Communal leaders demand clarity on hostages following Palestine recognition announcement

“Our demands on Hamas have not changed. For there to be any chance of peace, the hostages must be released. Hamas must lay down its weapons, and commit to having no future role in the governance of Gaza.

“We must also see significant progress on the ground including the supply of humanitarian support and for Israel to rule out annexations in the West Bank, and a commitment to a long-term sustainable peace. We will make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far both Israel and Hamas have met the steps we set out. No one side will have a veto on recognition through their actions or inactions."

Responding to the new statement, Adam Wagner KC, a lawyer for British hostage families, urged the government to clarify whether the this amounted to “a change in policy”.

Despite committing to recognise a Palestinian state in their election manifesto, Starmer had hitherto resisted calls by MPs – including many Labour backbenchers – to set a date for doing so.

But the JC understands that decision also took Jewish communal organisations by surprise.

Prior to the announcement, government officials were privately derisive of President Macron and his decision to announce that France would unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state, according to one communal source.

Both the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) and Board of Deputies have since urged the government to clearly spell out whether the government intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September even if Israeli hostages are still being held by Hamas.

In a letter to the prime minister, JLC chair Keith Black said that Starmer’s initial statement “failed to provide clarity if recognition could take place while Hamas continues to hold hostages and controls the Gaza strip”.

“It is by your government’s own admission that recognition will not result in any practical improvement in this situation. Perversely, it actively jeopardises any chance of a ceasefire,” he said.

He went on: “By making recognition conditional on Israel failing to agree to a ceasefire, it incentivises Hamas to hold out until after recognition. It is for this reason that UK recognition at this time can only be interpreted as a reward for Hamas’ campaign of terror.”

Likewise, Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg told BBC News that it was “unconscionable that the UK could recognise a Palestinian state while Israeli hostages – including British-connected hostages – remain captive in Hamas terror tunnels”.

In a column for the Daily Telegraph he went on to say: “We would like the government to state unequivocally that recognition will not be forthcoming unless Hamas meets UK demands. That must include accepting a ceasefire and releasing the hostages.

“It must be totally unconscionable for the UK to effectively reward Hamas terrorism while the hostages remain in inhumane conditions.”

One Jewish communal source, who asked to remain anonymous, was similarly scathing that the government.

"It's inexcusable to recognise a Palestinian state whilst hostages are still being held in Hamas dungeons”, they told the JC, adding: “The UK cannot reward Hamas with a Palestinian state by incentivising them to prolong the suffering of the hostages.

“The government must know it's an indefensible line which cannot hold".

The decision to recognise Palestine has also come under scrutiny from leading members of the House of Lords.

In a letter to the attorney general, reported by the Times, 40 members of the House of Lords, including Lord Pannick – one of the UK’s most respected lawyers who acted for the government in its Supreme Court fight over the plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda – have warned that the decision could breach international law.

The peers suggested that a Palestinian state would fail to meet the benchmarks required by the 1933 Montevideo Convention.

Several prominent Jewish Labour peers have also signed the letter, including Lords Mendelsohn, Turnberg, Shamash and Winston, as well as Conservative former immigration minister Lord Harrington.

Starmer’s announcement on recognising a Palestinian state in September has been further criticised by the leaders of the Conservative Party and Reform UK.

Kemi Badenoch accused the Labour leader of setting back “the cause of peace to placate his backbench MPs” and said his decision would “embolden our enemies both abroad and at home”.

In a column in the Times on Thursday, she wrote: “He is placating the sectarian special interest groups that seek to further an Islamist and anti-Western agenda because he knows that without their votes there is no Labour majority.”

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage told radio station LBC that the decision “rewards terrorism”.

He told host Nick Ferrari: “I do wonder sometimes if we have forgotten what happened on October 7”, adding: “Long term if we had an Israeli and Palestinian state co-existing and respecting the rights of the other to exist… then fine. To do it now is wrong. It rewards terrorism.”