{"id":415227,"date":"2025-09-11T07:32:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T07:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/415227\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T07:32:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T07:32:23","slug":"uk-urged-to-arrest-israeli-president-isaac-herzog-during-london-visit-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/415227\/","title":{"rendered":"UK urged to arrest Israeli President Isaac Herzog during London visit | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

London, United Kingdom \u2013<\/strong> \u201cStarmer rolls out red carpet for genocide<\/a>,\u201d reads the front-page headline of The National, a Scottish daily, as anger mounts over the British prime minister\u2019s meeting with Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president.<\/p>\n

Herzog is understood to have arrived in the UK on Tuesday. He will meet the premier, Keir Starmer, on Wednesday and is reportedly planning to speak at the Chatham House think tank later in the day. He is expected to leave on Friday.<\/p>\n

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Herzog\u2019s visit, which comes during a week when Israel has dropped bombs on Gaza<\/a>, Syria<\/a>, Lebanon,<\/a>\u00a0Qatar<\/a> and Yemen<\/a>, has prompted calls for his arrest while he is in London.<\/p>\n

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has written to Scotland Yard, demanding that the Israeli president be investigated upon his arrival in the UK, \u201con suspicion of bearing criminal liability for alleged war crimes\u201d, the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHerzog is suspected of bearing criminal liability for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, and actions that constitute plausible genocide,\u201d said ICJP.<\/p>\n

Protests condemning the visit began earlier this week. Demonstrators will gather with pots and pans at Chatham House in an attempt to disrupt the president\u2019s address there.<\/p>\n

Friends of Al-Aqsa, a UK-based NGO that calls for political change regarding Palestine, has applied to the director of public prosecutions and attorney general to launch criminal proceedings against Herzog on charges of encouraging indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and the Strip\u2019s civilian infrastructure. It has also sought an arrest warrant against Herzog. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel\u2019s war on Gaza since October 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritish politicians have failed to defend the Palestinians and champion the rule of law. There is now an opportunity for the courts to intervene,\u201d said Ismail Patel, chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa. \u201cIt\u2019s time to end impunity and uphold international law<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery official, no matter how senior, must be held accountable for attacks on civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herzog, president since 2021, has come under fire for the comments he made in October 2023 after the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel, during which nearly 1,200 people were killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire [Palestinian] nation out there \u2026 is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two months later, he signed an artillery shell destined for Gaza.<\/p>\n

Sacha Deshmukh, head of Amnesty International UK, said while Herzog\u2019s position is largely ceremonial, \u201che has chosen to use it to defend collective punishment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis visit is a test of leadership and principle: polite handshakes and warm words will demonstrate neither. The UK will be judged on whether it took strong action against genocide, or helped to whitewash it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trip is certain to upset large sections of society who believe the government is at odds with public opinion. Tens of thousands have demonstrated against Israel\u2019s onslaught for almost two years. A YouGov poll in July showed that more than half of Britons believe Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza are unjustified.<\/p>\n

Green Party leader Zack Polanski also called for Herzog\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide<\/a> in Gaza,\u201d he said. \u201cA refusal to detain Herzog can be seen as a contravention of the Geneva Convention, which makes clear that states have legal responsibility for preventing the targeting of civilians. When this is breached, individuals must be prosecuted, and this should be applied to Herzog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of lawmakers, including the prominent Labour politician Diane Abbott and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn, signed a letter by Labour\u2019s Andy McDonald to Starmer, which said the visit \u201crisks suggesting the UK is indifferent to its international legal responsibilities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zarah Sultana<\/a>, who also signed the letter, addressed protesters in London on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Herzog has \u201cdehumanised an entire population and openly called for their extermination\u201d, said the independent lawmaker, adding that the visit shows \u201cthis Labour government is complicit, is enabling genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London, United Kingdom \u2013 \u201cStarmer rolls out red carpet for genocide,\u201d reads the front-page headline of The National,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[299,13,7424,12,14,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-415227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115184503639824889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415227","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=415227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}