Britain has not followed Hungary’s lead in leaving the International Criminal Court, and shows less than no interest in doing so, which presumably means Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot in the country.
Yet the British establishment reacted furiously over the weekend when two low-profile, critical-of-Israel Labour MPs were stopped at Ben Gurion Airport and flown—at the cost of the Israeli taxpayer—back to the UK.
Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy slammed the move as “unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning.” Emily Thornberry, who is chair of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, added that Israel—which seems always to be under fire from UK politicians—had delivered “an insult to Britain.”
Far from being a “shaming moment” for Israel, however, British commentator Brendan O’Neill said it was, in fact, a tar on the Labour Party, writing in The Spectator:
That our ally, the Jewish nation, is so wary of Britain’s ruling party that it felt compelled to banish two of its representatives should generate some serious soul-searching in Labour.
Israeli officials said the MPs were turned away because their visit “was intended to provoke, harm Israeli citizens, and spread falsehoods about them.” The MPs themselves insisted they had travelled to Israel in “good faith” in order to show their support for humanitarian aid projects.
Perhaps seeing this as an opportunity to gain ground from Labour, opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed support for Israel’s ability to “control its borders,” adding that she was “very concerned” about anti-Israeli “rhetoric” from Labour MPs. Badenoch’s perceived mishap was majorly disapproved of by other elements of the British establishment.
Officials will be keeping a close eye on the expected visits of other MPs to Israel this weekend.
