After 28 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the slaughter of more than 72,000 Palestinians, the near-annihilation of the territory’s entire civilian infrastructure, and the relentless use of starvation as a weapon of war, we now know what a senior British cabinet member genuinely thinks in private.
Step forward the secretary of state for health, Wes Streeting. He is not just a cabinet minister, but a man who many on the right of the Labour Party look set to back in any leadership contest to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
He is not of the hard-core left, where demands to hold Israel to account are standard practice. He is so part of the Labour elite furniture that he has been in regular WhatsApp contact with the continuously disgraced titan of New Labour, Peter Mandelson.
This week, Streeting decided to publish some of his messages with Mandelson following the tawdry, disgusting revelations about the former Labour peer’s long-term entanglement with the paedophile and sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Streeting no doubt wanted to highlight that although they were politically close, exchanging views on the political scene and government policy, he was not in cahoots with Mandelson in this insidious world which the latter inhabited.
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Yet on Israel, Streeting – who could never have conceived of the circumstances in which these exchanges would be published – confessed to Mandelson his genuine concerns about Israeli conduct.
The relevant extracts, in an exchange from July 2025, read in part: “Israel is committing war crimes before our eyes. Their government talks the language of ethnic cleansing, and I have met with our own medics out there who describe the most chilling and distressing scenes of calculated brutality against women and children.”
‘Language of ethnic cleansing’
Yes, this is an admission that Streeting thinks Israel is committing war crimes. But hold on: he is a member of a government where the foreign secretary at the time, David Lammy, was compelled by Downing Street to walk back a statement that Israel had violated international law.
In a stunning humiliation last March, Lammy had to correct the record, noting that the government view was that there was just a “risk” that Israel was doing so. Ministers lamely claim that such matters are for the courts to determine, a position that never existed when the UK government swiftly condemned Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
He is dismissive of the UK sanctions on just two Israeli ministers. He understands that the mini-steps his government has taken count for next to zero
Streeting’s comments are also critical of Israeli government statements using “the language of ethnic cleansing”. Indeed, many Israeli ministers have openly backed emptying Gaza of its Palestinian population – and once again, the British government has rarely condemned such statements.
Streeting could and should have used the term “genocidal language”, given the copious examples of top Israeli leaders doing exactly that. He is acknowledging here the Israeli declarations of intent, germane to any determination of genocide.
Even more telling, Streeting’s messages to Mandelson went on to note: “This is rogue state behaviour. Let them pay the price as pariahs with sanctions applied to the state, not just a few ministers.”
So not only does Streeting disagree with his government’s position on Israel committing war crimes, he considers Israel to be a rogue state that should be sanctioned. He is dismissive of the UK sanctions on just two Israeli ministers. He understands that the mini-steps his government has taken count for next to zero.
Yes, Streeting is acknowledging what – to anyone with any knowledge of the horrors in Gaza – is an absurd statement of the obvious. He also refers to Israel as a pariah, yet this does not match the position of the UK government, which still depicts Israel as a friend and ally, and refuses to impose a full arms embargo.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, told a Labour Friends of Israel reception in September: “In me, you always have a friend.”
Unaccountable power
Streeting’s messages were also highly critical of the UK’s hesitation in recognising a Palestinian state. On this, too, he was on the money. The government was hesitant last July, making recognition conditional on Israeli conduct, unlike other countries such as France.
For those in doubt about Streeting’s pro-Israel credentials, he reminded Mandelson: “I’ve never been a shrinking [violet] on Israel,” noting that he has supported Labour Friends of Israel for more than 20 years.
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That said, he has also been on a delegation with my organisation, the Council for Arab-British Understanding, to the occupied West Bank. He was not averse to criticism of Israeli policies, but never in the fashion of these secret exchanges with the former UK ambassador to Washington.
Perhaps less relevant is the reaction of Mandelson to these comments, given his political career is toast amid the Epstein revelations. He was far more guarded, offering zero criticism of Israeli behaviour, and echoing standard pro-Israel nonsense in claiming that recognition is “a gesture” that could blow a two-state solution “out of the water”.
All of this begs many questions. Why has Streeting said nothing in public? Did he deliberately release these messages on Palestine to embarrass Starmer? Now that this is out in the open, will he go on record to expand on his position? Will he publicly insist on a UK course correction? Will Downing Street compel Streeting to retreat from this view, as it did Lammy last year? Are there other cabinet members who think the same?
In the meantime, these messages leave the British government’s lame and complicit position on Israel utterly exposed. Its leading lights know what is happening; the evidence is overwhelming and clear, but Israel gets away with its behaviour cost-free.
Just as the elites tried to protect those involved in the entire Epstein network, so too they have they shielded Israeli leaders, who should be at the Hague – not feted at the White House or Downing Street. It is part and parcel of the same ecosystem of unaccountable power, a cesspool of cronyism and contempt for the public, that ensures they are above the law.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
