In the wake of the Labour government imposing sanctions on settlements in the West Bank, Israel retaliated by closing the British consulate in Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have at least one ally remaining in Britain, however, as Nigel Farage hyped up his relationship with the Israeli government on Wednesday. While the Reform UK leader claimed to have “emphasised the Falklands issue […] and its importance to the British people” following a diplomatic spat over the islands, he also proclaimed that, if elected, his party would reverse the West Bank sanctions and “undo the damage” caused by the Labour government.

However, this raises the question of whether a Reform government will adequately advance Britain’s national interest, rather than just kowtow to foreign states, particularly Israel. Former Reform parliamentary candidate Matt Goodwin said last year on GB News that the party will put “Britain first…not Pakistan, not Gaza, not any other foreign policy”, but when fellow panellist Aaron Bastani asked whether this rhetoric applied to Israel, Goodwin started stumbling over his words. It was a sign of just how much of an Achilles’ heel the issue is for Reform.

The British Right tends to be pro-Israel, largely out of a notion of “Western” solidarity against the threat of Islamism. Another reason is that Israel resembles the model of a strong, sovereign nation-state with military and economic power, capable of unapologetically defending its borders and dismissive of outsiders which try to dictate its policies. It’s therefore natural that British conservatives might view the national interests of Israel as complimentary with those of the UK.

Yet it’s now increasingly apparent that these national interests are not interchangeable at all, and that in some cases they even come into conflict with one another. Explicit support from Israeli government ministers for Argentinian irredentism over the Falklands is a clear example of this.

It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, either. During the Falklands War, Menachem Begin’s Israel supported the Argentine junta (which persecuted Jews), partly out of a lasting Anglophobic sentiment held by the Israeli Right since the days of the British Mandate. If it wasn’t evident then that British conservatives’ affection for Israel frequently wasn’t reciprocated, then it should be now.

Reform voters are therefore justified to be aggrieved with Farage for not forcefully asserting Britain’s national interest in the face of foreign aggression. His comments give ammunition to the accusation that he is “Israel first” and out of touch with what domestic voters want. British opinion on Israel has become increasingly negative in the last couple of years, while a majority of Britons support the sanctions against the West Bank settlements. Reform is operating in a political environment where unconditional enthusiasm for Israel is thin on the ground.

This isn’t the first time that Farage has shown his enthusiasm for the Jewish state. When the Americans and Israelis began their war against Iran earlier this year, the Reform leader criticised then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not permitting the use of British military bases. He then rolled back his position to one of “staying out” after the consequences of the war and its unpopularity became unavoidable.

Farage could perhaps take inspiration here from Mark Carney and Claudia Sheinbaum, the Prime Minister of Canada and President of Mexico respectively. Carney is a liberal and Sheinbaum is a Left-populist, yet they both govern as patriots — not just in terms of pursuing the national interest but in standing up for their country’s honour when it has been infringed, as with their responses to Donald Trump’s annexationist fantasies. It should be no surprise that they are popular with their publics as a result.

Though Farage is not in power, this does raise questions. If he were prime minister, would he really govern like a patriot? Would he defend Britain’s national honour, even against ostensible allies? One does not need to become pathologically hostile to Israel, let alone Jews, to understand that what’s good for Britain and what’s good for Israel are two distinct things. This week has revealed that defending what’s good for Britain might mean facing off against the Israeli government, and it’s a reality that Farage needs to recognise.

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Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism.

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