The United Kingdom supports Israel’s right to defend itself within the bounds of international law, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said during a brief solidarity visit to Jerusalem on Thursday, the 13th day of the Gaza war.
“I’m proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend,” Sunak said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The “darkest hour” reference was coined by former British prime minister Winston Churchill during World War II, and repeated by Netanyahu in greeting Sunak.
He used this phrase amid a push by Israel to draw parallels between Hamas and the Nazi regime or ISIS, both of which were groups that were defeated by international coalitions.
“Hamas are the new Nazis, they’re the new ISIS, and we have to fight them together just as the civilized world united to fight the Nazis,” Netanyahu said.
The comparison is evocative because the Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers and taking more than 200 others hostage, burning to death hundreds of their victims, among other atrocities.
“The Western world stood with you 80 years ago during your darkest hour. This is our darkest hour,” Netanyahu told Sunak. “That means that this is a long war, and we’ll need your continuous support.”
Sunak has issued strong condemnations of Hamas’s October assault, referring to it as a “pogrom.”
I am in Israel, a nation in grief.I grieve with you and stand with you against the evil that is terrorism.Today, and always.סוֹלִידָרִיוּת pic.twitter.com/DTcvkkLqdT
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 19, 2023
"We stand with you"
In Jerusalem, on Thursday, he assured Netanyahu that “we will stand with you in solidarity. We will stand with your people.”
He added, “And we also want you to win.”
“In the last two weeks, this country has gone through something that no country, no people should have to endure,” Sunak said.
“I want to share my deep condolences and that of the British people,” he added.
This is his first trip to Israel since taking office last year. The last British prime ministerial visit to Israel was in 2014.
Sunak’s trip follows those of US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was already here last week. French President Emmanuel Macron is also expected to arrive.
Their visits have been part of a larger global and regional flurry of diplomatic activity to thwart a regional war that would involve Iran and to weigh in on Israel’s pending ground campaign into Gaza to oust Hamas.
In a later interview with Sky News, Sunak said “It’s important that the conflict doesn’t escalate” to the larger Middle East.
“That is why I am talking to as many people as I can regionally,” Sunak said.
He noted that the “UK has sent various military assets into the Mediterranean to prevent regional escalation.
“Some of our surveillance aircraft are ensuring that armed shipments can’t find their way to [groups] like Hezbollah,” on Israel’s northern border.
He appeared to give his support for an Israeli ground military campaign in Gaza.
He told Sky News and Netanyahu that the UK “absolutely supports Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after Hamas, to take back hostages, deter further incursions, and to strengthen your security for the long term.”
Sunak, like the other leaders of Western powers, has cautioned Israel, however, that it must pay attention to the Palestinian civilian cost of any military campaign.
Sunak acknowledged the obvious difference between Israel and Hamas, a terror group that has forcibly ruled Gaza since it took over the enclave in a bloody coup.
“I know that you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians, in direct contrast to the terrorists of Hamas, which seek to put civilians in harm’s way,” Sunak told Netanyahu.
“We also recognize that the Palestinian people are victims of Hamas too,” Sunak said.
He also expressed his shock at Tuesday’s explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, which authorities there say killed 471 people. Palestinians blamed the blast on an IDF aerial strike. Israel and the US have fingered a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launch.
“We have seen scenes over the past day that have shocked us all, particularly at the hospital and we mourn the loss of every innocent life, civilians of every faith, every nationality who have been killed,” Sunak said.
He welcomed Israel’s decision to allow very basic humanitarian aid into Gaza through Egypt’s crossing at Rafah.
“I am glad you made that decision. We will support it, we are increasing our aid to the region and we will look to get more support to people as quickly as we can,” Sunak said.
He also thanked Netanyahu for extending support to British citizens impacted by the October 7 assault and for its efforts to free the hostages.
Sunak also met with President Isaac Herzog, who assured him that Israel would be careful to avoid civilian casualties.
“We listen very carefully to your message and President Biden’s message and other leaders on the need for a humanitarian relief program for the people of Gaza,” he said.
Sunak was due to visit other regional capitals after Israel – a trip that coincided with one made by Cleverly, who will travel to Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar over the next three days.
Cleverly will meet the leaders of those countries, which Britain said were “vital to international efforts to uphold regional stability, free hostages, and allow humanitarian access to Gaza.”
Reuters contributed to this report.