Netanyahu seems to swipe at Starmer over Manchester attack: ‘Weakness in the face of terror only brings more terror’

By Lazar Berman

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2 October 2025, 8:20 pm

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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Orthodox Jewish men walk near the scene of a deadly terror attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, October 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Hinting that the stance of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the war in Gaza and recognition of a Palestinian state contributed to the terror attack in Manchester, Prime Minister Netanyahu says on X, “as I warned at the UN: weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.”

Speaking at the United Nations last week, Netanyahu said to world leaders, including Starmer, who recognized a Palestinian state: “You can’t appease your way out of Jihad, and you won’t escape the Islamist storm by sacrificing Israel. To overcome that storm, you have to stand with Israel. But that’s not what you’re doing.”

“Israel grieves with the Jewish community in the UK after the barbaric terror attack in Manchester,” Netanyahu adds on X after the end of Yom Kippur in Israel.