MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK suspends trade talks with Israel

Tel Aviv's politicians “are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world,” Lammy argued

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended free trade talks with Israel and summoned Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely in response to Tel Aviv's escalated military operations in Gaza. The official aid they were an “affront” to British values.

“We cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration. It is incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship,” Lammy told MPs. “Frankly, it's an affront to the values of the British people. Therefore, today, I'm announcing that we have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement.”

The UK also imposed sanctions on three individuals and four entities, including settler leader Daniella Weiss and her Nachala Israel Movement, for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, citing over 1,800 settler attacks since January 2024.

Lammy criticized Israel's blockade and its failure to curb settler violence, arguing it undermines the two-state solution. Israeli politicians “are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world,” Lammy also pointed out.

Domestic UK political reactions included Labour MP Zarah Sultana urging a total ban on arms sales to Israel and recognition of Palestine, while opposition figures like Kemi Badenoch criticized Starmer’s broader EU trade deal as a “sell-out.”

“Even prior to today's announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK Government,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein argued. “More than that, the agreement would serve the mutual benefit of both countries. 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.” In addition, “the British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago” and “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”