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Netanyahu Brands UK ‘Islamic Republic of Britain’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Britain as the "Islamic Republic of Britain" in a podcast interview, warning it could become the first nuclear-armed Islamic state.

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe Staff Writer

AUGUST 14, 2026 AT 6:53 PM

The remarks, made on 13 August 2026 during an appearance on the Israeli military radio podcast Melech Blitzer Haim, represent a sharp escalation in rhetoric from the Israeli leader toward one of Britain’s traditional allies, according to Brussels Signal.

Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on the bereavement-focused programme hosted by Avi Harush, a former Israeli military officer whose son was killed in combat in Gaza. During the conversation, Netanyahu drew a pointed contrast between historical British support for Israel and what he characterised as the current state of affairs.

VIDEO: Israeli PM Netanyahu on Britain:

You might call Britain the "Islamic Republic of Britain."

Someone said that the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain.

We’re making sure there won’t be another one–you know, in Iran. pic.twitter.com/WP6qQGlTud

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 13, 2026

The Prime Minister recalled that both the son and grandson of wartime British leader Winston Churchill worked as journalists and covered the 1967 Six-Day War with reporting that was “very positive for us”.

Try finding that in Britain today, Netanyahu remarked, before adding his barbed description of the nation as the “Islamic Republic of Britain”.

When Harush suggested that much of Europe had shifted in a similar direction, Netanyahu went further, stating that someone had predicted Britain would become the first Islamic republic to possess nuclear weapons. He then pivoted to his longstanding foreign policy priority: “We are making sure there won’t be another one here, in Iran.”

The language echoes earlier comments from JD Vance, then a US senator, who speculated at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington on 11 July 2024 that Britain under Labour governance could become the first “truly Islamist country” with nuclear capability.

The podcast was not recorded at the standard facilities of Army Radio, but rather at a studio in Petah Tikva run by New Vision Production, a firm that has provided services to Netanyahu’s Likud party in the lead-up to Israel’s October election, as Brussels Signal reports.

The timing of Netanyahu’s remarks comes amid deteriorating relations between Jerusalem and London, particularly over the British Labour government’s stance on the Gaza conflict and broader diplomatic frictions.

Reaction in Britain has been swift, with broadcaster Piers Morgan among those publicly condemning the Israeli Prime Minister’s characterisation. Even within Israel, some opposition voices have questioned the strategic wisdom of mocking a permanent member of the UN Security Council that has historically been aligned with Israeli interests.

Netanyahu has consistently placed the prevention of a nuclear-armed Iran at the centre of Israeli national security policy. Pakistan currently remains the only Muslim-majority nation in possession of nuclear weapons.

With information from Brussels Signal

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe

She was born in 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the granddaughter of an immigrant from Crete who settled in the Greek community of Johannesburg (one of the largest in Africa). She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and a master’s degree in Journalism from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She began her career at English-language media outlets in Johannesburg, covering politics and economics, with a focus on issues related to migration and the diaspora. She moved to Athens in 2015 to “return to her roots,” initially to pursue graduate studies, and has remained there permanently. She is married to an Afrikaner; they have two children and live in the southern suburbs of Athens.