UK support for Israel ‘not unconditional’ says Cameron

Britain’s support for Israel is “not unconditional”, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, said yesterday. In a Sunday Times column six months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war – and six days after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers including three Britons – Cameron said that Israel’s right to self-defence remained a “foundational principle” of the UK, but that Israel was expected to abide by international humanitarian law. So far, Cameron has ducked questions about whether Israel’s conduct of the war could potentially impact British arms exports. But Mark Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary, told the BBC yesterday that these comments “hint” at his thinking.