Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday (July 29) launched a scathing attack on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Britain’s reported plan to recognise a Palestinian state by September—if Israel fails to meet certain conditions.
In a blistering post on X, Netanyahu cautioned that such a move could backfire on the UK. “A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” he wrote, warning against what he called dangerous appeasement. “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you, too. It will not happen,” Netanyahu added, accusing Starmer of “rewarding Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishing its victims.”
Starmer, during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said Britain would push for the recognition of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September unless Israel makes concrete efforts to de-escalate the war in Gaza. The UK’s conditions reportedly include a ceasefire, halting settlement expansion, and a commitment to a viable peace process. “I have always said that we will recognize a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution,” Starmer said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the UK’s shift in tone, calling for immediate recognition. According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abbas held a phone call with Starmer, who invited him to London for further talks and reiterated Britain’s stance, noting that Israel would need to show concrete progress to prevent the move in September.
The UK announcement comes on the heels of a similar declaration by French President Emmanuel Macron, who also signalled Paris’s intent to support Palestinian recognition at the upcoming UN General Assembly meet.