'Utterly indefensible': Protests planned on Tuesday as Israeli president arrives in UK

Thousands of people are expected to gather outside Downing Street on Tuesday to protest Israeli president Isaac Herzog's controversial trip to the UK.

The Israeli leader arrives in London on Tuesday for a three-day visit during which he is expected to meet with senior government ministers.

The UK government has not disclosed if he will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has come under fire from MPs in his own party for allowing the visit.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are among those who have called for a protest outside the prime minister's residence on Tuesday evening.

Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, called Herzog's visit "utterly indefensible and a permanent stain on our political history".

Pro-Palestinian advocacy groups have urged authorities to take legal measures against Herzog for his role in Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza.

Friends of al-Aqsa has called on the director of public prosecutions to issue an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader, who it alleged had made comments inciting genocide against the Palestinian people.

Herzog was quoted by the International Court of Justice during South Africa's 2024 genocide hearing of having used "dehumanising language" to describe Palestinians living in Gaza.

"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved," he said a few days after the 7 October 2023 attacks.

His comments were among numerous declarations by Israeli officials that South Africa said demonstrated intent to commit genocide.

The UN court ruled that Israel's actions in Gaza – which have now killed at least 64,522 people, driven hundreds of thousands towards starvation, and left most of the territory in ruins – constitute a plausible case of genocide.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians over the weekend called on British police to investigate and interview the Israeli leader over his comments.

Herzog arrives in the country on Tuesday for a visit which his office said is intended to "show solidarity" with British Jews. During the three days he will meet with lawmakers, journalists, and influencers, his office said, without providing further details.

His arrival is timed less than 24 hours after Starmer met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and comes less than three weeks before the UK is expected to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly.

Herzog's schedule has been kept under wraps, with neither the UK nor the Israeli governments publicly disclosing which government figures he will meet with.

No.10 and the Foreign Office did not respond to requests for comment.

The visit has triggered backlash among Starmer's MPs, who have urged him not to meet with the Israeli leader.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Tuesday became the most senior Labour figure yet to criticise Herzog, telling Times Radio that he "needs to answer the allegations of war crimes, of ethnic cleansing and of genocide" that are being levelled at Israel.

"He needs to explain how, when we have seen so much evidence of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Israeli army, how he can possibly claim that the IDF is the most moral army in the world," the minister said.

Israel has been widely accused of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier this month, members of the world's leading genocide scholars' association overwhelmingly voted in favour of classifying Israel's behaviour as genocidal.

The organisation joined numerous countries and human rights monitors who have concluded that Israel's actions amount to genocide.

The UK government has denied that Israel is engaged in genocide.

In a letter dated 1 September, the then-foreign secretary David Lammy wrote that the government does not believe Israel is acting with genocidal intent.

The letter, published this week, said the Israeli government "must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering" of Palestinians.