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LONDON — History often repeats itself. Just ask David Cameron.
The British foreign secretary was lambasted by his old rival Boris Johnson Friday, with the ex-prime minister accusing Cameron of failing to outright reject proposals to end British arms sales to Israel — and giving succor to Hamas in the process.
“If you want an example of the death-wish of Western civilization, I give you the current proposal from members of the British establishment that this country should ban arms sales to Israel,” Johnson, the ex-British Prime Minister wrote in his weekly Daily Mail column.
“If you want evidence of government madness, it appears that Foreign Office lawyers are busily canvassing the idea — which has not yet, as far as I can tell, been rejected by the foreign secretary himself,” Johnson added.
Johnson’s swipe at Cameron comes amid a heated debate in the U.K. about whether to continue to allow arms exports to Israel after the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in an Israeli strike.
The Cabinet is reportedly split on the issue as government lawyers mull whether Israel is in breach of international law in its Gaza campaign.
“He seems to have gone into a kind of purdah on the subject,” Johnson said of Cameron on arms exports. Ending such help to Israel would, he said, be “willing the military defeat of Israel and the victory of Hamas.”
Long-running feud
Johnson’s remarks also resume a long-running rivalry between the pair of former prime ministers, dating back to when the two men attended the elite British private school Eton.
The duo’s best known rivalry is taking opposing sides on Brexit, with the U.K.’s vote to leave ending Remain-supporting Cameron’s premiership and hastening Johnson’s rise to the top of British politics.
Cameron took a swipe at Johnson when he returned to the frontline of British politics and joined the Foreign Office last November, joking he had been no “Cincinnatus hovering over my plough” while out of government — an arcane reference to Johnson’s resignation speech as PM.
Johnson once called Cameron a “girly swot” for getting a first class degree at Oxford, while Johnson attained second-class honors.
