UK PM Starmer and Israeli president hold 'tough' meeting amid public outrage over Gaza genocide

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had argued with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday during a "tough" meeting that covered deep disagreements over recent events.

The meeting comes a day after Israel expanded its attacks in the Middle East with an unprecedented airstrike in Qatar, a British ally in the Middle East, which Starmer condemned.

Israel has been angered by Britain's plans to join several other Western countries, including France and Canada, in recognising a Palestinian state later this month - unless Israel meets conditions including a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies," Herzog said at a later Chatham House event.

He said Starmer's plan for Palestinian statehood and his views on humanitarian aid in Gaza had been the root of the disagreement and added that he had invited the British government to undertake a fact-finding mission to Israel.

Starmer's office said the British leader implored Herzog to change course over Gaza, expressing deep concern about the humanitarian crisis and urging Israel to allow in aid and halt its war on the enclave.

He reaffirmed that the UK and Israel were longstanding allies and said he remains committed to working towards an enduring peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Earlier, the two men briefly shook hands without smiling on the steps of Downing Street before they entered the building.

'Unacceptable' Qatar attack

Starmer also raised with Herzog the Israeli airstrike on Qatar, condemning the incident as "completely unacceptable."

"He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see," a Downing Street spokesperson said.

The Gaza war has strained Israel's relations with Britain and other European countries. Britain has blocked Israeli officials from attending its biggest defence trade show taking place this week.

Starmer is under pressure from politicians in his own party to take a tougher approach to Israel, but he told parliament on Wednesday that diplomacy was needed to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and to get the Israeli hostages released by Hamas.

Herzog's is considered in the West an Israeli 'moderate', but his remarks have been used as evidence in court of Israel's intent of committing genocide in Gaza. The president said in the early days of the war that all of Gaza was responsible for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack -- words that have been presented as evidence by South Africa to the World Court in its genocide filing against Israel.

Starmer had himself come under fire early on in the war, which is now widely considered a genocide, for saying that Israel "has the right" to cut off vital supplies to Gaza.

Asked earlier on Wednesday why he was meeting Herzog, Starmer said: "I will not give up on diplomacy, that is the politics of students."

Wes Streeting, who is health minister in Starmer's government, said this week that Israel's handling of the war in Gaza was leading it to "pariah status".

Starmer also hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, where they agreed there would be "absolutely no role" for Hamas in the future governance of a Palestinian state.

Britain has promised to recognise a Palestinian state ahead of the U.N. General Assembly later this month unless Israel meets four conditions, including ending the war in Gaza and allowing more aid into the Palestinian enclave.

(Reuters)