David Cameron put a “knife in Israel’s back” by floating possible UK recognition of a Palestinian state in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct 7 attack, John Bolton, the former US national security adviser, has said.

Mr Bolton said that the Foreign Secretary’s remarks were no way to treat an ally at a time when Israel was being “menaced” by Iran and responding to an attack that he said was “comparable” to 9/11.

In January, Lord Cameron told a meeting of Arab ambassadors in London that Britain would “look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state” to see whether it could help to secure “irreversible” progress towards a two-state solution.

The comments provoked controversy, with some Conservative MPs claiming that recognition would “reward Hamas’s atrocities” in the wake of Oct 7.

A few days later, Lord Cameron expanded on the comments during a trip to Lebanon by saying that recognition “can’t come at the start of the process, but it doesn’t have to be the very end of the process.”

But Mr Bolton – who served as NSA to Donald Trump and as US ambassador to the UN under George W Bush – said that conferring recognition without waiting for the conclusion of talks between Israel and the Palestinians was ill-judged.

He said: “This is dangerous ground for the unwary, including both Cameron and the credulous Biden administration, which is also musing about recognising a non-existent state.”

As well as being “bedrock peace-process doctrine” that Israel and the Palestinians had to agree to any two-state solution, Mr Bolton said the Foreign Secretary’s comments were poorly timed.

“Israel is responding to a terrorist attack comparable to al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on America, while simultaneously menaced by Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons,” he said. “What kind of ally then puts a knife in Israel’s back?”

Mr Bolton said that statehood had “critically important characteristics” in international law that were not currently being met in relation to the Palestinians.

Implying that Whitehall officials might harbour a bias against Israel, he said: “However much the Foreign Office dislikes Israel or [prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, there is no justification for abandoning a key premise of the international state system.”

He claimed that Lord Cameron’s “other-worldly notion of recognising a Palestinian state before there is one” stemmed “directly” from the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who lobbied for recognition at the UN.

In the aftermath of Lord Cameron’s comments, Rishi Sunak insisted there had been no change to the UK’s policy on recognising a Palestinian state, saying that the Foreign Secretary’s words had been “over-interpreted”.

Mr Bolton said that the Prime Minister had “walked back Cameron’s frolic”, but still queried comments made by Mr Sunak last week that the UK would “recognise a Palestinian state at a time that is most conducive to the peace process”.

“Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, any prospect that Israel would agree, already close to non-existent, died along with over 1,200 Israelis killed in Hamas’s barbaric Oct 7 attack,” Mr Bolton said.

‘Total victory’

Instead, he added that the UK and US should let Israel pursue “total victory” over Hamas. “In the Second World War, president Franklin Roosevelt insisted that Germany and Japan agree to unconditional surrender. There is no reason Israel should not demand the same from Hamas.”

A longstanding advocate for tougher action against Tehran, he added: “We can then turn to other Middle Eastern threats facing Israel and the wider West, nearly all of which emanate from Iran.”

A government spokesman said: “The UK Government stands with Israel following the horrific attack of Oct 7 and against the continuing terrorist threat they face.

“As long-standing policy, we remain committed to a two-state solution that protects the peace and security of Israelis and Palestinians. That would require significant steps to be taken including Israel’s security to be guaranteed, Hamas no longer in charge in Gaza and a bolstered Palestinian Authority. As the Government has said, this should happen at a time most conducive to peace.

“The first priority in Gaza must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get hostages out and aid in, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.”

Lord Cameron on Saturday night criticised Israel after Israel’s prime minister signalled a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and said he was “deeply concerned” at the move.