#uk-israel-relations

#uk-israel-relations

Herzog's visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech. There's a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it, a protester told Al Jazeera.

Herzog, speaking to the Chatham House thinktank immediately after the meeting, said he had offered the British government a fact-finding mission to look at the levels of aid entering Gaza. He denied there was any famine and blamed the high civilian death toll on Hamas placing missiles in living rooms. He offered no apology for the attack on Hamas's leadership in Doha on Tuesday, accusing Qatar of being allies of Hamas rather than mediators.

Keir Starmer has condemned Israel's strike on Qatar before a meeting with the Israeli president in London on Wednesday. The UK prime minister said the military strike, which targeted Hamas leaders stationed in Doha, was a violation of Qatar's sovereignty and risked further escalation across the region. The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages and a huge surge in aid into Gaza. This is the only solution towards long-lasting peace, he said in a statement on X.

The United Kingdom has said that Israeli officials will not be allowed to attend a major defense trade show next month in London. The move comes amid a deepening diplomatic rift between the two long-standing allies over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The UK this month said it plans to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in Septemberunless Israel took specified steps toward ending the war in Gaza.