The Chancellor’s unapologetically Zionist speech – honest about Hamas’s October 7 atrocity, blunt about antisemitism, and courageous within her own Labour party – hints at a long overdue reset in the UK’s approach to Israel
December 11, 2025 11:14
Rachel Reeves did something rare in British politics this week: she voiced unqualified support for the Jewish state without flinching. Addressing Labour Friends of Israel, the Chancellor delivered the most intellectually honest and proudly Zionist speech any senior Labour figure has given since the party entered government. Her message – that “every word has consequences and every silence does too” – was a demand that Britain abandon the distortions that have long warped our debate on Zionism, Israel and the Gaza war.
She rejected the corrosive idea that support for Israel should be qualified or excused, insisting that progressives should say unapologetically: I am a Zionist. That such a statement now feels revolutionary in parts of the British left tells you precisely why it needed saying.
Reeves did something else extraordinary for a mainstream left politician today: she told the truth about Israel and the conflict, restoring the basic moral sequence too often erased. She underlined that the war began with Hamas’s barbaric slaughter on October 7. The appalling civilian toll in Gaza, she stressed, is the consequence of that atrocity, compounded by Hamas’s use of its own population as human shields while its leaders hide in a tunnel network the size of the London Underground. Acknowledging this does not diminish Gazan suffering or excuse Israeli mistakes; it simply states the truth.
Her clarity was political as well as moral. She linked anti-Zionism to antisemitism with a bluntness British Jews have long waited to hear from a senior minister. And she did so knowing full well that a sizeable faction of her own party would rather she hadn’t. That is courage.
But this was more than just a personal act. Such a speech from the chancellor gives good reason to hope for a broader correction in Britain’s approach to Israel after a year of estrangement – helped, perhaps, by the current ceasefire.
Such a shift would be overdue. The UK-Israel relationship is an asset to British security and prosperity. From intelligence sharing to defence innovation and high-tech, Israel is among Britain’s most valuable partners. Treating it as a pariah has always been an act of national self-harm, encouraged by a relentless disinformation campaign that has seeped from social media to mainstream journalism, the promiscuous misuse of terms like “genocide”, and a protest movement that has intimidated our authorities.
Reeves pushed back – and she was not alone. The German chancellor’s visit to Jerusalem this weekend reinforced the message that isolating Israel is neither morally nor strategically sound, after Berlin ended its partial arms embargo and deployed the Israeli Arrow missile-defence system against Russian threats. Even the BBC appears to have recognised failings in its own Israel coverage, introducing antisemitism training for staff.
Yet this moment remains fragile. Hamas still refuses to disarm – a prerequisite that the British government itself has said is essential if Gaza is to have any future. Fighting may flare again. When it does, Britain will need the same moral courage Reeves displayed this week simply to tell the truth.
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