Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with British lone soldiers serving in the IDF in Jerusalem this morning (Sunday).
Johnson heard from the soldiers of their backgrounds, how some had come to Israel to volunteer immediately after the Hamas massacre of October 7 and how others have been serving in the IDF reserves and were called up when Hamas launched the current war against Israel.
"I'm here to express my strong solidarity with Israel, the people of Israel," the former Prime Minister said.
"The key point that I wanted to make is just how strongly I disagree with those who try to make some kind of moral equivalence between what you are doing and what the terrorists are doing," he told the soldiers.
In response to a question by Israel National News - Arutz Sheva about the anti-Israel bias seen in British media coverage of the Hamas massacre and the subsequent war, Johnson said: "The important thing is for people like me who care about this issue to get across what we know to be the truth. That's why I'm here."
"I just want to underline the absolute moral distinction I see between what Israel is trying to do - not always with perfect success. Of course, like any army, like any armed forces, Israel will make mistakes and there will be suffering. But as far as I can see, the Israel armed forces, the IDF, have been put in that appalling position by Hamas terrorists. And for us in the outside world, I think we really have to respect the right of Israel to make sure that this type of terrorist attack cannot happen again. We've got to hope that it's done as sensitively and as carefully as possible, but it's got to be done," he said.
Johnson is visiting Israel together with former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as the guests of MK Danny Danon. From the Lone Soldier Center in Jerusalem, they will travel to southern Israel to visit the communities that were devastated by the Hamas massacre.