LONDON: Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel on Tuesday and summoned its ambassador to the foreign ministry in its toughest stance yet against Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “egregious actions and rhetoric” over its expansion of military operations in the Palestinian territory.
During an impassioned speech to Britain’s parliament, Lammy also said the UK government was imposing new sanctions on individuals and organizations involved in settlements in the West Bank.
“The world is judging, history will judge them. Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop,” he said.
Lammy said Britain “cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration” in Gaza and was pausing negotiations with Israel on a new free-trade agreement.
He said Britain would be “reviewing cooperation” with Israel under its so-called 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel relations.

The world is judging, history will judge them. Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible and it must stop

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

“Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary,” Lammy said.
Israel’s government responded by saying “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”
“If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a statement.
Lammy said the Israeli government’s plan to displace the Gaza population and its limiting of aid to civilians “facing starvation, homelessness and trauma” meant the conflict was “entering a dark new phase.”
Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was being summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office in protest against “the wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza.”
He added that Israel’s weeks-long blockade on aid entering the strip, which was marginally lifted on Monday, had been “cruel and indefensible.”
The UK government announced financial restrictions and travel bans, targeting prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss and two other individuals, as well as two illegal outposts and two organizations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.
Lammy said Israel suffered a “heinous attack” at the hands of Palestinian Hamas militants on October 7, 2023 and the UK government had backed Israel’s right to defend itself.
He repeated calls that Hamas must release all remaining Israeli hostages seized that day “immediately and unconditionally.” He also reiterated that Hamas “cannot continue to run Gaza.”
Britain and Israel opened negotiations on a free-trade agreement in 2022.
According to the British government, Israel was the country’s 44th-largest trading partner last year, with the two countries exchanging 5.8 billion pounds ($7.8 billion) in goods and services.

BEIRUT: The Lebanese government still faces one final — and perhaps the most security sensitive — electoral challenge: the elections in the South and Nabatieh governorates.

These elections, scheduled for their fourth phase this coming Saturday, will be held during ongoing Israeli incursions south and north of the Litani River.

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar, in the southern city of Sidon on Tuesday, affirmed that “the government is mindful of the potential for Israeli violations and assaults during the municipal elections scheduled for Saturday. However, the decision remains clear and resolute regarding the continuation of the electoral process regardless of the circumstances.”

The minister emphasized to Mansour Daou, the governor of South Lebanon, and representatives of the security, military, and judicial agencies in the South, “the state’s commitment to ensuring that the elections are conducted with integrity and safety,” underscoring their significance as part of the reconstruction process for the people of the South.

In the lead-up to the elections, an Israeli military drone targeted a motorcycle on the road between Mansouri and Majdalzoun in the Tyre district, resulting in reports from the Ministry of Health indicating that “nine individuals were injured, including two children, with three of the injured in critical condition.”

Another Israeli drone launched a bomb at fishermen off the coast of Ras Al-Naqoura.

Attention in the south is focused on two issues: observing the extent to which people will participate in the elections, particularly those whose homes were destroyed and displaced to other villages; and monitoring Hezbollah’s ability to maintain its popularity in the south, where the devastation and rubble are still visible to the public. To date, no reconstruction has occurred in any facilities either north or south of the Litani River, because Israel has turned the border area into a devastated and desolate zone, maintaining its occupation of five strategic hills and daily thwarting any attempts to establish readymade rooms for logistical purposes to assist the affected population.

The latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, as of May 12, indicates that since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27, “Israel has killed 156 individuals and injured 376 others, with a total of 3,138 air and maritime violations recorded.”

According to the Israeli army, “by the end of April, around 140 Hezbollah members had been eliminated, with the vast majority of assassinations (more than 50 percent) taking place south of the Litani River. Assassinations north of the Litani River and in the Bekaa region accounted for 48 percent of the operations; 33.3 percent north of the Litani River and 14.7 percent in the Bekaa.”

The Israeli army claimed that “the majority of the assassinated members belonged to Hezbollah’s Aziz, Nasr and Badr units.” In a new study, the Israeli Alma Center stated: “Those individuals were involved in the rehabilitation of infrastructure on the ground.”