Robert Jenrick accuses Labour of allowing 'sectarian politics' dictate foreign policy after Israeli sanctions: 'Dangerous!'

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Israeli Government spokesman David Mencer refused to rule out a ban on the Foreign Secretary

Robert Jenrick has launched a scathing attack on the Labour Government over its decision to impose sanctions on Israel, declaring the move "dangerous".

Criticising the sanctions on GB News, the Reform UK Treasury spokesman accused Ed Miliband of allowing "sectarian politics to dictate foreign policy".

Speaking to the People's Channel earlier today Israeli Government spokesman David Mencer refused to rule out a ban on the Foreign Secretary entering the state of Israel.

He told GB News: "There's a lot of warmth towards Great Britain in Israel, I can tell you that for a fact. But what Labour is doing is they are making your country irrelevant, and I think most Brits know that.

"I'm speaking from the Prime Minister's office, and I'll tell you very, very clearly that no one here in Israel wants to see Ed Miliband in Israel."

Hitting out at the sanctions, Mr Jenrick told GB News that the timing of the decision is "clearly not about Israel".

He said: "I don't think Ed Miliband expected the red carpet to be rolled out for him in Israel, particularly when the Government this week couldn't say whether or not the Prime Minister of Israel would be arrested if he came to the UK. But the thing for me is that this is not about Israel.

"Andy Burnham made a whole play about how concerned he was about the settlements and what's happening in the West Bank, but this is 100 per cent about domestic politics here. The timing of this is because there's a Labour Party conference coming up, and above all, there's a by-election as a result of Keir Starmer stepping down."

The Reform MP accused Labour of trying to "harvest as many Muslim votes as possible" ahead of the by-election.

He told GB News: "Tthe Labour Party want to try and harvest as many of those Islamist voters as possible, bring them back to the Labour Party, avoid a repeat of what happened in Gorton and Denton, where many of them went and voted for the Green Party.

"So this is pure and simple domestic politics, sectarian politics dictating our foreign policy, and I think that is a very dangerous path to go down."

Mr Jenrick stressed that the interests of inner Israeli conflict is "of no interest" to Britain as a country.

He explained: "It's all Left of centre leaders in a succession of countries in the West, terrified that a combination of some young voters are going to the Green Party and Muslim voters are going over to parties of the Left, and so they're trying to use this issue, which, frankly, has next to nothing to do with our own interests as a country.

"Our interests are probably by allying with Israel, given that it's an important defence and security partner, a quarter of our pharmaceuticals come from there. We've got all manner of trading relationships. Our interests are not with siding with Gaza and the Palestinians. It's with supporting Israel."

The Reform spokesman declared that he finds the move by the Government "depressing", as Britain needs a Government that "puts the interests of this country first".

Mr Jenrick said: "What is Andy Burnham trying to do? He's trying to bring the Left together to consolidate left wing voters in this country, and a part of that challenge is getting back the hundreds of thousands of predominantly Muslim voters in our big cities and towns to come back to the Labour Party that were lost under Keir Starmer.

"And the insight that Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband have is that although actually Keir Starmer alienated Israel, he didn't do it in a strong enough way. He didn't use this outrageous language like ethnic cleansing, and so it didn't have the desired effect.

"And so many Labour MPs, particularly members of the cabinet, people like Wes Streeting, are now worried about losing their seats as a result because of these independent Islamist candidates standing against them."

He argued that the Government is demonstrating "naked politics".

Mr Jenrick told GB News: "What matters here is winning votes in places like Bradford, Birmingham, Ilford, Greater Manchester, and that's exactly what he's doing. It's naked politics. And I find that very, very depressing because I want a Government that purely puts the interests of this country first.

"I don't want a Government that does what is in the best interest of Israel or Pakistan or anybody else. I want British people to be put first, and that isn't really what's happening here. It's our Prime minister, our Foreign Secretary, putting the interests of a particular sectarian group in this country first."