Yair Netanyahu, Israeli PM’s son, angers UK right over Falklands comment

Accusing the UK government of ‘hypocrisy’, Yair Netanyahu backs Argentina’s claims to the British-held Falkland Islands.

Yair Netanyahu, left, has upset British right-wing figures such as Rupert Lowe, right, over his comments on the Falkland Islands [File: EPA]

Comments by Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backing Argentina’s claim to the British-controlled Falkland Islands have caused an unlikely row with Britain’s right wing – one of the United Kingdom’s last reliable pro-Israel groups.

The younger Netanyahu waded into the longrunning territorial dispute over the South Atlantic archipelago last week, writing on X in Spanish: “The Falkland Islands belong to Argentina.”

Britain and Argentina fought a war over the islands in 1982 and continue to dispute their sovereignty.

In follow-up posts, he said that Israel should support Argentina’s claim because the Argentinian government, under far-right President Javier Milei, is more friendly to Israel.

He accused the UK of “hypocrisy and hostility towards Israel with their recognition of ‘Palestine’”, as well as of perpetuating “antisemitism” and “blood libels”.

UK’s Restore Britain party clashes with Yair Netanyahu

His comments came days before United States President Donald Trump, also a close ally of Milei, said the US was reviewing its stance on the Falklands.

While Yair Netanyahu’s remarks appeared intended as a shot at the UK’s Labour government, which includes both centre-left and left-wing politicians, they have also angered right-wing British figures who are typically pro-Israel.

Rupert Lowe, head of the far-right Restore Britain party, responded directly to him on X, saying that the Falklands would “remain” British and that a UK government led by his party would “go to war if necessary to ensure it”.

“You have enough problems to be focusing on in Israel”, Lowe responded, while calling on the Israeli government to clarify its position on the Falklands.

According to YouGov, just 3 percent of people polled would vote for Restore if a general election were held tomorrow.

Sir Conor Burns, a former MP with Britain’s Conservative Party, called Yair Netanyahu’s comments “stupid” and warned they would be “damaging to Israel’s cause on the [British] right”.

Far-right British activist Tommy Robinson, formerly called Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a vocal backer of Israel, shared a post on X calling British sovereignty over the Falklands a “true fact”, without mentioning the son of the Israeli premier.

‘Antagonised’ Israel’s defenders

Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer on security studies at King’s College London, said the remarks were the latest example of him causing “consternation amongst Israel’s self-declared friends in Europe.”

“Yair Netanyahu has antagonised the constituency in Britain most inclined to defend Israel,” Geist Pinfold told Al Jazeera.

While not an Israeli government official, Geist Pinfold said that he “is alleged to have far more de facto power behind the scenes thanks to Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly autocratic style of leadership”.

James Vaughan, lecturer in international history at Aberystwyth University, said that remarks could alienate some on the British right, though it is not a united bloc.

While Britain’s mainstream right-wing movements are generally pro-Israel, elements of Britain’s “extreme right” have historically been an “anti-Israeli force in British politics,” Vaughan told Al Jazeera, adding that there are signs of Restore Britain “reverting to older, anti-Semitic traditions”.

Last year, Restore Britain’s Lowe said of a camera that would film him, “In days gone by you’d call it a Jewish camera, but that would be politically incorrect. Because it’s so small.” He has also called for kosher – as well as halal – meat to be banned. He has rejected accusations of anti-Semitism.

Israeli officials stay mum

No Israeli government official has publicly endorsed Yair Netanyahu’s position on the Falklands.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has, however, previously invoked the islands while defending Israel’s illegal settlement policy in the occupied West Bank.

During a United Nations Security Council debate in February, Saar said that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were located “in the cradle of our own civilisation”, contrasting them with the Falklands.

“It is our country; it’s not 13,000 kilometres away from our country, like the Falkland Islands, ” said Saar, addressing then-British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. “The Argentinians call it the Malvinas Islands – a dispute you haven’t solved with Argentina until today.”

Vaughan pointed out that the Falklands have long been a “thorny issue in UK-Israel relations”, including in the early 1980s, due to Israeli arms sales to Argentina.

“The fact that the current Israeli government is once again ‘playing the Falklands card’ is of little consequence in and of itself and probably tells us more about the current state of friendly relations between Israel and Argentina than anything else,” Vaughan told Al Jazeera.

Israeli officials have brought up other territorial issues when responding to criticism over Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

On July 31, as Spanish authorities faced a wave of people rushing into its territory of Ceuta over the Moroccan border, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon goaded Spain over its control of the African enclave.

“Maybe before it continues lecturing us, it’s time it explained to the world why it [Spain] still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa,” Danon wrote in a post on X.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has noted that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, and Madrid has imposed sweeping measures, including a total arms embargo , against Israel.

Like the UK and other European countries, Spain also recognises Palestinian statehood .

‘Comprehensive reset’

Despite traditionally strong ties, there are signs of tension between Israel and Britain under Labour, which took power in 2024.

Under former Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the UK paused free-trade talks with Israel and suspended some arms export licences. The UK has also imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

The UK’s new leader, Andy Burnham, is currently weighing further measures relating to illegal Israeli settlements.

Israeli officials have derided the UK as relations deteriorate. Prime Minister Netanyahu recently referred to the UK as the “Islamic Republic of Britain ”.

Vaughan said that the re-emergence of the Falklands issue is “indicative of underlying UK-Israeli tensions that are obviously rooted more in fundamental disagreements about Gaza, the West Bank and wider Middle Eastern conflicts”.

内塔尼亚胡指责英国政府“虚伪”，并支持阿根廷对英国控制的福克兰群岛的主权声索。

左图为英国总理内塔尼亚胡，他因对福克兰群岛的言论而激怒了鲁珀特·洛（右图）等英国右翼人士。[图片来源：EPA]

以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡之子亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡发表言论，支持阿根廷对英国控制的福克兰群岛的主权声索，这番言论引发了与英国右翼的一场意想不到的争论——英国右翼是英国最后几个可靠的亲以色列团体之一。

上周，小内塔尼亚胡介入了南大西洋群岛长期存在的领土争端，他在 X 网站上用西班牙语写道：“福克兰群岛属于阿根廷。”

英国和阿根廷在 1982 年为争夺这些岛屿而开战，至今仍在争论其主权。

在后续的帖子中，他表示以色列应该支持阿根廷的主张，因为在极右翼总统哈维尔·米莱伊的领导下，阿根廷政府对以色列更加友好。

他指责英国承认“巴勒斯坦”是“虚伪的，是对以色列的敌意”，并指责英国助长了“反犹主义”和“血祭诽谤”。

英国“重振英国”党与亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡发生冲突

就在他发表这番言论的几天前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（也是米莱的亲密盟友）表示，美国正在重新审视其在福克兰群岛问题上的立场。

尽管亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡的言论似乎意在抨击英国工党政府（该政府包括中间偏左和左翼政治家），但也激怒了通常亲以色列的英国右翼人士。

极右翼政党“恢复英国”的领导人鲁珀特·洛在X上直接回应了他，称福克兰群岛将“继续”属于英国，并且由他的政党领导的英国政府将“在必要时发动战争以确保这一点”。

“以色列国内的问题已经够多了，你们应该把精力放在这些问题上了，”洛威回应道，同时呼吁以色列政府澄清其在福克兰群岛问题上的立场。

根据 YouGov 的调查，如果明天举行大选，只有 3% 的受访者会投票给“恢复党”。

英国保守党前议员康纳·伯恩斯爵士称亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡的言论“愚蠢”，并警告说这些言论将“损害以色列在英国右翼的事业”。

英国极右翼活动家汤米·罗宾逊（原名斯蒂芬·亚克斯利-列侬）是以色列的公开支持者，他在 X 上分享了一篇帖子，称英国对福克兰群岛拥有主权是“事实”，但没有提及以色列总理的儿子。

“激怒”以色列的捍卫者

伦敦国王学院安全研究讲师罗布·盖斯特·平福尔德表示，这些言论是他“在欧洲引起以色列自称的朋友的不安”的最新例证。

“亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡激怒了英国最倾向于捍卫以色列的选民，”盖斯特·平福尔德告诉半岛电视台。

尽管盖斯特·平福尔德并非以色列政府官员，但他表示，“由于本杰明·内塔尼亚胡日益专制的领导风格，他据称在幕后拥有更大的实际权力”。

阿伯里斯特威斯大学国际历史讲师詹姆斯·沃恩表示，这些言论可能会疏远英国右翼的一些人，尽管右翼并非一个团结的阵营。

沃恩告诉半岛电视台，虽然英国主流右翼运动总体上是亲以色列的，但英国“极右翼”的某些势力历来是“英国政坛的反以色列力量”，他还补充说，有迹象表明“复兴英国”运动正在“回归更古老的反犹太主义传统”。

去年，“复兴英国”组织的洛伊谈到一台会拍摄他的摄像机时说：“以前你会称它为‘犹太人摄像机’，但现在这么说在政治上不正确了。因为它太小了。”他还呼吁禁止犹太洁食和清真食品。他否认了反犹主义的指控。

以色列官员保持沉默。

没有一位以色列政府官员公开支持亚伊尔·内塔尼亚胡在福克兰群岛问题上的立场。

然而，以色列外交部长吉迪恩·萨尔此前曾援引这些岛屿来为以色列在被占领的西岸的非法定居点政策辩护。

在2月份的联合国安理会辩论中，萨尔表示，以色列在西岸的定居点位于“我们自身文明的摇篮”上，并将其与福克兰群岛进行了对比。

“这是我们的国家；它不像福克兰群岛那样远在13000公里之外，”萨尔对时任英国外交大臣伊薇特·库珀说道。“阿根廷人称之为马尔维纳斯群岛——这是你们至今仍未与阿根廷解决的争端。”

沃恩指出，福克兰群岛长期以来一直是“英以关系中的一个棘手问题”，包括在 20 世纪 80 年代初，因为以色列向阿根廷出售武器。

沃恩告诉半岛电视台：“以色列现任政府再次打出福克兰群岛牌，这本身意义不大，而且可能比其他任何事情更能说明以色列和阿根廷之间目前的友好关系状况。”

以色列官员在回应有关以色列非法占领巴勒斯坦土地的批评时，还提出了其他领土问题。

7 月 31 日，当西班牙当局面临大量民众涌入其位于摩洛哥边境的休达领土时，以色列驻联合国大使丹尼·达农就西班牙对这块非洲飞地的控制问题向其发出挑衅。

“也许在它继续对我们说教之前，是时候向世界解释一下为什么它（西班牙）仍然在非洲保留殖民地了，”达农在 X 上的一篇文章中写道。

西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯指出，以色列正在加沙实施种族灭绝，马德里已对以色列实施了包括全面武器禁运在内的全面措施。

与英国和其他欧洲国家一样，西班牙也承认巴勒斯坦建国。

“全面重置”

尽管以色列和英国传统上关系密切，但在工党于 2024 年上台执政后，两国关系出现了紧张迹象。

在前工党首相基尔·斯塔默的领导下，英国暂停了与以色列的自由贸易谈判，并吊销了部分武器出口许可证。英国还对以色列极右翼内阁成员伊塔马尔·本-格维尔和贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇实施了制裁。

英国新任首相安迪·伯纳姆目前正在考虑采取进一步措施，以应对以色列非法定居点问题。

随着两国关系恶化，以色列官员对英国进行了嘲讽。内塔尼亚胡总理最近称英国为“不列颠伊斯兰共和国”。

沃恩表示，福克兰群岛问题的再次出现“表明英国和以色列之间存在潜在的紧张关系，这种紧张关系显然更多地源于双方在加沙、西岸和更广泛的中东冲突问题上的根本分歧”。