Both words and deeds

Donning a kippah at a 1978 dinner

At the two greatest hours of Israel’s need — in 1967 and 1973 — Wilson was thus determined to expunge this stain on his party’s record.

When the Egyptian leader, Colonel Nasser, declared the Straits of Tiran closed in May 1967, Wilson pledged to Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to “promote and secure free passage”.

In Cabinet, the Prime Minister angrily batted away the objections of his Defence Secretary, Denis Healey, and Chancellor, James Callaghan, that such an exercise would be costly and militarily difficult. As Abba Eban later recalled, Wilson was prepared “for the maximum degree of commitment compatible with his country’s real strength and responsibility”.

When Israel struck, Wilson was clear in his own mind that “the first act of aggression” had been committed by Nasser.

By the time the Arab world sought vengeance in 1973, Wilson had been replaced in Downing Street by Ted Heath. When his successor imposed an arms embargo on both sides, Wilson — who spoke to the Israeli Ambassador every day to keep abreast of the fighting — was incensed. As a debate in parliament loomed, the now-Leader of the Opposition insisted the Shadow Cabinet impose a three-line whip to oppose the government’s line.

When Roy Jenkins objected, Wilson lashed out: “Look, Roy, I’ve accommodated your f***ing conscience for years. Now you’re going to have to take account of mine. I feel as strongly about the Middle East as you do about the Common Market.”

With pro-Israeli Tories revolting against their government, Wilson attempted to quell a pro-Arab revolt on Labour’s backbenchers. In the debate, he raised the spectre of appeasement and likened the government’s position to the policy of non-intervention in the Spanish civil war.

Britain must not give into blackmail by “oil-rich monarchs and presidents”, he argued, but must instead stand with “democratic socialist” Israel. Later he sacked one of the Labour rebels, Andrew Faulds, from the frontbench, telling him it was because of his “uncomradely behaviour” in suggesting that Jewish MPs had dual loyalties.

Wilson’s first overseas trip after leaving office was to visit Israel. There, he inspected a forest that had been named after him in Nazareth. It was a fitting tribute — and one the Israeli state would never, quite rightly, have offered to Bevin.