‘The UK-Israel relationship has got worse under Labour’ says Israeli ambassador as she prepares to leave London

The ambassador also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza, controversial comments by Israeli government ministers, Israel’s relationship with the British Jewish community and who her successor might be.

Prior to Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory, Britain was “in the top three countries to support Israel when the war started … unfortunately, we’re in a different place now with the political change in this country”.

Tzipi Hotovely with Sir Keir Starmer (centre).[Missing Credit]

“Israel is an ally, and you need to treat allies in a way that respects their security interests”, the former Likud Member of Knesset said as she criticised Starmer’s announcement that he will formally recognise Palestinian state in September, unless strict conditions are met.

Though the announcement might appease “some people on the back benches of Labour”, it has pushed the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza further away and is an effective reward for Hamas’ atrocities on October 7, she believes.

Referencing a recent Daily Mail front page which made this point, she added: “This is the reality. Hamas is really enjoying seeing how Western leaders are just doing everything to pressure Israel instead of pressuring Hamas”.

Tzipi Hotovely (right) with Israel's foreign minister (second from the right) and David Lammy (second from the left), (Image: Shlomi Amsalem, MFA)[Missing Credit]

It will also, she said, make Britain and other countries that have made similar pledges “irrelevant to decision making in the Middle East”.

“Israelis are looking at Europe now, and they're saying ‘They don't get it. They just don't get it.’”

“Any peace in the past in the Middle East was achieved by direct negotiation. No magic wands … if there is interest coming from both sides, you will have a good negotiation”.

Although Starmer said the announcement was, in part, motivated by a desire to contribute “to a proper peace process”, according to Hotovely, it will have the opposite effect.

Simply “giving the Palestinians what they want”, without any pre-conditions linked to reform of policies like “pay-for-slay” or stopping incitement in educational textbooks, has pushed the prospect of a meaningful agreement between Israel and the Palestinians further away.

“You lose your power on the Israelis, and you lose your powers on the Palestinians. So, I think it's a lose-lose situation”, she added.

Things weren’t always so fraught.

The ambassador brought up the way in which, in the days after October 7, senior ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government – including the then-prime minister himself – rapidly jetted to Israel to see the devastation Hamas inflicted on southern Israel for themselves.

“James Cleverly the foreign secretary came and then Rishi Sunak, and then Grant Shapps the defence secretary … They all wanted to see Kfar Aza [with] their own eyes.

“It's not like they came just to Jerusalem to meet the leadership. They really wanted to know how the country was in the post-trauma of October 7. I could feel their heart was beating with Israel”, the ambassador said.

Tzipi Hotovely with former foreign secretary David Cameron in Kfar Aza.[Missing Credit]

“They really saw it as something they can refer to and identify with. And they said Britain had to deal with terrorism; ‘We remember our terror attacks on our cities, on Manchester and in London and we identify with Israel. We understand they're dealing with a barbaric force on the other side’”, Hotovely added, also referencing a visit from former prime minister Boris Johnson in the aftermath of the Hamas atrocities.

Another change since Starmer entered 10 Downing Street is who comes round to Hotovely’s home for Friday night dinners.

During her time as ambassador, it was “a huge privilege” to host senior members of the previous government at her home “to have a more intimate dialogue with people” but the tradition hasn’t continued under Labour.

Not for lack of trying on her part: “The answer was always that they're busy going to their constituencies”, she said.

However, the security cooperation between the UK and Israel, is still as strong as ever, according to Hotovely: “Our agencies are working in the most intimate way. And sometimes it's a triple cooperation, American, UK, Israel, and this is something that wasn't damaged.”

Sajid Javid and Tzipi Hotovely donned virtual reality goggles to take a tour of Israel [Missing Credit]

Hotovely conceded that her job is sometimes made more difficult by Israeli politicians opening their mouths. The Embassy had to distance itself from remarks made by diaspora affairs minister Amichai Chikli, who in February referred to Starmer as a “pathetic doormat”, for example.

“Unfortunately, our politics is very undisciplined. So, you have many politicians that say whatever they think, and many times it's not exactly the collective thinking of the government”.

Despite this, she maintains that there is a “glorification” of minor ministers who speak their own mind, but not for the government: “In Israel, if it's not coming from the PM or from the foreign minister, people obviously will understand it's not a policy”.

But the British government has taken a starkly different view when it comes to the words of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – who have the dubious honour of being the first Israeli ministers to face sanctions from a British government for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”.

Ben-Gvir – who has boasted of displaying a portrait of mass-murdering Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein in his home – has previous convictions in Israel for racist incitement and supporting a terrorist organisation.

In 2007, the former follower of extremist Jewish supremacist Rabbi Meir Kahane carried a sign saying: "Expel the Arab enemy" and "Rabbi Kahane was right: The Arab MKs are a fifth column."

Despite his background, he is a key ally in Netanyahu’s coalition.

Do extremist settlers in the West Bank not feel emboldened when someone like Ben-Gvir serves in office?

Hotovely insisted that neither he nor Smotrich are “the policy makers on the most important issues”.

“I think if you have something to say about what Israel is doing in the war or anywhere else, ask what the government policy is. I don't know why everyone is so obsessed about Smotrich and Ben-Gvir”, she argued.

She added it was wrong to sanction them as they were “legitimately elected by the Israeli public”.

“Think about Corbyn as the head of Labour Party. Can you imagine Israel putting sanctions on the British opposition leader, just because he has outrageous views about many things?”

Challenged about the appropriateness of the comparison, she replied: “I'm just saying that many countries, including the UK, sometimes have leaders that you're not very proud of … And he was a leader of the opposition. He wanted to be prime minister.”

As well as ministers’ often inflammatory words, the images coming out of Gaza showing hunger among the civilian population are hurting Israel’s reputation worldwide.

But according to Hotovely, any country facing similar challenges would have acted in a similar manner.

“I think it was the right thing to do to rethink about the mechanism that was obviously bringing aid to Hamas. According to the international law, you're not supposed to feed the war machine directly of your enemy. And Hamas is our enemy”, she said, emphasising the terror organisation’s looting of aid and the apparent links between Hamas and existing aid organisations.

The ambassador, a former minister of diaspora affairs, raised the role of Palestinian UN agency Unrwa and that former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari shared that she was held by Hamas in an Unrwa facility.

“So I just want people to remember, who's really the creator of this miserable situation? And the answer is Hamas.”

Although she accepts that distributing aid to Gazan civilians through the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, as opposed to at scale through existing agencies – something the British government has been critical of – has been challenging, the motivation was to harm Hamas, not Gazan civilians, she maintained.

“The reason we changed the mechanism is not because anyone from the Israeli government was trying to starve anyone, but it was because we didn't want Hamas to be empowered, and I think everyone should share the goal.”

Regardless of how much aid Israel let into Gaza, Hamas would still peddle propaganda that “Western media” would continue to push uncritically, in her view.

“I don't think that Hamas propaganda would have been different if there had even been double the amount of aid, because they're using visuals to play with the mindset of Western people”.

Pointing to the Allied bombing of German cities during the Second World War, she said: “I don't think the pictures would have been nice, and the visuals that would have come out of it is children being burned alive”,

Israel operates “according to the international humanitarian law”, she added.

Hotovely also disagreed that Israel and Britain’s Jews are on a different page, especially when it comes to recognising a Palestinian state – despite reports that British communal figures are warning that Israel faces becoming a pariah state.

“We've seen the Chief Rabbi speak clearly against it. We've seen the JLC speaking against and the Board of Deputies as well. So, all the organisations of the community were clear that recognition of the Palestinian state is a huge mistake.”

Hotovely went on to say that she has been able to build “a wonderful relationship with all denominations in this community” during her time in the UK.

Israeli Ambassdor Tzipi Hotovely and Lily Ebert commemorating Yom HaShoah at the ambassador's official resident on Thursday, April 28. Photo by Tammy Shefler Kazhdan / Mart Photography[Missing Credit]

Her parting message for British Jews was one of gratitude. The outgoing ambassador said of the community: “They've been so good and kind to us. I want to say how much I'm proud of them [for] standing with Israel, how much they helped us. They're a significant part of our diplomatic relationship with the UK, and we're grateful we made great friends, and we know that we were not going to miss seeing them too much, because they often come to Israel”

She also thanked Britain’s Jewry for the “great things” it has done to highlight the plight of the hostages in Gaza.

Her Excellency Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely celebrates at Wembley. Photo by Silvio Palladino[Missing Credit]

Hotovely (left) holding a press conference with hostage families (Image: Getty).AFP via Getty Images : HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP

As for her successor, Hotovely – the first woman to serve as Israel’s ambassador to the UK –  hinted it could be Tzachi Braverman, Benjamin Netanyahu’s current chief of staff.

“It's not been confirmed officially, but this is the name I’m familiar with”, she revealed.

Even though diplomatic appointments can take time, Hotovely did not appear to be worried about any potential vacuum forming during a crucial time; she said she was confident that her deputy ambassador and team of staff in the embassy will deal with anything thrown their way.

And what are her plans once she returns to Israel? Despite her time in Britain, she is not tempted to introduce the concept of queuing back home: “It will never work”.

Hotovely – who served as a Member of Knesset for 11 years prior to her appointment as ambassador – hopes to return to frontline politics in Netanyahu’s Likud Party when she is back in Israel.

“I think it's clear that there will be elections,” she said. “I'm a politician, and I'll go back to the political arena”, she said.