'Failed as critical friend' UK accused of taking eye off Middle East crisis

Concerns that the Foreign Office has neglected the IsraelPalestine conflict in its tilt to the Indo-Pacific region and the pursuit of trade deals across the Middle East is to be investigated by the foreign affairs select committee.

- Patrick Wintour

Alicia Kearns, chair of the committee, which will start holding evidence sessions on the issue later this month, was one of the most prominent MPs warning that a crisis was brewing which required greater attention and a more robust approach towards Israel's new government. Critics argue that the government, along with others, missed the danger signals and invested in an unconditional and one-sided relationship with Israel that did not acknowledge how different the government elected in November was to its predecessors.

Kearns said it was ridiculous and symbolic when the Foreign Office abolished the now-restored post of Middle East minister in 2022. "There is a chance that we might be seeing a third intifada and the Gaza crisis of 2003. We should be worried because what happens in Palestine and Israel impacts around the world," she told MPs in July as she called for Rishi Sunak to appoint a Middle East peace envoy after an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

"I stress that this low commitment ask would allow us to live up to our responsibilities and demonstrate meaningful resolve," she added. "Our voice is unique and will be heard, and we have a role to play in the peace process."

In an evidence session in March with the Foreign Office's permanent secretary, Sir Philip Barton, Kearns asked: "Do you think we have the right posture towards Israel? I, for my part, feel that we have failed to be a critical friend. We have a very close and important security friendship but we have yet to adopt that critical one."

She added that she found the agenda of Benjamin Netanyahu's government concerning.

"If I am honest, it feels increasingly to me that the reason we are silent around the Middle East is because there is no Instagram diplomacy to be won. There are no easy wins," she said.