UK condemns Israeli minister over inflammatory Lebanon remarks

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned remarks by Israel’s right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted “all of Lebanon must burn” after four Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah attack.

In a post on X on Friday, Cooper said the comments were “horrendous and abhorrent”.

She was responding to a post by Ben-Gvir who wrote on X: “For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn! With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit.”

He added that Israel “must not withdraw from any territory that our fighters have captured” and rejected the peace agreement between the US and Iran, saying “Israel is not subordinate to the United States.” He called for Lebanon to be “obliterated”.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Ben-Gvir’s comments were “not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic” but “a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime”.

“The genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv is a threat to all of humanity,” Araghchi wrote on X. “It threatens all humans. Its only interest is permanent war.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that forcibly displaced residents of southern Lebanon would never be allowed to go back home.

“The 200,000 residents living in the security zone will not return,” he said. “None of them will return.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper speaks during a virtual summit in London, UK, April 2, 2026 [Leon Neal/Reuters]

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for “opening the gates of hell” in Lebanon, repeating language he used in March 2025 regarding Gaza.

Since Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah began on March 2, 2026, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced and more than 1,200 killed in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.