ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “a war criminal” who should be in jail, not drinking tea at Downing Street, said campaigners protesting against his arrival in London yesterday.

Mr Netanyahu arrived amid a heavy police presence to discuss bilateral trade and development with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators protested at his visit outside the gates of Downing Street.

Many held Palestinian flags and placards as speakers at a rally vowed: “Palestine will be free” and demanded human rights and justice for the Palestinian people.

Baroness Jenny Tonge said she was “sick of hearing about new settlements, sick of seeing bulldozers destroying homes, sick of seeing little children bullied and shot” and called for sanctions against Israel and a boycott of goods produced in Israeli settlements.

Veteran peace activist Bruce Kent demanded Ms May stand up for human rights and stressed that “to be a Jew is not to be a zionist,” while Jews for Justice for Palestinians spokesman Glyn Secker warned that Israel was a “terror state.”

Stop the War Coalition chairman Chris Nineham told the gathering that the Israeli leader should not be allowed in the country, let alone be invited to Downing Street.

He said that it was to the PM’s shame that her last three meetings have been with US President Donald Trump, Turkey’s authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and now Mr Netanyahu, “a war criminal who ordered murderous attacks on the Gaza Strip.”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign patron Bernard Regan stormed: “He shouldn’t be having tea in Downing Street, he should be arrested and in jail as a war criminal.”

There was a small counterdemonstration by handful of people with pro-zionist placards and British flags.

Ahead of the talks, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged Ms May to outline firm opposition to the building of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

He also called on her to seek assurances that there would be no more “improper interference,” following the revelations that an Israeli diplomat was seeking to “take down” pro-Palestinian MPs.

But Mr Netantyahu said he was using the visit to form a “common front” against Iran and to strengthen “diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties” following a recent missile test by Tehran.

Speaking outside No 10, he ranted: “Iran seeks to annihilate Israel, it seeks to conquer the Middle East, it threatens Europe, it threatens the West, it threatens the world. And it offers provocation after provocation.”

A Downing Street spokeswoman said Ms May would use the talks to “to make clear that we see the continued increase in settlement activity as undermining trust” and to restate Britain’s support for “a twin-track approach” to Middle East peace which recognises “Israel’s right to be safe from terrorism.”