Netanyahu derides 'Islamic republic of Britain' in interview

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu derisively called Britain an "Islamic republic" as he criticised the country's stance on Israel during an interview.

The remarks echoed the language of far-right politicians and commentators in the Western world who have made baseless claims that parts of Britain have come under Islamic law due to immigration, drawing accusations of Islamophobia.

In an interview, the right-wing prime minister spoke of how Winston Churchill's grandson and namesake vocally supported Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"Would you find that now?" Netanyahu said on an army radio podcast on Thursday.

"Someone once said that the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons would be the Islamic republic of Britain," he added with a smile. "We're making sure there's not another one here in Iran."

Britain was one of a number of European countries that recognised Palestinian statehood last year, infuriating Israel.

More recently, its new prime minister, Andy Burnham, has said that his predecessor Keir Starmer did not put enough pressure on Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza.

Burnham, in an interview with The Guardian shortly before taking office, said that Britain would consider banning trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Britain, usually closely aligned with the United States, has also taken its distance from the US-Israeli war launched in February against Iran.

Netanyahu has long vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a goal that Tehran denies pursuing.

Britain and the United States are nuclear powers, and Israel is widely known to have atomic weapons, although it has never publicly acknowledged its arsenal.

Pakistan in 1998 became the first Islamic nuclear power when it tested an atom bomb in response to parallel tests by its historic rival India.