Netanyahu accuses Starmer of 'undermining' Israel | World | News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sharply criticized Keir Starmer for the government's decision to stop issuing arms licenses to the country.

In an interview with the Mail, Netanyahu criticized the Labor Party for “sending a terrible message to Hamas” by withdrawing export licenses and announcing that it would no longer challenge an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

His comments come at a time when the Israeli government is widely believed to be behind a series of covert operations in Lebanon that have exploded electronic devices owned by Hezbollah, killing at least 25 people and injuring thousands more.

Netanyahu said: “After the Hamas massacre on October 7, the support of the previous British government was clear. Unfortunately, the current government is sending contradictory messages.”

“They say Israel has the right to defend itself, but they are undermining our ability to exercise that right by, on the one hand, reversing Britain's stance on the ICC prosecutor's absurd allegations against Israel, and, on the other, blocking arms sales to Israel while we fight the genocidal terrorist organization that carried out the October 7 massacre.”

Starmer and the Labour Cabinet defended the decision to suspend arms licences, saying it was part of an ongoing review of all licences and in light of Israel's conduct in the war against Hamas.

At the time, Defence Secretary John Healey said: “In light of the Gaza conflict, this government is committed to the rule of law. It is our legal responsibility and obligation to review export licences.”

“The assessment was whether there was a clear risk that our supplies from that country could be linked to a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

The timing of this decision was widely condemned: it came on the day that one of the six hostages recently executed by Hamas was buried.

Phil Rosenberg, chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, had previously told Express.co.uk: “On the day that these wonderful people, kidnapped from a music festival like Reading or Glastonbury and held in tunnels for 11 months, were buried, Britain decided to send the message to Hamas that it can get away with this.”

But Mr Netanyahu rejected the accusation that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had acted illegally or flawed in their conduct in the war against Hamas.

He said: “Israel is waging a just war by just means, taking unprecedented measures to protect civilians from harm and fully complying with international law.

“Most recently, the new British government suspended 30 arms licenses for Israel, days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, sending a terrible message to Hamas.

“These misguided decisions will do nothing to alter Israel's determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that brutally murdered 1,200 people, including 14 British citizens, and took 255 people, including five British hostages, on October 7.

“Just as Britain's heroic resistance to the Nazis is today seen as crucial to the defeat of barbarism, so too will history judge Israel's resistance to Hamas and the Iranian terror axis. Israel will win this war and secure our common future.”

Numerous British defence experts were recently invited to Israel to see how the country is militarily combating terrorism and what measures it has taken to limit civilian casualties.

British General Sir John McColl, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the measures taken by Israeli forces to limit civilian casualties went far beyond anything he had seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the ICC is maintaining the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and three Hamas leaders. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, recently told the BBC that arrest warrants were issued against both sides to “convince people around the world that the court applies the law evenly, based on common standards.”

Mr Khan said the ICC had reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, were criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity since October 7.^th.

The arrest warrant applications still need to be approved by ICC judges.

But Netanyahu did not hold back when speaking about the Labor Party's announcement that it would not block an arrest warrant.

He said: “The Labour Government has decided to withdraw its challenge to the absurd ICC arrest warrants sought by the ICC Prosecutor against the Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Israel.

“Issuing arrest warrants against the leaders of the only democracy in the Middle East will undermine the ability of all democracies in the world, including Britain, to fight terrorism.”

A Foreign Ministry source said last night that the government remains “a friend of Israel.”

However, a spokesman said Israel had “regrettably” failed to address concerns about alleged human rights violations.

The spokesman added: “We have made it absolutely clear that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law when taking military action in support of its legitimate right of self-defence.”

“The UK and other allies have raised concerns on these issues over many months. Unfortunately, these concerns have not been satisfactorily addressed.

“Our priority remains to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, release hostages, protect civilians and flow humanitarian aid.”