Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel condemns Labour Government’s policies during high-level visit to Israel.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Rt. Hon. Dame Priti Patel MP visited Israel in November 2025, reaffirming the Conservative Party’s support for Israel and raising serious concerns about the Labour Government’s Middle East policies. 

Her itinerary featured top-level political, diplomatic and security meetings, including a discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and briefings with the IDF and COGAT. The Shadow Foreign Secretary was the first British parliamentarian to visit the Civil-Military Coordination Centre, the headquarters of the US-led international effort to implement US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza. 

She also met with former hostages and hostage families, and visited the Nova Music Festival site and Kfar Aza kibbutz to bear witness to the 7th October atrocities, as well as meeting Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid MK, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana MK and Yesh Atid MK Shelly Tal Meron.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary visited the Kerem Shalom aid crossing, where she saw trucks entering Gaza from Israel and heard that 4,200 trucks carrying humanitarian goods are entering Gaza weekly. 

During the visit, the Conservative MP for Witham highlighted the long-standing security, defence, and trade relationship between the UK and Israel and emphasised that the UK should be doing more to support Israel to address ongoing regional threats.

In interviews with the Daily Mail and Times of Israel, she emphasised that Keir Starmer is “putting political survival over UK security.” “Israel is pivotal to our domestic security. And the way Israel contributes to security in the region affects Britain and British citizens,” she said, underlining that the Labour Government’s policies on Israel have jeopardised “the British people, our country, our security, international standing and reputation.”

In a video reflecting on the visit, the Shadow Foreign Secretary said: “I’ve met with survivors, hostages and their families from the 7th October attack – families who’ve had loved ones returned alive and those that have not – and their pain and suffering is unimaginable.” She described the continued threat posed by Iranian-backed Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, stating that their actions “have brought immense suffering to countless innocent people.”

Addressing prospects for regional peace, she commented: “We hope the 20-point peace plan will lay the foundations for sustained peace in this region, but it can only work if allies, including the United Kingdom, come together to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, to eliminate Hamas and tackle ongoing threats from Iran to deliver much-needed peace and stability.”