Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to arrive in the UK today for an official visit, including a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, to show solidarity with the Jewish community amid a sharp rise in antisemitism in Britain.
The four-day trip came at the invitation of the UK Jewish community, “which is under severe attack and facing a wave of antisemitism”, according to the president’s office.
Herzog will also hold a series of diplomatic meetings with lawmakers, journalists and influencers, and “will focus on advancing international efforts to secure the release of the hostages, alongside other political issues”.
He is also expected to meet Starmer on Wednesday afternoon, a Downing Street spokesperson confirmed
Ahead of Herzog’s arrival, which is expected to attract protesters outside Parliament, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the president “needs to answer the allegations of war crimes” that the Israeli government is facing.
"I think he needs to explain how, when we have seen so much evidence of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Israeli army, how he can possibly claim that the IDF is the most moral army in the world,” Streeting told Times Radio.
"I think he should explain that, if it is not the intent of the government of Israel to perpetrate genocide or ethnic cleansing, how on earth does he think his Israeli government is going to achieve its stated aim of clearing Palestinians out of Gaza without the war crimes, without ethnic cleansing, or even without genocide?"
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas arrived in London on Sunday for a three-day visit at Starmer’s invitation.
Abbas met with Starmer to advance the PA’s “bilateral relations” with London and coordinate ahead of the UK’s expected decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations.
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