Downing Street later stressed that \u2018the UK and Israel are longstanding allies\u2019 despite their differences.<\/p>\n
Published On 11 Sep 202511 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticised Israel\u2019s \u201cman-made famine\u201d in Gaza following a controversial meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in London.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations,\u201d a Downing Street spokesperson said following the meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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Starmer \u201cimplored Israel to change course\u201d in Gaza, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
The rare rebuke marks one of Starmer\u2019s strongest criticisms of Israel since taking office in July 2024. It also comes as aid groups warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic hunger after nearly two years of bombardment and blockade.<\/p>\n
Herzog\u2019s visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.<\/p>\n
Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it,\u201d a protester told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not diplomacy,\u201d said another protester.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are aiding and abetting a genocide \u2013 and this man is not welcome in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting between Herzog and Starmer came a day after Israel launched an air strike on Qatar, a close ally of the United States and the UK, that targeted a Hamas leadership delegation.<\/p>\n
The Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer told Herzog the strike on Doha was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and condemned it as \u201ca flagrant violation of a key partner\u2019s sovereignty\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite the sharp words, the spokesperson added that \u201cthe UK and Israel are longstanding allies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking after his meeting with Starmer, Herzog confirmed the two leaders had \u201cargued out of respect\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings were said that were tough and strong,\u201d Herzog said, adding, \u201cClearly, we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herzog also said that he had invited the UK to send \u201ca fact-finding mission\u201d to Israel \u201cto study the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level\u201d.<\/p>\n
Herzog previously said publicly that the \u201centire [Palestinian] nation\u201d was responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel, and two months later, he was witnessed personally signing artillery shells due to be fired into Gaza.<\/p>\n
In parliament earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn asked: \u201cWhat does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?\u201d<\/p>\n
Starmer defended his decision to meet Herzog, rejecting calls to cut diplomatic ties. \u201cI will not give up on diplomacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the politics of students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Downing Street later stressed that \u2018the UK and Israel are longstanding allies\u2019 despite their differences. Published On 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,299,2194,4884,4582,13642,837,7424,839,12,1144,1814,285,2579,6860,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-414984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-gaza","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-humanitarian-crises","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","18":"tag-middle-east","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-palestine","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-protests","24":"tag-qatar","25":"tag-scotland","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom","28":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115183964908591784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}