Israel Premier Netanyahu refused to meet UK Foreign Secretary over anger at ICC decision - report

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly refused to meet British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, during his visit to Israel last week, apparently over the United Kingdom’s withdrawal of its objections to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for top Israeli officials.

On Friday last week, Lammy embarked on a joint trip to Israel with French Foreign Minister, Stephane Sejourne, in which they met their Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, and the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer. During his visit, Lammy called for a ceasefire and warned of a “dangerous moment” for the wider region.

Lammy had also reportedly been aiming to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, according to Israeli media outlets such as Channel 13 News and The Times of Israel, but he had refused to meet the British Foreign Secretary due to an apparent scheduling conflict. The refusal was despite multiple requests by the British government for a meeting with the Israeli Premier.

Citing unnamed Israeli sources, the outlets reported that Netanyahu was angered by the UK’s new Labour government led by Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, due to his recent decision to withdraw British objections to the ICC’s efforts to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.

Following those reports, however, the UK’s Foreign Office has since denied Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Lammy, telling Anadolu Agency yesterday that “there were no plans to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu during this visit”.

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