THE Foreign Secretary has said it was “wrong” for his Tory predecessor to talk about imposing sanctions on “extremist” Israeli ministers.
David Lammy refused to be drawn on whether he would introduce sanctions on members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
His predecessor David Cameron claimed last month he was “working up” plans to sanction Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said were “extremist”.
Asked about Cameron’s plans by Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Emily Thornberry, Lammy said: “I think that the previous foreign secretary was wrong to talk about sanctions under consideration, particularly sanctions that he said was under consideration in office, and then didn’t do.”
He added that he would not “get drawn on sanctions policy from this despatch box”.
Lammy later said the UK was opposed to Israel annexing the West Bank, a proposal put forward by Smotrich (below).
LibDem foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said that Smotrich’s comments, “together with continuing devastation in northern Gaza, have reinforced that elements of the Israeli cabinet have no interest in a two-state solution”.
Lammy said: “Annexation would be illegal and we would stand opposed to it. I want to make that fundamentally clear.”
