August 31 2026 - 7:30pm
Two unlikely social media personalities crossed paths when Yair Netanyahu, the fast-living son of the Israeli Prime Minister, clashed with Rupert Lowe, the ruddy-cheeked, blazer-wearing Great Yarmouth MP and leader of the Restore party.
The clash began when Yair Netanyahu posted on X that the Falkland Islands belong to Argentina, apparently in solidarity with Israel’s ally Javier Milei. Rupert Lowe hit back, insisting the Falklands are British and warning that a Restore Britain government would defend them by force if necessary. Yair then accused Lowe of hypocrisy, arguing that Britain expects Israel to defend its own territorial claims while threatening war over “some rocks” thousands of miles away.
The incongruous exchange reveals something about the changing priorities of the very online Right — and perhaps where Restore itself is heading. For Rupert Lowe and his party, it makes sense to adopt a more anti-Israel position, both to further distinguish themselves from Reform and the Tories, and as part of their association of Britishness with Christianity.
This is in keeping with the trend across the Atlantic, with Vice President JD Vance explicitly grounding his politics in his Christian faith, and influential Right-wing voices such as Tucker Carlson becoming highly critical of Israel. That is to say nothing of the growing influence of the explicitly antisemitic Nick Fuentes among some in the younger generation of Republicans.
Lowe himself was recently interviewed on Joe Rogan’s podcast. The fact that a humble backbench MP, leading a party that has never polled above 5%, can find himself on the world’s most popular podcast says a great deal about the interconnected world of the very online Right. And increasingly, opposition to Israel sits at the center of that worldview.
The apparent admiration for many on the Right for Israel always seemed insincere and transitory, owing more to their hatred of Islam than to any genuine support for the Jewish State. The very phrase Judeo-Christian values only gained real currency in the Sixties, just as support for Israel switched from being Left- to Right-coded. During that period, Israel was seen as an outpost of Western values in the Middle East, and hence admired by many on the Right, and despised by the far Left.
But today, the picture looks very different. The populist Right has dispensed with the economically free-trading, militarily interventionist shibboleths that dominated Anglophone Conservatism from Thatcher and Reagan through to the early 21st century. It therefore makes sense that jettisoning support for Israel would be next.
Netanyahu junior’s outburst also reflects the sea change in international relations brought about by Trump. Until recently, there were certain unspoken rules: allies maintained appearances, avoided publicly disparaging one another and generally refrained from picking fights over issues that did not directly affect their mutual defense or trade. Israel, however, has embraced the new dispensation with gusto — from Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar saying he would support Argentina against England at the World Cup to Benjamin Netanyahu describing Britain as an “Islamic Republic”.
In this context, we should expect to see Lowe and his outriders increase their anti-Israeli rhetoric. Unlike Reform, Restore is not trying to court wavering Tory moderates and do not have to worry about respectability. Given their low electoral ceiling, and the more nationalist instincts of their potential voters, the number of people who might consider voting for Restore but would be alienated by more explicitly anti-Israel rhetoric is vanishingly small. Adopting such a stance could help Restore siphon votes from Reform while putting Nigel Farage’s party in an increasingly awkward position as it tries to define its own stance on Israel. We saw this earlier this year, when Farage was forced to walk back his initial support for the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Ultimately, Restore’s low electoral ceiling means Lowe’s grandstanding is aimed as much at the globalized online Right as at British voters. But Restore has increasingly influenced the direction of Farage’s party, and Lowe’s break with Israel could help set the course for Reform — and potentially the Conservatives.
