Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the UK as the “Islamic Republic of Britain,” recycling an old JD Vance line during a podcast appearance.
Netanyahu made the remark discussing how attitudes toward Israel in Britain have shifted since the Six-Day War of 1967. Not a serious analysis of British politics, the elected leader of Israel using “Islamic” as an insult against a longstanding ally, while getting some fairly basic facts wrong along the way.
What he actually said
Netanyahu was on an Army Radio podcast with Avi Harush when the conversation turned to Randolph Churchill, son of Winston Churchill, and his own son, Winston S. Churchill, who co-wrote a sympathetic account of the Six-Day War, when Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. Netanyahu contrasted that coverage with the far more critical reporting Israel gets in Britain today.
“Go find that in Britain today, in what is called the Islamic Republic of Britain,” he said, according to The Times and the Times of Israel. Asked whether the same description could apply more broadly to Europe, he agreed, then went further: “Someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain.” He followed that by referencing Israel’s operations against Iran, saying his government was making sure there wouldn’t be “another one” there.
Britain is not an Islamic republic
Britain is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. King Charles III is head of state and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, still the country’s established church. Parliament consists of the Commons, the Lords and the Crown. None of this is difficult to check.
Britain’s Muslim population doesn’t support the picture Netanyahu was painting either. The 2021 census found 6.5% of people in England and Wales identified as Muslim. For comparison, Israel’s own Central Bureau of Statistics estimated Muslims made up 18.1% of Israel’s population at the end of 2023. That doesn’t make Israel an Islamic republic either, a country’s constitutional system isn’t determined by counting how many Muslim citizens live there. Netanyahu offered no actual explanation of what he thinks transformed Britain into an “Islamic republic.” The phrase seemed to mean little more than that British government, media and public opinion are now more critical of his government than he’d like.
He also forgot about Pakistan
The nuclear weapons line doesn’t hold up either. Pakistan is officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It already has nuclear weapons.
The joke appears to originate with JD Vance in July 2024, when he asked, after Labour’s election win, which country would become the first “truly Islamist” state with nuclear weapons, and even Vance acknowledged Pakistan “already kind of counts.” Angela Rayner, then deputy PM, called his remarks “outlandish” at the time. Reuters reported the comments had caused unease in London before Vance had even formally accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination. Netanyahu’s now revived the same line, dropped Vance’s own reference to Pakistan, and presented it as an observation about modern Britain.
Criticism came from inside Israel too
Avi Dabush, a Democrats politician, accused Netanyahu of behaving irresponsibly toward a major international partner: “You are a prime minister. You have responsibility, and you sit there making jokes about Britain.” He also pointed out Britain’s a permanent UN Security Council member and remains an important diplomatic and trading partner for Israel. There’d been no public response from the British government at time of publication.
Relations between the two governments have clearly deteriorated. Burnham has strongly criticised Netanyahu’s conduct of the Gaza war, and Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state angered the Israeli government. Political disagreement, however serious, doesn’t make Britain an Islamic republic. Netanyahu’s free to argue the British government’s Israel policy is wrong, criticise the Palestine recognition, object to UK arms restrictions, or challenge claims about Israeli forces’ conduct. Instead he chose to mock the country itself.
Criticism of Israel isn’t an Islamic takeover
Netanyahu’s description tries to collapse several separate things into one. Britain has a Muslim population. Its government has criticised Israel. There’ve been large demonstrations over Gaza. British politicians have called for stronger action against his administration. Those are separate facts. None of them establishes Britain has become an Islamic state. The line only works if “Islamic” gets treated as shorthand for anything Netanyahu personally dislikes, criticism of his government included.
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