英语文摘：Spy scandal not at heart of British-Israeli relations

STRONG RELATIONSHIP?

Yet despite the question amongst some Israelis towards the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's stance, Britain and Israel do enjoy close relations. That point was stressed by Miliband.

"Britain has worked and will continue to work closely with Israel on a range of issues, notably the Iranian nuclear threat. But that cooperation must be based on transparency and trust," he told members of British parliament on Tuesday.

While the links between the two countries are strong on the intelligence and governmental levels, one problem that is currently dogging the ties is the views of the political left of British ruling Labor Party, according to British academic Jonathan Rynhold.

"The reason Miliband's speech was quite strong is that the left of the Labor Party and the government doesn't feel strong enough to stand up to them," said Rynhold, a senior researcher at Israel' s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

The left is already unhappy with London's close ties with Israel, and wants to see a greater effort to promote Israeli- Palestinian peace talks. Additionally, with a general election in the offing, many of the marginal seats have high Muslim populations, he said.

On the other hand, Rynhold pointed to the extremely close relationship when it comes to intelligence matters. Diplomatically too, Britain "likes to punch above its weight," and be a major player in the Middle East peace process. As a result it requires the trust of Israel, something London understands fully well, he said.

That trust, however, has been eroded by Britain's backing of the Goldstone report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes during the fighting in Gaza over a year ago.