What happened in this episode?
Piers Morgan focuses the episode on the UK government’s decision to sanction individuals linked to Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, framing it as a response to settlement expansion and what he calls ethnic cleansing claims. Netanyahu spokesman Doran Spielman rejects the idea of collective punishment and argues illegal acts are prosecuted under Israeli law, while disputing that US ambassador Mike Huckabee labelled settlers broadly as terrorists. Morgan plays a clip in which Huckabee says he has “characterized” those carrying out intimidation as “terrorist”, adding there may be “a few hundred” responsible.
A second major thread is a Haaretz report alleging the UAE’s ruler warned Benjamin Netanyahu of a major Hamas operation 10 days before 7 October. Spielman refuses to say whether the report is a lie, saying he is not authorised to comment; Morgan asserts the allegation has been corroborated by other reporting.
On the panel, former Israeli foreign ministry legal adviser Alan Baker argues that calling settlements illegal is “wrong in law”, offering a conditional defence based on land ownership and temporariness. Palestinian-American journalist Omar Baddar counters that the illegality of settlements is settled by UN and ICJ positions and denounces settler violence as terrorism. US-Israeli journalist Emily Schrader distinguishes between a small extremist faction and the wider settler population, warns the UK move may be driven by domestic politics, and urges caution on the Haaretz allegation pending more context.
