- Written by James Landale
- Diplomatic correspondent, based in Jerusalem
Prime Minister David Cameron has urged Israeli leaders “not to take any action possible to escalate” tensions in the Middle East during his visit to Jerusalem.
The British Foreign Secretary met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit on Wednesday.
Israel has vowed to retaliate after an unprecedented missile and drone attack by Iran over the weekend.
Prime Minister David Cameron called on Israel to limit the scale of its response, fearing it could lead to a wider war in the region.
He called on the Israeli government to be “smart and tough.”
Prime Minister Cameron told reporters shortly after arriving in Jerusalem that he had come “to show solidarity in the wake of that horrific attack by Iran.”
He added: “We are right to make our views clear about what should happen next, but it is clear that Israelis are determined to act.”
“We want them to do it in a way that de-escalates this as much as possible and, as I said yesterday, in a smart but tough way.
“But what we really need is a renewed focus on Hamas, on hostages, on accepting aid, and on pausing the conflict in Gaza.”
Prime Minister Cameron is one of several Western foreign ministers expected to visit Israel in the coming days to deliver that message firsthand, and spoke briefly with German Foreign Minister Annalena Barbok over breakfast on Wednesday. We talked for an hour.
Prior to his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Prime Minister Cameron spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
The British Foreign Secretary will also visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories and meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.
Prime Minister Cameron is then scheduled to attend a G7 ministerial meeting in Italy and promote coordinated sanctions against Iran.
He accused the Iranian government of being “behind many malign activities” in the Middle East and called on other countries to take steps to limit Iran's influence.
“The G7 needs to give them a clear and unambiguous message,” Cameron said. “And I hope that happens at the conference.”
The United States and the European Union are considering further sanctions, and Israel is asking its allies to designate Iran's main military, political and economic force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), as a terrorist organization.
Israel has repeatedly vowed to retaliate after Iran sent more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel in an unprecedented direct attack on Saturday night.
Almost all of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defense systems, with support from Britain, the United States, France and Jordan.
Iran's direct attack on Israel was carried out in response to an April 1 attack in Syria that killed a senior Iranian military official. Israel has not publicly acknowledged that it was behind the attack, but it is widely believed to have been involved.
On Tuesday night, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warned that “any significant escalation will only worsen instability in the region,” adding: “Now is the time for calm to prevail.” .
Mr Cameron is walking a delicate diplomatic line as he plans to reinforce Mr Sunak's calls for restraint during his visit to Israel and put further pressure on leaders to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Foreign ministers will not want to appear to be taking advantage of an ally who has just suffered an unprecedented attack on its territory.
That's why Prime Minister Cameron has also spoken about the need to free Hamas hostages and the importance of Western countries imposing further sanctions on Iran.
His presence in Jerusalem is a show of support and solidarity, but also an attempt to warn Israeli leaders that serious escalation would be against Israel's and the world's interests.