Foreign Secretary David Lammy has sparked a backlash after removing a yellow pin badge expressing solidarity with Israelis taken hostage by Hamas terrorists.
Lammy, who is pushing for a ceasefire, was meeting with Palestinian premier Mohammed Mustafa.
He was joined by French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné for a meeting with Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Friday.
However, Lammy and Séjourné removed their badges ahead of their meeting with Mustafa.
Eylon Levy, a former spokesman for the Israeli Government, said: “Imagine if they had made the tiny gesture of keeping the pin for their meeting with the Palestinian Prime Minister.
“It would have sent a message – stop making excuses for Hamas Tell it to free the hostages, now!”
More than 200 Israelis were taken hostage when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people during its atrocious October 7 attack.
Around 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.
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Chained Israeli protesters hold placards in a protest to call for an end to the war in Gaza, during Britain’s Foreign Secretary David David Lammy’s visit
REUTERS
However, Israeli authorities believe around a third of the remaining hostages are now dead.
Reports last night suggested Lammy had been snubbed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Sir Keir Starmer dropped Rishi Sunak’s objection to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant request.
Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were both earmarked by the ICC for alleged war crimes.
However, an Israeli official denied the reports and Netanyahu’s office stressed its negotiating team has expressed “cautious optimism” about striking a hostage deal in Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrives to attend a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London
REUTERS
Lammy used his visit to Israel to push for a ceasefire after Labour was a backlash from pro-Palestine voters.
The Foreign Secretary said: “This is a war and a crisis that has taken so many lives across the region, and of course began with the most horrific events on October 7.
“But as we head now into 315 days of war, the time for a deal – for those hostages to be returned, for aid to get in in the quantities that are necessary in Gaza and for the fighting to stop – is now.
“And of course that is the message that we have jointly underlined to ministers today, both in Israel and of course in the occupied territories.”
The death told from Israel’s bombardment in Gaza exceeded 40,000 earlier this week, the Strip’s Hamas-run Health Ministry has claimed.
Source Agencies
