Boris Johnson made an official visit to Israel this week to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. After reminiscing about the time he spent working in a kibbutz in Israel in his youth he later described Britain’s support for Israel as ‘rock-like’ but in keeping with British foreign policy lines expressed support for a two-state solution and criticised the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
He seemed to be better briefed this time, unlike his visit in November 2015 when he caused a bit of a stir brandishing supporters of BDS as ‘corduroy-jacketed lefty academics’. Quite understandably his trip to the West Bank was later cancelled after this comment.
As foreign minister to the UK and former Mayor of London Boris is better known for being a bit of a bumbling buffoon rather than a serious policymaker in the arena of British politics. He once got stuck on a zipline madly waving the British flag, and tackled a small child to the floor during a rugby match. Here is a ‘best bits’ video for your viewing pleasure.
Since taking up his position as British Foreign Secretary the media have been desperately trying to improve his image and mould him into a man to be taken seriously in the international arena - nice try but we’re really just not buying it!
