The UK’s security minister has paid tribute to the country’s “deep rooted” relationship with Israel and hailed the “commitment to robust democratic governance, rule of law, and judicial independence” that he believes both nations share.
Dan Jarvis’s remarks came at a celebration of Israel’s 78th independence day. The event, also attended by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s parliamentary private secretary, was held on Wednesday just after video footage showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunting activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla went viral online.
On Thursday, the British Foreign Office announced it had summoned Israel’s top diplomat in the country, the charge d’affaires Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, over the incident.
“This behaviour violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity for people,” the Foreign Office said.
“We are also deeply concerned by the detention conditions depicted and have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities. We made clear their obligations to protect the rights of all those involved.”
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But the day before – the day the footage was released – Jarvis delivered a speech over video to the anniversary event. He said the Labour Party “has long been an advocate of the Jewish state”.
According to a report in Jewish News, the security minister said: “Together we share a commitment to robust democratic governance, rule of law, and judicial independence … and an unwavering dedication to defending our open societies against security threats.”
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The event was also reportedly attended by MP Jon Pearce, Starmer’s parliamentary private secretary, who was previously the chair of Labour Friends of Israel.
Some 430 activists, who were held after Israeli forces raided the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, were deported to Istanbul on Thursday evening.
Activists reported being fired at with rubber bullets, beaten and subjected to sexual assault while in Israeli custody.
Miriam Azem, from the Israeli rights group Adalah, reported that one of the activists “was forced to strip naked and run while guards were laughing”.
Australian activist Juliet Lamont said she was “tied with cables, water-tortured and sexually assaulted”.
“People had broken ribs, were tased in the face, and injected with unknown sedatives.”
No Israeli ambassador in UK
There is currently no Israeli ambassador in London, after Tzipi Hotovely finished her term last September.
Her appointed successor, Tzachi Braverman, was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff.
But he has become embroiled in a domestic scandal after being accused of obstructing an investigation into leaks of classified information during the war on Gaza. Both the prime minister’s office and Braverman have denied this.
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It emerged in February that the discipline division of the civil service in Israel recommended suspending Braverman for six months. Opposition leader Yair Lapid also urged the suspension of Braverman’s appointment as ambassador to the UK.
In Braverman’s absence, at the embassy event, Grudsky Ekstein addressed the guests.
She denounced Ben Gvir’s behaviour towards activists from the flotilla, as Netanyahu had done, and said that “the unacceptable, harmful conduct of one of our ministers is not representative of our government’s policy. It is not the face of Israel.”
Grudsky Ekstein also described hostility facing Israel and the need to combat rising antisemitism as a “moral” rather than political crisis.
Other guests at the embassy event included former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Adrian Cohen, the acting president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
Continued UK-Israel cooperation
There are signs of strain in the relationship between Britain and Israel.
Netanyahu is unlikely to visit Britain any time soon because he is wanted by the Internanational Criminal Court for alleged war cimes and crimes against humanity.
Last June, the UK sanctioned Ben Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over “their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian communities” in Gaza and the West Bank.
In October, Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli disparagingly called the British prime minister “Palestinian” after Starmer criticised him for inviting far-right activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson to Israel.
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Britain, though, has cooperated militarily and politically throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza, launching RAF planes to conduct hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has repeatedly insisted the surveillance flights were solely in support of “hostage rescue”.
But they have been shrouded in secrecy, and it has emerged over the past two years that the UK has shared intelligence with Israel and has captured footage of Gaza on days that Israeli attacks have killed British citizens.
The UK signed a military agreement with Israel in 2020 that resolved to “formalise and enhance the defence partnership and support the growing Israel-UK partnership”.
The accord itself has not been made public, but James Heappey, then a Conservative defence minister, said in May 2021 that it would “streamline and provide a mechanism for planning our joint activity”.
In 2024, Luke Pollard, a Labour minister of state in the defence ministry, said “it is not possible to release this agreement as it is held at a higher classification”, and the MoD said last October that the accord was still in place, according to Declassified UK.
