Starmer accused of ‘rolling out red carpet for genocide’
“Starmer rolls out red carpet for genocide,” reads the front-page headline of The National, a Scottish daily, as anger mounts over the British prime minister’s meeting with Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, today.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski is among those who have criticised Starmer for his decision to welcome Herzog, while calling for the Israeli president’s arrest.
“Welcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” he said.
“A 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.”
Demonstrators in London hold up signs and Palestinian flags during a protest against UK arms exports to Israel
Starmer criticised in UK parliament for hosting Israeli president
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced sharp criticism in parliament for hosting Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with an MP comparing the trip to a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Scottish National Party MP Stephen Flynn condemned Starmer for hosting Herzog at 10 Downing Street while Gaza is being turned into “a graveyard”.
“The prime minister will today welcome into his home … the man who called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people … a man who will ignore every word the prime minister says,” said Flynn.
“Would he invite Vladimir Putin into Number 10?” he continued. “What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man while children starve?”
Starmer defended his actions in response, describing calls to reject diplomacy as “the politics of students”.
