Herzog ends meeting with Starmer, says he criticized Palestine recognition, ‘dangerous echoing’ of Gaza starvation claims

After concluding his London meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Isaac Herzog says he pressed the United Kingdom leader over his decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly this month and emphasized that the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is “the only first step” to peace.

“I made clear that the United Kingdom’s stated intention to recognize a Palestinian state at this time would in no way help bring the hostages home, help the Palestinians, or help bring an end to the conflict,” Herzog says in a statement after the meeting at 10 Downing Street, adding that the move “would embolden extremists across the Middle East and beyond.”

“Above all,” he continues, “I underlined that the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages is both a humanitarian necessity and the only first step on the road to peace.”

The president adds that he “voiced strong opposition to any notion of sanctions against the only democracy in the region, and I warned against the dangerous echoing of Hamas’s propaganda campaign of starvation in Gaza, even while 48 hostages remain in brutal captivity.”

Herzog also emphasized in the meeting that “Israel’s struggle against the Iranian empire of evil and its terror proxies is the shared struggle of the free world, including Great Britain.”

Herzog thanked Starmer for the UK’s decision, alongside Germany and France, to activate the “snapback mechanism” against Iran’s nuclear program, highlighting “the importance of preventing the Iranian regime from rebuilding its nuclear capability.”