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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

UK accused of ‘garbled messaging’ as trade envoy visits Israel to boost links

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Foreign Office
Protesters outside the Foreign Office in London last week. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

The coherence of the UK government’s policy towards Israel is under question after Labour permitted its trade envoy to boost commercial links one week after the foreign secretary suspended talks on a further trade deal.

The trade envoy, Lord Austin, was pictured on a visit to Haifa in a post on X shared by the UK’s embassy in Israel. The post welcomed Austin to the country as he visited a hi-tech “customs scanning centre”, a port and a light rail project that the embassy said showed UK and Israeli “cooperation at every stop”.

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