Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a scathing attack on Western leaders, including UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, accusing them of effectively siding with Hamas in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
In a video message posted on social media platform X following an attack on Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC, Netanyahu claimed that leaders such as Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney were “on the wrong side of history” for opposing Israel’s continued military offensive in Gaza.
“They have effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power,” Netanyahu said, referring to recent criticisms by the UK, France, and Canada over Israel’s military expansion and the limited humanitarian access allowed into Gaza. “When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice.”
The comments follow a joint statement on Monday from the three Western powers condemning Israel’s actions and threatening potential diplomatic consequences if humanitarian conditions in Gaza did not improve.
Downing Street has declined to directly address Netanyahu’s accusations, instead pointing to Starmer’s recent post on X, in which he denounced antisemitism as “an evil we must stamp out.”
In a further escalation, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli accused the same Western leaders of “emboldening the forces of terror.”
The political firestorm comes amid widespread international condemnation of Israel’s ongoing campaign in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’s deadly cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 people dead and over 250 taken hostage.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 53,762 people, including more than 16,500 children, have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
The internal political strife in Israel also deepened as former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert harshly criticised Netanyahu’s government in an interview with the BBC World Service, describing the current leadership as a “gang of thugs.”
“They are a group of thugs running the state of Israel these days and the head of the gang is Netanyahu,” Olmert said, dismissing criticism from Israeli ministers and reaffirming his opposition to what he termed “atrocious policies.”
With international pressure mounting and humanitarian conditions worsening, the diplomatic rift between Israel and its traditional allies continues to widen.
Written By Rodney Mbua
