Israeli president congratulates Keir Starmer on election win
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has congratulated incoming UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on what is set to be a landslide election victory for the Labour Party.
“As he prepares to enter Downing Street as Prime Minister, I look forward to working together with him and his new government to bring our hostages home, to build a better future for the region, and to deepen the close friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Herzog wrote on X.
Starmer has repeatedly refused to say whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide and has said he will only review weapons sales from the UK to Israel on a case-by-case basis.
In his post, Herzog also thanked outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for “standing with the Israeli people especially during this most difficult period”.
Several Labour candidates lose seats in UK to independent pro-Palestine campaigners
In Blackburn, Labour’s Kate Hollern lost to Adnan Hussain, who said in his online statement to voters that he promises “to make your concerns against the injustice being inflicted against the people of Gaza be heard in the places where our so-called representatives failed”.
High-profile Labour candidate Jonathan Ashworth was unseated by Shockat Adam in Leicester South.
“Our constituency MP refused to vote for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians,” Adam said on his website.
In Dewsbury and Batley, independent candidate Iqbal Mohamed, whose key focus areas include a ceasefire and peace agreement in Gaza, beat Labour candidate Heather Iqbal, while in Birmingham Perry Barr, the former Labour MP Khalid Mahmood lost to the independent Ayoub Khan, according to UK media.
In November last year, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer voted against a motion demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Later in June, during a radio interview as the death toll in Gaza rose to 38,000, Starmer stated he would not “pronounce that something is either genocide or not” and reaffirmed Israel’s “right to self-defence”.
Israeli rights group highlights killing of Palestinian children in call for ceasefire
Leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in a hard-hitting video highlighting that Israeli forces have killed a reported 14,000 children in Gaza, and 110 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
“No child should experience the trauma of war,” the group says.
