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 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 adviser 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 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 rightwing government in Israel. But we mustn’t pull our punches.”
Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesperson, said Starmer should “seize this chance to state unequivocally to president Herzog that there must be an end to the suffering in Gaza through an immediate ceasefire”.
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.
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Herzog, who is from a different political party to Netanyahu, has a more ceremonial role and has previously clashed with Netanyahu over democratic and judicial changes but has broadly backed the military campaign in Gaza.
The Israeli president has received particular attention for a statement in which he asserted that all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
“The entire [Palestinian] nation out there … is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved,” said Herzog in October 2023.
That statement was given additional weight when it was included in the international court of justice’s order of 26 January 2024, finding the right of Palestinians to be protected from genocide was at “imminent risk” and saying Israel must ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces not commit any of the acts prohibited by the genocide convention and to protect Gaza’s population from genocide.
Herzog claimed his statement was misrepresented by the ICJ in selectively quoting him.
Starmer last met Herzog more than a year ago in Paris shortly after he was elected as prime minister, where he praised the “historic friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom” and reiterated the demand for the return of hostages and “support for Israel’s right to self-defence”.
But Starmer and Lammy have since adopted a more critical position on Israel’s actions in Gaza, which have killed more than 65,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Sanctions have been imposed by the UK government on two hardline Israeli cabinet ministers and Starmer has announced plans alongside France to recognise the state of Palestine this month.
However, there remains considerable anger and concern within Labour and elsewhere that the UK has done too little to halt the suffering of Palestinians.
Last week the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said he planned to boycott a state dinner to be hosted by King Charles during Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK in a fortnight’s time – in protest at the US’s lack of pressure on Israel to end the war.
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