The shadow foreign secretary, Tom Tugendhat, has warned that plans to sanction Israel over West Bank settlements could put British security at risk, making it harder to prevent terror attacks.
The government is expected to announce measures as early as this week, prompted by Israeli moves to go ahead with the so-called E1 settlement bloc on the West Bank that critics fear would thwart the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.
But Tugendhat, a security minister in the last Conservative administration, sounded the alarm over the potential impact on Israeli-British co-operation in countering terror here.
“It’s worth remembering that Israel is one of our most important intelligence partners, and has been for many, many years,” he told Sunday Telegraph.
“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 government’s first job, he added, was “the protection of the British people, and one of the things I am absolutely clear on, is that leading Britain’s foreign policy is about protecting our people first.”
He stressed that “where we have friends and allies who provide us with intelligence in order to keep our citizens safe, we should work with them”.
And he accused Labour of putting “electoral politics above national security” and risking “empowering and encouraging” the more extreme elements within Israeli and Palestinian society, according to the newspaper.
Communal leaders warned in a meeting with Andy Burnham last week of the unintended consequences of imposing a trade ban on settlements.
The prime minister is understood to have rejected the notion that Labour was pursuing the policy because of internal party pressure.
Israel has warned it will retaliate if the UK implements sanctions.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Israel is an important strategic partner for the UK. Our relationship is built on decades of cooperation, and we continue to engage regularly with the government of Israel at multiple levels across a broad range of issues.”
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