Abrams criticizes Miliband over Israel policy<\/p>\n
Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former US deputy national security adviser in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations, was sharply critical of British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, particularly his accusation that Israel was carrying out \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d in Judea and Samaria.<\/p>\n
He said Miliband\u2019s speech announcing the new policy would offend many British and Israeli Jews because, in slamming Israeli policy, he \u201crelies on the fact that he\u2019s Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n
British Consulate 311 (credit: Marc Israel Sellem)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a Jew according to the Nuremberg Laws,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cBut there is nothing in the way he lives his life that shows any particular involvement or affinity with the Jewish community, and I think that\u2019s going to rankle a lot of Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abrams said he didn\u2019t think Miliband cared whether his words would \u201crankle\u201d the local Jewish<\/a> community, adding that this is \u201cpart of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a British Jewish community that\u2019s under a lot of pressure, and not just political pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, they do not feel themselves to be safe physically. They don\u2019t think their children are safe in their schools. Nothing that Miliband has done will help. It will make them feel less safe. It will make them feel the government is against them.\u201d<\/p>\n Abrams said the sanctions were imposed according to Britain\u2019s domestic political timetable, with little consideration for the anniversary of the October 7 massacre or Israel\u2019s October 27 election.<\/p>\n The domestic political timetable he referred to was the British Labour Party\u2019s annual convention to be held at the end of the month, with this move believed to be meant to placate the hard-left faction inside the party.<\/p>\n Abrams noted that the sanctions will be implemented in another six to nine months, leaving open the possibility that their scope could change, particularly if Israel has a different governing coalition next year.<\/p>\n Israel seeks to limit Britain’s diplomatic role<\/p>\n Abrams said that with the deterioration in diplomatic ties between the two countries, the question now was whether it would spill over into military and intelligence cooperation.<\/p>\n While such ties can sometimes be insulated from political disputes, he said, Israel will seek to marginalize Britain from Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy and the postwar Gaza<\/a> process.<\/p>\n \u201cThe British, like the French, think of themselves as a global power,\u201d he said. \u201cOkay, not a superpower, but a country with a global role.\u201d<\/p>\n If Israel tells Britain, \u201cYou just lost your role here,\u201d and makes it more difficult for London to exert influence in Ramallah or Gaza, he said, that will matter to the British.<\/p>\n Abrams rejected the suggestion that Israel\u2019s effort to deter other governments had already failed because 10 additional countries joined the British-led initiative, noting that the majority of European states, as well as Latin American and Asian states, did not join the boycott.<\/p>\n He said the strong Israeli reaction was meant to warn other countries that there would be a price.<\/p>\n He said it was likely that Britain was singled out for the harshest Israeli response because it not only imposed the measures but also actively recruited other countries to join.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the British who not only did it, but then went out and tried to convince others to join them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think the Israelis particularly resent that.\u201d<\/p>\n Abrams warns Britain could lose influence<\/p>\n