Kemi Badenoch today ‘congratulated’ Israel on strikes killing Hezbollah’s leader saying Benjamin Netanyahu was showing ‘moral clarity’.
The Tory leader hopeful said the attacks were ‘extraordinary’, insisting that wiping out the terrorist leader would help ‘create peace’ in the Middle East.
The comments came as the situation in the region remained on a knife-edge, with Houthi rebels claim they fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv airport as Mr Netanyahu was landing back in Israel.
Netanyahu was swift to shrug off the near-miss with an address to the nation shortly afterwards in which he justified Israel’s actions and said they had ‘settled the score’ with the death of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a man he described as ‘the arch murderer’.
Kemi Badenoch today ‘congratulated’ Israel on strikes killing Hezbollah’s leader saying Benjamin Netanyahu was showing ‘moral clarity’
Houthi rebels claim they fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was landing back in Israel after a short visit to New York
Mr Netanyahu said Israel had ‘settled the score’ with the death of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (pictured), a man he described as ‘the arch murderer’
He also remained unrepentant after a series of IDF strikes on Friday and yesterday left Beirut a smouldering city and said Israel will ‘continue to strike our enemies’ while continuing to press for the release of the more than 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Warning there would be more to come, Netanyahu defiantly said: ‘There is no place in Iran nor the Middle East where the long arm of Israel cannot reach.’
His comments came as air raid sirens sounded across central Israel on Saturday afternoon, including in Tel Aviv, in the aftermath of the Houthi attempt.
Large explosions were heard after a missile was fired from Yemen and intercepted, the Israeli military said.
Asked on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips what she would be saying to Israel if she were Tory leader, Ms Badenoch said: ‘I would be congratulating Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think what they did was extraordinary.
‘Israel is showing that it has moral clarity in dealing with its enemies and the enemies of the West as well.
‘Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation and I think that being able to remove the leader of Hezbollah as they did will create more peace in the Middle East.’
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chillingly vowed the killing of Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah and a senior Iranian commander ‘shall not go unavenged’
Fellow Tory leader hopeful and former foreign secretary James Cleverly has said Israel must act with ‘professionalism’ and ‘restraint’.
Asked what message he would send to the Israelis, Mr Cleverly replied: ‘I would say to them what I’ve said to them already, when I was foreign secretary, when I met with president (Isaac) Herzog, when I met with prime minister Netanyahu, defence minister (Yoav) Gallant, I’ve said that you do have the right to defend yourself, absolutely.
‘They are surrounded by people who would do them harm, but when they do so, they have to abide by international law. They have to be conscious of civilian casualties. They have to act with professionalism and restraint. So I will be consistent, I’m always consistent.’
He told Sky News: ‘I am no longer, because we’re in opposition, I am no longer able to access the detailed reporting that I did when I was foreign secretary, when I was home secretary.’
The shadow home secretary added: ‘It’s easy to have a view, everyone has a view. But when you are in a position of leadership, the kind of positions that I have held and I aspire to hold in the future, you have to make your comments based on fact, not just on TV reporting, not just on social media, not just on gut instinct. Any idiot can do that.’
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