Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state is “unacceptable,” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan accused Mr. Netanyahu of being a “roadblock” to peace on Saturday as Mr. Lammy was heckled by pro-Palestinian activists who demanded he “condemn the genocide” in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel has to maintain “security control” of all land west of River Jordan because areas Israel previously gave up have been used by terrorists.
The remark came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a post-war Israeli-Arab normalisation is only possible if there is “a pathway to a Palestinian state.”
“All territory we evacuate, we get terror, terrible terror against us,” he said.
Therefore, it’s “a vital condition” that Israel maintain “security control” over Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank “in any future arrangement, or in the absence of an arrangement,” he said.
The prime minister has also vowed to press ahead with the offensive in Gaza for many months despite mounting pressure on Israel to rein in its military action.
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday, Mr. Starmer said Mr. Netanyahu’s comments are “unacceptable” and “wrong.”
“Palestinian statehood is not in the gift of a neighbour. It is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people,” he said.
“It’s also the only way to a secure settlement and a secure future.”
Mr. Lammy echoed the comments, telling BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme on Saturday, “I think Netanyahu’s words were unacceptable.”
“Of course, the Palestinian people deserve a state, and if they don’t, the consequence of that is either one state in which Benjamin Netanyahu would have to explain how Palestinians and Israelis live side-by-side with equal rights, or no state, in which what he’s really saying is occupation and siege continues.”
Mr. Lammy said Labour—which is tipped to win the next general election by polls—is “committed to the recognition of a Palestinian state” and wants to “work with international partners to achieve that.”
Mr. Khan went further, calling Mr. Netanyahu the “roadblock” to peace at a conference held by socialist think tank the Fabian Society in London.
Resolutions of conflicts around the globe show “it is possible for people who in decades before hated each other, killed each other, to live side by side,” he said.
“It won’t be possible with the roadblock we’ve got with Netanyahu.”
The Labour mayor said he believes “it’s possible to be proudly pro-Israeli and to condemn the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza leading to the deaths of thousands and thousands of civilians.”
The ongoing Israel–Hamas war was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists, who control Gaza, attacked Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.
Both the UK Conservative government and the Labour opposition, along with the United States, have said they back Israel’s right to defend itself.
Both have expressed support for a two-state solution to the conflict and a “sustainable” ceasefire—but have resisted calls to back an immediate one.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until Hamas terrorists are wiped out and all hostages are returned to Israel, although its Western allies have been urging Israel to act within the parameters of international law as the death toll in Gaza—reported by Hamas-controlled ministry of health—snowballed to reach over 24,000.
Israel: Hamas Not Interested in Two-state Solution
Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesperson Tal Heinrich told U.S. broadcaster News Nation that Hamas is not interested in a two-state solution.“What they want is the final solution,” she said on Friday, referring to the elimination of the Israeli state.
“They say it, they write it, it appears in in their charter, they act on it. What more proof do we need?” she said.
Ms. Heinrich said Israel hopes that after eliminating Hamas, “there will be more pragmatic voices on the other side of the border and maybe we will be able to work towards peace eventually, but the right conditions have to be in place first.”
“It is an unacceptable term, because it means you have some kind of a ‘promised state,’ while you are required to acknowledge another state, the Zionist entity, recognise its legitimacy, and that is unacceptable,” he said, adding that Israel “is my enemy.”
Lammy Heckled by Activists
Meanwhile, Mr. Lammy was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters as he delivered a keynote speech on Saturday at the Fabian Society conference.The shadow foreign secretary dashed backstage as a heckler mounted the stage as he was addressing the conference.
A woman, bearing a Palestinian flag, shouted: “When will you condemn the genocide? How many more children need to die?”
After returning to the stage, Mr. Lammy said he wants to see “change through power, not through protest” as his speech continued to be disrupted by hecklers.
The shadow foreign secretary repeated the phrase amid shouts from protesters in London’s Guildhall.
The Free Palestine Coalition, which said some of its activists infiltrated the conference to “call out the shadow foreign secretary David Lammy’s position on Gaza,” rejected the idea that the state of Israel, which the groups see as an occupying power, has the right of self-defence.
“As a former lawyer, Lammy should know better than to falsely claim that an occupying power has the right to ‘defend itself’ against a territory it occupies,” the network of grassroots groups said in a statement.
“It is difficult to see how Lammy is upholding any commitment to human rights or international law as we enter into the 106th day of Israel’s unrelenting assault on Gaza.”
