By Yossi Lempkowicz
British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband held a “frank and constructive” first telephone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar, on Tuesday.
The two men discussed the war in Gaza, Iran and bilateral ties.
Sa’ar said he emphasized the importance Israel attaches to its relationship with Britain and to a productive dialogue between the two countries.
He welcomed London’s recent decision to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
He urged further British action against Hezbollah’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan. ‘’Cutting off Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure is an important step in preventing it from continuing its campaign of terror against Israel and its ongoing occupation of Lebanon and the Lebanese people,’’ Sa’ar said.
He had “made it clear” that progress on the implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan depends on the disarmament of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza, and “the demilitarization of the Strip,” he said.
Miliband who was named Foreign Minister in the new British government led by Andy Burnham, told Sa’ar that Hamas must disarm, the Israel Defense Forces should withdraw from Gaza and “we must see progress” on Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
The British Foreign Minister also expressed concerns about the “sharp escalation of settler violence and settlement expansion,” as well as the “dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
He called on Israel to “immediately end blockages on aid into Gaza” and reiterated his country’s commitment to a two-state solution leading to a safe and secure Israel and a Palestinian state.
He said the two also discussed shared security challenges and agreed on the need “to stamp out the scourge of antisemitism around the world,” adding that they shared an interest in ensuring “that we never see a nuclear Iran.”
57-year-old Miliband, who was raised in a secular Jewish household by Holocaust refugee parents, Belgian-born Marxist sociologist Ralph Miliband and Polish-born Marion Kozak, both from Polish Jewish families. He [has family ties to Israel and has previously visited the country several times.
He is a former leader of the Labour party whom he quit after losing the 2015 general election.
His elder brother David Miliband had been himself a former Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2010.
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