Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on Israel taking measures against the UK after it announced sanctions on West Bank settlements
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Gavin Gray in the UK and Europe. Hello, Gavin.
- 0:03Speaker 2: Hi there, Andrew.
- 0:04Speaker 1: So France and Canada and now the UK, they're cracking
- 0:07Speaker 1: down on Israel's actions in the West Bank and in Gaza.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Yes, it's not going down very well with Israel. But
- 0:14Speaker 2: first of all, the UK has announced sanctions that have
- 0:16Speaker 2: gone much further than expected and certainly a lot further
- 0:19Speaker 2: than they might have done under our previous prime minister,
- 0:22Speaker 2: Zakir Starmer. So the sanctions are against companies and individuals
- 0:26Speaker 2: who provide services for settlement expansion. and also the refusal
- 0:30Speaker 2: of license applications for arms that contribute to the occupation.
- 0:35Speaker 2: The language used was really quite startling. The foreign secretary,
- 0:39Speaker 2: Ed Miliband, said that what is going on in the
- 0:41Speaker 2: West Bank amounts to ethnic cleansing. That's something that really
- 0:45Speaker 2: ministers would not have said before. Now, Israel has shot back.
- 0:50Speaker 2: The foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said, right, Okay, we're going
- 0:53Speaker 2: to close the British consulate in Jerusalem, we're going to
- 0:56Speaker 2: remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Centre in
- 1:00Speaker 2: southern Israel, and terminate British activities to train Palestinian Authority forces,
- 1:07Speaker 2: and also denial of entry to Israel for 12 British
- 1:11Speaker 2: MPs and other representatives. So that's what they're shooting back on,
- 1:15Speaker 2: but this seems to be the start, I think, of
- 1:18Speaker 2: a big and fairly significant move by this government to really,
- 1:22Speaker 2: really crack down and try and put the pressure on Israel.
- 1:25Speaker 1: Now, meanwhile, King Charles hasn't really put out the welcome
- 1:29Speaker 1: mat for Harry and Meghan, who's come home.
- 1:32Speaker 2: Indeed not. No, quite a surprise, this. So all of
- 1:36Speaker 2: a sudden, a letter went out to the representatives of
- 1:40Speaker 2: the King, but also to other people as well, basically
- 1:43Speaker 2: saying that while Prince Harry and Meghan are back in
- 1:46Speaker 2: the UK, they are here as private citizens and not
- 1:49Speaker 2: working royals. Now, that means they cannot use the titles
- 1:52Speaker 2: His and Her Royal Highness. They remain private citizens, and
- 1:56Speaker 2: any visits and any official things they go to are
- 2:01Speaker 2: not royally official. They are doing so in their private capacity.
- 2:05Speaker 2: And now it's materialized that despite saying, oh, and Meghan
- 2:09Speaker 2: and Harry knew about this, Meghan and Harry say, we
- 2:12Speaker 2: didn't know about it until shortly before that letter went out.
- 2:16Speaker 2: And they're said to be slightly surprised by it. But
- 2:19Speaker 2: I think this is the King definitely setting out a
- 2:21Speaker 2: few of his own red lines, not to try and
- 2:24Speaker 2: get the public into confusing an official royal visit that, say,
- 2:29Speaker 2: Prince William might be conducting, and an unofficial one like
- 2:34Speaker 2: Prince Harry might be conducting, and to put that clear
- 2:37Speaker 2: water between the pair. This is all no doubt part
- 2:40Speaker 2: of the agreements and discussions about Meghan and Harry moving
- 2:43Speaker 2: back to the UK. But yeah, lots of eyebrows being
- 2:46Speaker 2: raised about it. Did he really? Did the Kings and
- 2:49Speaker 2: the officials really not involve Harry and Meghan in this
- 2:53Speaker 2: letter earlier than one hour before it was released? Anyway,
- 2:56Speaker 2: it doesn't look like all those family rifts have, Andrew,
- 2:59Speaker 2: yet to be resolved.
- 3:00Speaker 1: Well, I think the King is worried that Harry's going
- 3:02Speaker 1: to turn up to an event and he's going to ka-ching,
- 3:04Speaker 1: ka-ching and do some back pocket sort of stuff. And
- 3:06Speaker 1: he doesn't want that happening because William doesn't do that either. Gavin,
- 3:09Speaker 1: I thank you so much.
- 3:10Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
- 3:13Speaker 2: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays or follow
- 3:17Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.