David Cameron does not agree to stop arms deliveries to Israel: This would strengthen Hamas

The British Foreign Secretary told the BBC on Sunday that stopping arms sales to Israel would strengthen Hamas, a statement contradicting the view of the Biden administration. David Cameron pointed out that Britain is in a “completely different position” to that of the United States.

Israel on Saturday ordered Palestinians to leave an even larger part of the southern Gaza Strip city on the border with Egypt, signaling Israel’s intention to press ahead with plans for a ground attack on Rafah despite the threat US President Joe Biden to stop supplying arms to Israel, if he does so.

Cameron said he did not support an operation in Rafah in the absence of a plan to protect the hundreds of thousands of civilians sheltering in the city in the southern Gaza Strip. However, Britain is in a “completely different position” to the United States when it comes to supplying weapons to Israel, he admitted, noting that less than 1% of Israel’s weapons come from Britain are already controlled by a strict licensing system, informs News.ro.

“We could, if we wanted to, formulate some kind of political message and say that we will take this political step,” he told the BBC. “The last time I was urged to do this (…), only a few days later there was a brutal attack by Iran on Israel, including with 140 cruise missiles,” added the head of diplomacy in London.

Cameron said a “better response” would be for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to accept a deal to release the hostages.

“Just to simply announce today that we’re going to change our whole approach to arms exports, instead of putting them through our careful (monitoring) process, that would strengthen Hamas, make a deal in as for the hostages. I don’t think that would be the right approach,” David Cameron said.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, including British citizens, according to an Israeli tally. Israel’s subsequent military response in Gaza killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas announced on Saturday that another of the hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack on Israel, British national Nadav Popplewell, 51, had died as a result of an Israeli bombardment. “We’re trying to figure out what happened, we don’t want to say anything until we get better information,” David Cameron said on Sunday.

Publisher: MI

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