David Lammy has criticised his predecessor Lord Cameron for speaking about bringing sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers that he “didn’t do” when in office.
The current foreign secretary was pressed on whether the government planned to bring sanctions Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over incendiary comments about the war in Gaza.
Emily Thornberry MP, now chair of the foreign affairs select committee, told MPs in the Commons that she understood why forthcoming sanctions were kept under review by governments, but noted:”Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton tells us that before the last general election the foreign office were working up sanctions against the two most controversial government ministers.”
Thornberry then asked Lammy:”I wonder if he might be in a position to tell us when a decision might be made about these two, or if a decision has already been made?”
Responding Lammy said:”I think the previous foreign secretary was wrong to talk about particular sanctions under consideration while in office, and then didn’t do.”
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. 21st Feb, 2024. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, and David Cameron, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, during the G20 Chancellors’ meeting, in Marina da Gloria, central region of Rio de Janeiro, this Wednesday, 21 February 2024 . Credit: Brazil Photo Press/Alamy Live News
He said he would not be “drawn on sanctions policy from this dispatch box” but had noted the strength of feeling for bringing sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from many MPs.
Former Conservative foreign secretary Cameron said before the election he had been “working up” plans to put sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir during a Radio 4 Today interview.
Emily Thornberry (Photo credit: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
He described the two men as “extremist” and said using sanctions would send a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “this is not good enough and has to stop”.
Cameron said both men had “said things like encouraging people to stop aid convoys going into Gaza, they have encouraged extreme settlers in the West Bank with the appalling things they have been carrying out”.
