Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a sharp swipe at Britain during a podcast appearance, referring to the country as the “Islamic Republic of Britain” in remarks likely to draw attention in London. Britain’s Labour government under Andy Burnham is considered critical of Israel, but the United Kingdom remains one of Israel’s important international partners, with deep ties spanning multiple fields.
Netanyahu made the remarks during an appearance on Avi Harush’s Melech Blitzer Haim podcast while discussing Randolph Churchill, the journalist and son of former British prime minister Winston Churchill. Netanyahu said Randolph Churchill had covered the Six-Day War in a way that was “very positive toward us.”
Netanyahu and the ‘Islamic Republic of Britain’
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“Go find that in Britain today, in what is called the Islamic Republic of Britain. Go find it,” Netanyahu said.
Asked whether he believed all of Europe had effectively become such a place, Netanyahu responded by alluding to remarks made two years earlier by U.S. Vice President JD Vance. “Someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain,” Netanyahu said. “We are making sure there won’t be another one here, in Iran.”
The remarks drew criticism from Avi Dabush of the Democrats party list. “You are a prime minister. You have responsibility, there is such a word, and you sit there making jokes about Britain,” Dabush wrote on X. “A member of the Security Council that is six times the size of Israel.”