Israeli minister likens UK's David Cameron to Nazi appeaser in online rant

Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli compared the UK’s potential backing of a Palestinian state to the British government’s historic appeasement of Nazi Germany in a social media rant on Friday.

In a post on X, Chikli shared a photo comparison of UK Foreign Minister David Cameron waving alongside the picture of former British prime minister Neville Chamberlain holding up a copy of the 1938 Munich Agreement that let Nazi Germany annexe parts of Czechoslovakia to avoid war.

Chamberlain had infamously declared the agreement with Hitler meant “peace in our time”.

“Hello to David Cameron, who wants to bring ‘Peace in Our Time’ and grant the Nazis who committed the atrocities of October 7th a prize in the form of a Palestinian state as a token of recognition for murdering babies in their cribs, mass rape and abducting mothers with their children, Chikli wrote.

Chikli, who is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was reacting to Cameron’s suggestion on Thursday that the UK could recognise a Palestinian state once Israel's war on Gaza is over.

As an Israeli official, Chikli’s deliberate failure to differentiate Palestinian civilians from those who carried out the 7 October attacks might be of particular interest in light of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) 26th of January ruling.

The ICJ’s ruling called for Israel to curb and penalise any direct and overt calls to genocide with regard to Gaza, which includes the use of language that suggests collective guilt and punishment.  

Cameron's statement that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state only if Hamas was no longer in the Palestinian territory highlights Chikli's unwillingness to make a distinction between the Palestinian organisation and the general Gazan population.

Hello to David Cameron, who wants to bring "Peace in Our Time" and grant the Nazis who committed the atrocities of October 7th a prize in the form of a Palestinian state as a token of recognition for murdering babies in their cribs, mass rape and abducting mothers with their… pic.twitter.com/ljLhQs5DbM

— עמיחי שיקלי - Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) February 2, 2024

Israel has claimed its military assault is part of an effort to “crush” and “eliminate” Hamas in Gaza. However, the ICJ ruled that there are plausible grounds for Tel Aviv engaging in genocide, with over 27,000 Palestinians killed and much of the enclave left “uninhabitable” by the Israeli military’s ground and air campaign.

Despite the UK’s strong support for Israel, Cameron doubled down on earlier suggestions that the British government could recognise a Palestinian state, the creation of which is openly opposed by the Israeli government.