Reuters
The US ambassador to Israel has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s reaction to Israel’s Gaza City takeover plan
The UK would have lost World War Two if Sir Keir Starmer had been its leader at the time, the US ambassador to Israel has suggested in an attack on the prime minister’s response to Israel’s Gaza City takeover plan.
In a post on social media, Mike Huckabee wrote: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?”
“Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? … If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!” he said.
His comments come after Starmer condemned Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City as “wrong” and urged its government to immediately reconsider its decision “to further escalate its offensive”.
A spokesperson for No 10 said they had nothing to add to Starmer’s comments.
In his post on X on Friday, in which he reposted a statement by Starmer, Huckabee said: “Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer?
“That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”
During World War Two, British and American forces dropped 4,000 tons of bombs on the eastern German city over two days, killing tens of thousands of civilians.
Starmer’s earlier statement said: “The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.
“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed,” he added.
In the early hours of Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved plans to take over Gaza’s capital, in a controversial escalation of its war in the territory.
Netanyahu has previously said he wants to take control of the whole of the Gaza Strip but the approved plan focuses specifically on Gaza City in the territory’s north, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live.
Israel’s move has been staunchly opposed, including from within Israel, such as by members of the country’s army leadership and the families of hostages being held in Gaza.
The plan has also been heavily criticised internationally. The United Nations’ human rights chief Volker Türk warned further escalation of the war would cause “more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering”.
Following the announcement of Israel’s plan, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the country would suspend the export of arms to Israel, which could be used in Gaza, saying it was “increasingly difficult to understand” how Israel’s military plan would achieve legitimate aims.
However, the US has not condemned the move. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was “pretty much up to Israel” whether to fully occupy Gaza.
During a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Kent on Friday, US Vice-President JD Vance refused to disclose whether the US government knew about Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City.
He added that Trump would address the issue, saying their aim is to stop Hamas “attacking innocent people” and to solve humanitarian problems in Gaza.
Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have outlined five “principles” for ending the war.
These include the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all Israeli hostages, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the IDF began its military operation, in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Fifty hostages are still being held by Hamas – 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.