<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/20/uk-suspends-trade-talks-with-israel-repellant-extremism>
"UK-Israeli relations have plunged to their worst state for decades after the
British foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended negotiations over a new free
trade deal, saying Israel’s cabinet ministers’ calls to “purify Gaza” by
expelling Palestinians were repellent, monstrous and extremist.
He also said wider talks about a future bilateral strategic roadmap with Israel
were being reviewed.
Lammy condemned Israel’s refusal to allow thousands of aid trucks access to
starving Palestinians and said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was “an
affront to the values of the British people” and “incompatible with the
principles that underpin the UK-Israeli bilateral relationship”.
At the same time, EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, decided to review
the bloc’s trade agreement with Israel after a request from the Dutch foreign
minister, Caspar Veldkamp. Seventeen of the 27 states backed the move. The EU
is Israel’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 32% of Israel’s total trade
in goods in 2024.
Lammy, unleashing language he has not used since the latest Gaza conflict
began, said the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the
Israel Defense Forces was “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and
utterly counterproductive”.
As the foreign secretary made his opening remarks in the Commons, backbenchers
shouted “genocide”.
Sounding genuinely outraged with the government of the Israeli prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, Lammy said: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this
conflict. Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes
into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid
that they need.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
