Senior Israeli officials have called on Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s fraudulent claim to the Falklands, a British Overseas Territory, after the British government announced a ban on imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s fraudulent claims to Britain’s Falkland Islands, which have belonged to the United Kingdom longer than the modern-day Argentine Republic has existed , and where over 99 percent of the almost entirely British-descended population voted to remain British in a 2013 referendum. 📺 DETAIL: On Tuesday, the Labor Party-controlled British government, led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, announced an import ban targeting goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank , characterizing the settlements as causing the “destruction of the two-state solution.” The import ban was fast-tracked for implementation following the announcement of Israeli plans to expand settlement construction in the West Bank. In response, Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. “The British are not content with merely occupying the territory; they also carry out oil drilling there and steal the money from the Argentine people,” posted Ben-Gvir on X (formerly Twitter). “Expel the British ambassador tonight! We will not be a doormat trampled by an anti-Semitic government, in a country conquered by radical Islam, trying to save itself from economic and social decline by attacking Jews and the State of Israel. The British Mandate in the Land of Israel is over,” added Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on X, referring to Britain’s former governance of the region. Soon after, Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced plans to shut down the British consulate in Jerusalem, expel British representatives from the international aid center in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel, end British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank, and ban a dozen British officials from entering Israel. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “I call upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and to impose sanctions on Great Britain as long as the occupation [of the islands] continues,” posted Ben-Gvir. 🎯 IMPACT: The escalating rhetoric underscores the growing diplomatic tension between Israel and the United Kingdom. The push by Israeli officials to recognize Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands is highly likely to spark backlash from the islands’ inhabitants, who overwhelmingly voted to remain a British Overseas Territory back in 2013. Specifically, 99.8 percent of the inhabitants voted to remain British. This coincides with growing concern surrounding the fate of the Falklands since the World Cup, at which the Argentine national team displayed a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas,” meaning, ‘The Malvinas (Falklands) are Argentine.’ 📺 FLASHBACK: Ben-Gvir previously courted controversy in June when he called for all-out war with Lebanon , in defiance of the Trump administration, stating, “For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn!” Significantly, while Iran’s Hezbollah proxies operate from Lebanon, the organization does not have the approval of Lebanon’s legitimate government, which outlawed it in March but lacked the military means to force it to comply with an order to surrender. |
Es hora de que el Estado de Israel reconozca públicamente que las Islas Malvinas son territorio argentino ocupado, que los británicos le roban violentamente al pueblo argentino. Los británicos no solo se conforman con ocupar el territorio, sino que también realizan allí…
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) September 7, 2026
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