UK trade envoy's visit to Israel one week after talks suspended sparks criticism
The coherence of the UK government's policy towards Israel is under question after Labour permitted its trade envoy to boost commercial links one week after the foreign secretary suspended talks on a further trade deal.
The trade envoy, Lord Austin, was pictured on a visit to Haifa in a post on X shared by the UK's embassy in Israel. The post welcomed Austin to the country as he visited a hi-tech 'customs scanning centre', a port and a light rail project that the embassy said showed UK and Israeli 'cooperation at every stop'.
David Lammy last week had described Israel's behaviour in Gaza as 'monstrous and extremist'. In a signal of his disapproval, welcomed by most Labour MPs, the foreign secretary suspended new trade talks and launched a review into a pre-existing high-level strategic cooperation roadmap with Israel.
One mainstream Labour MP said: 'There is a large group of Labour MPs who are furious this has been allowed to happen after the progress made last week. Austin needs to be fired immediately, the department of business and trade response is completely unacceptable.'
Another MP said 'this is not about mixed, but garbled messaging'.
Great to welcome @LordIanAustin to Haifa!In a day full of innovation by the Carmel, the UK Trade Envoy to Israel visited the cutting-edge Customs Scanning Centre, Haifa Bayport, the Haifa–Nazareth Light Rail project, and the Technion - witnessing 🇬🇧–🇮🇱 cooperation at every stop pic.twitter.com/v6Rk7BZrgU
Palestinian groups also called for the trade envoy, a former Labour MP, but appointed as an independent peer by the Conservatives, to be sacked on the grounds that he has never agreed with Labour government's policy towards Israel.
However, Austin's visit was not a independent operation and instead was conducted with the approval and cooperation of government officials.
It did not seem to occur to the Department for Business and Trade that the fierce signals of disapproval sent out by the Foreign Office last week were so strong that it would at least be advisable to postpone Austin's visit.
The department insisted there was no contradiction between suspending talks on a new expanded free trade deal and continuing to promote trade links under the existing trade deal.
Austin, a fierce campaigner against antisemitism in the UK, had been appointed trade envoy by the previous Conservative government, and his reappointment by Labour led to protests among mainstream pro-Palestinian MPs, and campaign groups.
Pete Malynn, executive director of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, in February this year wrote privately to the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, to express the group's dismay at Austin's appointment, saying 'it sends entirely the wrong message about the government's priorities in the region, calls into question its strategic direction and emboldens those who seek to undermine and criticise the government'.
The letter pointed out that Austin did not regard Gaza as occupied for the past 18 years, referred to the UN's Palestinian relief agency Unrwa as terrorists, opposed the UK's suspension of arms sales to Israel and said it was 'factually wrong' to claim the West Bank was being concreted over by Israeli settlers.
The letter also pointed out that Austin had written to voters in key swing seats in the 2019 election urging them to vote for Boris Johnson. At the time Austin was vehemently opposed to abour's approach to antisemitism and extremism under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
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No reply to the letter was received by the group.
Austin will be in Israel until Friday but does not have any scheduled meetings with Israeli officials, people familiar with the trip said, focusing instead on meeting with businesses.
On social media he said: 'I'm here to meet businesses & officials to promote trade with the UK. Trade with Israel provides many thousands of good jobs in the UK and brings people together in the great multicultural democracy that is Israel'.
He also wrote a Politics Home article before his visit, in which he said: 'I'll be visiting Israel next week to show our support and solidarity and to drum up business for Britain.'. He added: 'The relationship with Israel is worth billions and brings massive benefits to Britain. It is in our national interest, and the decision this week by the government to pause negotiations on a new free trade Agreement does not change that.'
Austin did not directly criticise the suspension of the free trade talks, but warned: 'We live in a competitive world, so let's hope other countries don't steal a march and grab these opportunities. Other countries must surely be looking on and wondering whether their relations with the UK could be jeopardised by political campaigns.'
The Foreign Office has been asked if the foreign secretary gave prior approval for the visit.
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