TEHRAN – Israeli President Isaac Herzog is poised to visit Britain this week, but his arrival has sparked a political storm. Some lawmakers have accused him of supporting Israel’s military operations in Gaza, and accusing him of calling it the “idf butcher mouthpiece.”
Herzog is expected in the UK on Wednesday and Thursday, The Guardian reported. Some Labour lawmakers have urged Kiel Prime Minister Starmer and his ministers to avoid meeting Herzog and warned that they could send confusing messages about Britain’s stance on the Gaza conflict.
Former Shadow Prime Minister John McDonnell argued that Herzog should be banned from entering the UK. “I am allegeful to the decision to allow representatives of this government, which kill Palestinian children every day, to kill them every day to visit our country,” he said according to a British news outlet.
“The Prime Minister is absolutely deaf to the hopeless light-making of the Palestinian people and the overwhelming disgust of the British people in Herzog’s atrocities,” MacDonnell said.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, chairman of the International Development Committee, raised doubts about the purpose of the proposed conference, saying, “The UK has recognized the ‘real risk’ of genocide perpetuated by Israel.
Coventry South MP Zara Sultana has called for Herzog’s arrest. “I’m not tired of Israeli President Herzog planning on visiting London next week to meet the Minister of Labor. Labour is responsive to his reputation as a genocide party. Herzog should be arrested for war crimes the moment he step into British soil,” she wrote about X.
Unlike Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there is currently no international arrest warrant for Herzog, who supports Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
The controversy over Herzog’s visit comes after he condemned Gaza’s “terrifying situation” this week. He indicated that the UK may recognize the Palestinian state at its UN General Assembly this month, unless it meets certain conditions that Israel is unlikely to achieve. However, critics argue that the eugenic stance is more of an attractive appeal to Palestinians, which aims to divert criticism of Britain’s continued military support for Israel.
Political pressure on Israel is undoubtedly important to stop the war in Gaza, which has advocated the lives of more than 64,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The Herzog visit now serves as a Litmus test. Whether Britain will stand firm for Palestinian lives or enable it to reduce diplomacy to empty optics.