Labour MPs encourage Starmer to refrain from meeting with the Israeli president
The president of Israel will travel to London next week for a controversially timed trip amid outcry from Labour MPs who have urged Keir Starmer not to meet with the visiting delegation.
The arrival of Isaac Herzog is fraught with complication for ministers, with the UK government on the brink of recognising the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly.
Herzog is expected in the UK on Wednesday and Thursday – the first time a senior Israeli leader has been in Britain since the foreign secretary, David Lammy, met his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, on an unannounced visit in the spring.
A foreign leader of such seniority would normally expect to spend time with high ranking government ministers, but any meeting between Herzog and Keir Starmer would be hugely controversial within Labour amid Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza.
No 10 has not confirmed any meeting between Herzog and the prime minister, and there are recent precedents for him not to do so, with Starmer having recently avoided a meeting with Bangladesh’s chief advisor Muhammad Yunus.
Downing Street sources suggested no appointments would be confirmed with any minister until next week but Labour MPs have already called on the government to avoid meeting with Herzog, saying any talks would send an ambiguous message about the UK’s position on the Gaza war.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP and chair of the international development committee, said on X that she hoped it was inaccurate that ministers would meet the Israeli leader: “The UK’s recognised the ‘real risk’ of genocide perpetuated by Israel, so unless this meeting is about peace, what message are we sending?”
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, said Herzog should not be permitted entry to the country. “I am appalled at the decision to allow this representative of a government that is systematically killing Palestinian children on a daily basis to visit our country,” he said.
“The prime minister is proving to be absolutely tone deaf to the desperate plight of the Palestinian people and the overwhelming feelings of revulsion of the British people at the brutality of the government Herzog represents.”
Labour MP Clive Lewis said that Starmer should exercise extreme caution. “Dialogue is one thing, but there are times when the act of meeting itself becomes a political statement,” he said.
“Clearly Herzog is not Netanyahu, their politics on many issues are at variance. But that said, the president’s own words have helped legitimise the collective punishment of Palestinians, language that international jurists have warned could fall foul of the genocide convention.”
However, Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee who has been a strong critic of Israel, said “efforts should be made to engage” with Herzog, who has often been at odds with Israel’s hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over domestic issues.
“The question must be asked – how do you see Israel in 10 years? What is the future for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza? If you have no reasonable alternative plan, Mr President, then there must be a Palestinian state,” she told the Guardian.
“But the only solution to this is through politics, through discussion. Herzog is easier to talk to than many in the extreme right wing government in Israel. But we mustn’t pull our punches.”
Downing Street has previously indicated that Netanyahu faces arrest if he travels to the UK after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
World Affairs Correspondent
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