MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer, hailed the growing UK-Israel ties in an article published in the Jerusalem Post this week, outlining how the strong relationship was reaffirmed during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May in London earlier this month.
Mr Freer wrote that the close cooperation between the UK and Israel in defence and intelligence as well as academic exchanges and record bilateral trade, collectively “makes our people safer and more prosperous”.
He said that the establishment of a new UK-Israel Trade Working Group following the visit “is a hugely significant step in laying the ground work for a future free trade deal between our two great countries”.
Writing about the aftermath of the passing of the controversial UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in December, Mr Freer said that the visit “afforded an opportunity to reset the relationship”.
The Finchley and Golders Green MP said that since the Resolution was passed, the “UK’s direction of travel has been markedly different”. He wrote: “The UK issued an unprecedented rebuke to then US Secretary of State John Kerry for a speech he gave, and was then alone among 74 countries in refusing to send a formal representative to the Paris Peace Conference and even refusing to sign the communique at the conclusion of the conference”.
Mr Freer underlined: “Prime Minister May’s position has been clear – the two parties must return to direct peace talks to resolve the final-status issues, only one of which is that of settlements”.
On Iran, Mr Freer said that from her time as Home Secretary and now as Prime Minister, Mrs May “will be well versed in the threat that Iran poses to the UK and our national interests abroad”.
He added: “Netanyahu will have returned to Jerusalem reassured, with May stating that the UK ‘recognises concerns about Iran’s pattern of destabilising activity in the region'”.
Concluding his article, the Finchley and Golders Green MP wrote: “In this centenary year of the Balfour Declaration, I can’t help but reflect how far Israel has come from the original dreams of the Zionist leaders. The UK and Israel are countries with a shared history. More importantly, perhaps, we can look forward to a prosperous shared future”.
Click here to read Mr Freer’s article in the Jerusalem Post.
