U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee fired back at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s criticism of Israeli operations in Gaza, invoking Britain’s World War II bombing campaign against Dresden to question the consistency of British wartime policy.
Huckabee’s response came after Starmer posted on social media Friday: “The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. We need a ceasefire now.” The UK Prime Minister attached a longer government statement calling for “a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution.”
In a social media response that has gained over one million views, Ambassador Huckabee raised pointed questions about the logic of Starmer’s position. “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee asked, highlighting what he sees as a fundamental contradiction in the British approach.
The ambassador then drew a historical parallel that cut to the heart of his argument: “Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”
Huckabee’s reference to the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945 serves as a reminder of how Britain itself conducted warfare against an enemy it viewed as existential. The comparison suggests that Britain applied very different standards to its own wartime conduct than it now expects from Israel in its conflict with Hamas.
The ambassador’s critique highlights a fundamental contradiction in Starmer’s position, that the UK Prime Minister acknowledges that “hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions,” yet demands a ceasefire that would leave those hostages in Hamas’s hands while calling for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza — aid that Israeli government officials and international observers argue often ends up controlled by Hamas rather than reaching civilians or hostages.
Huckabee’s critique echoes remarks he made last week, when he observed that Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE demonstrate greater “moral clarity” on Hamas than the UK, France, and Canada. The ambassador noted that these Arab states have been tougher than Europe in calling for Hamas to surrender and release hostages, after the Arab League’s historic demand for Hamas to disarm and relinquish control of Gaza.
The ambassador’s historical comparison reflects a broader debate about how democracies should respond to terrorist organizations. Just as Britain didn’t negotiate with Nazi Germany or provide aid to Berlin during World War II, Huckabee suggests that Israel shouldn’t be expected to sustain its enemies while fighting for its survival.
Starmer’s criticism came just hours after Israel’s security cabinet voted Thursday to approve a plan to reoccupy the Gaza Strip militarily, starting with Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Thursday that Israel “intends to” take full control of the entire Gaza Strip to eliminate Hamas and transfer authority to non-hostile Arab forces, outlining his most comprehensive vision yet for the post-war Gaza governance structure.
As Huckabee stated recently, Hamas has no future in Gaza, comparing the terrorist group to Nazis and emphasizing that just as Germany needed complete rebuilding after World War II, Gaza requires total transformation after Hamas’s defeat.
Ambassador Huckabee will enter the Breitbart Fight Club on August 12 to discuss media coverage of the Gaza conflict and cut through “the fog of the Gaza media war.”
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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