Why won't Michael Gove criticise Israel over the war in Gaza?

Michael Gove said so many people now criticise Israel so fiercely that he is willing to acknowledge criticism but not to start it, because Israel needs friends. He argued the Israeli army tries, imperfectly, to limit civilian deaths while Hamas deliberately endangers civilians, and that Israel remains a robust democracy. Alastair Campbell pushed back with casualty figures and said his criticism is aimed at the Netanyahu government, not the Israeli state.

• Campbell cited 81,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, including 21,000 children.
• Campbell said Israel's own data shows an 83% civilian death rate, against 68% and 26% in US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Gove pointed to a House of Lords report for the APPG on how casualty figures are calculated, and said he would struggle to choose who to vote for in Israel.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Rest Is Politics (2026-10-07). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode