merciless”.

And he stated the nation has now “lost the support of the world” by way of its “deceit and callousness”.

Writing a hard-hitting piece for The Independent, Sir Alan stated: “By annexing the West Bank, breaking international law, and now appearing to want to destroy Gaza as a place fit for humans, it is betraying the enlightened principles of its founders, and is not in any way behaving as a democracy should.

“We should salute our aid heroes by devoting our efforts to securing a Palestinian state. In the meantime, all responsible governments must urgently assess whether they can any longer regard Israel as an ally.”

Sir Alan’s intervention got here amid a refrain of condemnation by world leaders outraged by the killings.

Rishi Sunak warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s conflict in Gaza is rising “increasingly intolerable”. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stated the assault on help employees is “absolutely unacceptable” and called for “full accountability”.

And US president Joe Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the killings, accusing Israel of not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians.

“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties,” Mr Biden said.

Speaking to The Sun, Mr Sunak added: “I spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu last night and was very clear with him that the situation is increasingly intolerable and what we urgently need to see is a through transparent investigation into what has happened, but also a dramatic increase in the amount of aid getting into Gaza.”

Israel’s highest-ranking military officer apologised for making a “grave mistake” after the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed.

British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were part of the WCK security team.

They died alongside American-Canadian dual citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33, Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, 43, who was the leader of the relief team, Polish national Damian Sobol, 35, and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.

In the Independent article, Sir Alan reaffirmed the right of Israel to exist and condemned the rise in anti-semitism in the wake of the 7 October Hamas terror attacks.

But citing figures from the Hamas run health ministry, he added: “As the death toll in Gaza has risen from 1,000 to 10,000 to 30,000, Israel’s justification for this excess feels ever less convincing.

“Through their deceit and callousness, Israel has now lost the support of the world. Nobody any longer believes their statements.”

He highlighted the “obscenity” of Britain having to build a pontoon to supply aid to Gaza to tackle famine being caused by Israel. And he joined growing calls for Britain to suspend arms exports to Israel.

Sir Alan said that even before the atrocity of 7 October, Mr Netanyahu was mounting “an attack on freedom and justice within his own country” while the IDF oversaw “ever more violent settler activity against Palestinians in the West Bank”.

“Even then, and indeed for many decades of occupation, the claim that the IDF adheres to international law has been running very thin,” he said.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Sunak telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu to say that “far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza”.

The IDF attacked the help convoy as a result of officers believed an armed member of Hamas was travelling with the group, although no such individual was travelling together with the help employees, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reviews.

An Israeli military supply informed the outlet that the strike wasn’t a matter of poor coordination, however fairly as a result of “every commander sets the rules for himself.”

The charity had simply offloaded 100 tonnes of meals help from a barge which sailed from Cyprus when Israel attacked their automobile convoy on Gaza’s coastal highway in Deir al-Balah. WCK stated on Tuesday it was pausing all work within the occupied Palestinian territory.

WCK stated its convoy of three autos was hit regardless of the charity coordinating its actions with the Israeli army, and the truth that two of the vehicles hit have been clearly marked as help autos.

Foreign secretary David Cameron known as on Israel to “immediately investigate”, including that the federal government needed “a full, transparent explanation of what happened”.