The diplomatic dispute arose after the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister used the mentioned phrase in an interview on the military radio podcast the previous day, criticizing the UK’s position towards Israel.
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B. Netanyahu’s comment reflects unfounded claims by far-right politicians and commentators in the Western world that parts of the UK are already governed by Islamic law due to immigration. Because of this, they face accusations of Islamophobia.
“These comments are completely unacceptable and we have said so to the Israeli government,” a UK government spokesperson said on Friday.
In the podcast interview, B. Netanyahu spoke about how Winston Churchill’s grandchild and namesake loudly supported Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
“Would you find that now?” B. Netanyahu asked.
“Someone once said that the first Islamic republic with a nuclear weapon will be the British Islamic Republic,” he added with a smile. “We are trying to ensure that there isn’t another one here, in Iran.”
On Friday, in a BBC radio interview, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer seemed to downplay B. Netanyahu’s comments.
“He [B. Netanyahu] quoted someone else’s words,” D. Mencer said, noting that earlier US Vice President J. D. Vance “had made such comments.”
“He was quoting what the vice president said,” the spokesperson claimed.
J. D. Vance said at the 2024 Munich Security Conference that the UK could become “the first truly Islamist country to have a nuclear weapon,” and at the time faced sharp criticism from UK politicians.
The UK was one of several European countries that recognized the State of Palestine last year, angering Israel.
The new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that his predecessor Keir Starmer did not apply enough pressure on Israel to stop the offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper just before the start of his term, A. Burnham said the UK would consider banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
The UK, which usually cooperates closely with the US, also distanced itself from the US and Israel’s war against Iran that began in February.
B. Netanyahu has long promised not to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran denies seeking such a goal.
The UK and US are nuclear states, and it is widely known that Israel has nuclear weapons, although it has never publicly acknowledged its arsenal.
In 1998, Pakistan became the first Islamic nuclear state when it tested an atomic bomb in response to tests by its historic rival India.
