THE US ambassador to Israel has accused UK Government ministers of “Jew hate”.
In an incendiary attack sparked by comments from Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who is Jewish, US ambassador Mick Huckabee claimed: “The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts.”
It came after Miliband said that the UK Government would be taking a harder line on Israel due to the country’s “horrific” actions in Gaza.
Israel is credibly accused of committing genocide in Gaza, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that it is illegally occupying Palestinian land in the strip and elsewhere, such as East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity.
While the Labour Government has indicated that they would uphold the ICC warrant and arrest Netanyahu if he set foot in the UK, it has remained silent on the ICJ ruling (which requires an end to trade with illegal Israeli settlements), and has declined to call the Gaza genocide by that name.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that his predecessor Keir Starmer’s approach to Israel and Palestine was often not good enough, and as his Foreign Secretary, Miliband has signalled that the UK will announce fresh actions in the coming weeks.
In a statement shared online by the Clash Report, Miliband said: “I just came out of this meeting talking about Gaza to people who've been there and are there on the ground. And frankly, it was horrific what is unfolding.
“You know, the stories that people were telling me of medicines being blocked, children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment. When you hear that account of what is happening, you know that we as a UK Government, as the Prime Minister has said, have got to act and act more decisively than we have.”
The quote was criticised by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, who accused Miliband of listening to "stories" and not facts.
“If the Foreign Secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip, and that no medicines are being blocked; that 22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began; and that Gazans exit the Strip for medical treatment, including 200 who did so in just the last two weeks,” the ministry said.
“And of course, the British Foreign Secretary is well aware of all this, as the UK is a member of the International Gaza Support Center, which facilitates the delivery of medical aid to the Gaza Strip. But apparently, facts matter less (when making a video for a political audience).”
Huckabee, who as a devoted acolyte of Donald Trump has said that he believes the US president is a messenger from God who hears directly “from heaven”, then launched his broadside at the UK Government off the back of Israel’s.
Huckabee came under fire earlier this year after saying it "would be fine" if Israel "took it all” when discussing the entire Middle East.
The UK Government declined to respond.
