Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sharply criticised Sir Keir Starmer following the UK government’s decision to recognise Palestine as a state, accusing the British leader of “rewarding terrorism.”
Netanyahu, addressing the move on Sunday, September 21, from the United States where he is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump, said the recognition would not lead to peace and vowed to issue a full response on his return.
“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre of October 7: You are giving a huge reward to terrorism,” he said. “And I have another message for you: It will not happen. There will not be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan.”
The UK announcement came ahead of the UN General Assembly, with Starmer framing the decision as an effort to restore hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “To revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution, I state clear as Prime Minister of this great country that the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” he declared in a televised address. “We recognised the State of Israel more than 75 years ago as a homeland for the Jewish people. Today we join over 150 countries who recognise a Palestinian state also. A pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future.”
Starmer described Hamas as a “brutal terror organisation” and promised stronger sanctions against the group, insisting: “Our call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of their hateful vision.” He added that recognition was necessary because the situation had become “increasingly intolerable,” citing the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the recognition an “absolutely disastrous” decision. “We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas,” she said. “It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”
A spokesman for Reform UK echoed those concerns, describing it as “a knee jerk reaction by Keir Starmer to appease the hard left forces inside and outside of his party.”
Netanyahu reiterated his opposition in a post on X, saying the UK’s step “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism” and “punishes its victims.” He added: “A jihadist state on Israel’s border today will threaten Britain tomorrow. Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also condemned the decision, warning it “constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.”
The move has prompted strong international reactions. President Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One after meeting Starmer in Scotland earlier this year, said the issue had never been raised in their discussions. “We never did discuss it,” he told reporters. “You’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded.”
Starmer, however, stressed that recognition was about creating momentum for a two-state solution. “I know the strength of feeling that this conflict provokes. We have seen it on our streets, in our schools, in conversations we’ve had with friends and family. It has created division,” he said. “Some have used it to stoke hatred and fear, but that solves nothing. Not only must we reject hate, we must redouble our efforts to combat hatred in all its forms. We must channel our efforts, united together in hope, behind the peaceful future that we want to see… the release of the hostages, an end to the violence, an end to the suffering and a shift back towards a two-state solution as the best hope for peace and security for all sides.”
While the UK’s decision was celebrated by some Labour figures as “historic,” critics described it as symbolic and ineffective. Questions remain over whether recognition will alter the realities on the ground, with Israel continuing its military operations in Gaza, where the conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives.
