UK ambassador: Hamas has long been proscribed but no one knew they had turned into ISIL
Even now as Israelis work to identify the dead and missing, Hamas continues to fire missiles into Israel. I have had to run to the bomb shelter twice while writing this article.
I arrived in Israel for my posting as British Ambassador at the end of July. Having spent most of my career in the region and three years living in Jerusalem at an earlier stage of my career, I was well aware of the threats facing Israel.
I have worked in environments where terrorism was a daily fact of life, indeed I grew up in one – Northern Ireland during the 1970s and 80s.
But the events of 7 October are a horrifying reminder that even terrorists can sink to new depths. Hamas already had a lot of blood on its hands and has long been listed in UK law as a terrorist organisation, but I don’t think anyone had appreciated that they had begun to model themselves on savagery of ISIL.
I have seen and heard how this horror has affected so many in Israel. There are few people who are not touched by it. And travelling to Ofakim, near Gaza, with the Foreign Secretary last week, I saw examples of astonishing bravery and fortitude by those who had come face to face with the terrorists.
Even now as Israelis work to identify the dead and missing, Hamas continues to fire missiles into cities and towns across Israel. I have had to run to the bomb shelter twice while writing this article.
For any country this would be intolerable. As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and others have said, the UK is unequivocal in its condemnation of Hamas’s barbarism, and stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel and the Jewish community.
These events have obviously impacted the British Jewish community directly. We have tens of thousands of British citizens living in Israel, and some were caught up in the attacks.
Supporting them is our prime mission in the Embassy – we stopped all routine work immediately after the attacks and have focused all our efforts on helping Brits who are affected and working with Israeli colleagues to provide assistance where we can.
These events have obviously impacted the British Jewish community directly. We have tens of thousands of British citizens living in Israel, and some were caught up in the attacks.
In recent days, a lot of our staff have been working on assisting the return of Brits who wish to leave. There are always challenges with complex operations such as this – there’s a lot that has to happen behind the scenes to bring in both charter flights and military aircraft, and then to get passengers securely on board.
I’m pleased to say that as I write this, we have managed to facilitate flights for most of the people who wanted to leave. A plea from me: if you’re a British citizen in Israel, please register your presence through the link on the FCDO travel advice page. This helps us enormously to identify and support those needing help.
Another important issue that’s occupying my time is the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Together with colleagues at the British Consulate in Jerusalem, we’re working hard to ensure British citizens can leave there too and that aid can get in.
As announced, the UK is increasing its humanitarian support for Gaza. But it’s not easy. We must remember throughout all this that ordinary Palestinians are also victims of Hamas’s terror. Hamas is the greatest threat to the Palestinian people- indiscriminately using women and children as human shields.
We’re also absolutely committed to supporting Israel. Israel has an impressive set of capabilities to deal with this challenge, but we are standing by to help where we can, and we’re engaged in efforts to ensure tensions across the region don’t increase.
We steadfastly support Israel’s right to defend itself, in line with international humanitarian law. It is vital that Israel continues to minimise civilian casualties as the conflict goes on.
Despite everything, I remain hopeful for happier times. There are so many positive stories to tell about Israel, so many opportunities for our two countries to learn from each other, and grow together.
The main piece of work on my desk before this attack was on bringing together medical researchers from the UK, Israel and other countries in the region to find ways to deal with the health consequences of climate change.
Important work – and we must not let the terrorists distract us from it. I earnestly look forward to getting back to that.
- Simon Walters was appointed His Majesty’s Ambassador to the State of Israel in July 2023.
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