A former head of MI6 has said the Burnham government’s sanctions against Israel amount to “virtue signalling” that could potentially harm Britain and Israel’s security services.
Asked about planned British measures aimed at targeting Israeli settlements, Sir Richard Dearlove, who headed the Secret Intelligence Service between 1999-2004, questioned whether the announcement was more to do with British domestic political concerns than diplomatic ones.
He accused the prime minister of “virtue signalling to people within the [Labour] party.
“What does this achieve? I don't see how these sanctions, which make a distinction between stuff which is manufactured in the West Bank [and goods made in Israel], can actually physically be implemented. So, it's a very strange thing to do.”
Dearlove also questioned the timing of the announcement so close to the Israeli elections, set to be held on October 27.
He continued: “I would have thought it would have been much wiser just to do nothing at this point in time, and you know, to stand back and allow Israel's traditionally rumbustious politics to take their course, and then you know make decisions afterwards. I'm really puzzled by the logic.”
Over the weekend, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat said that the measures set to be introduced by the government could potentially harm Britain’s security relationship with Israel.
“I can tell you, as security minister, a lot of incidents did not happen because of co-operation with intelligence sources in Israel, who helped us to protect British people from terror attacks”, the former security minister told the Sunday Telegraph.
The 81-year-old former spymaster shared his assessment.
“I think Tom is probably correct in saying this sort of action is pretty pointless because if it does anything, it does make that intelligence and security relationship more difficult.”
Although he hoped that London and Jerusalem’s security ties would “continue without necessarily being prejudiced by these short-term political decisions”, he added that it would be “very difficult to say” whether they would.
Dearlove did say, however, that during his tenure at the top of MI6, he was able to maintain a “very close” relationship with his Mossad counterpart Efraim Halevy and that their relationship was strong despite political differences between the British and Israeli governments.
“We could talk to each other about important things, whatever the hell was going on,” he said.
To get more Politics news, click here to sign up for our free politics newsletter.