“A man who has issued a genocidal statements that dehumanise all Palestinians, as Herzog has, belongs not in a comfy chair in Downing Street but in the dock at the Hague.”
Ben Jamal, PSC Director
By the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)
More than 60 Parliamentarians have written to the Prime Minister expressing their grave concern at reports that Israeli President Isaac Herzog is to be welcomed on a visit to London from today.
In the letter they state that the UK, as a state party to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a binding responsibility not only to refrain from committing genocide itself, but “also to take active steps to prevent and punish genocide and incitement to it wherever it occurs. This obligation includes ensuring that individuals credibly implicated in the commission or incitement of such crimes are not afforded political legitimacy or hospitality by our government.”
They point out that in 2024 the ICJ determined that there was a plausible risk that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. They add, “In making that finding, the Court specifically cited statements made by President Herzog which appeared to dehumanise the Palestinian people and endorse collective punishment.”
They ask ministers to urgently “clarify what legal advice they have received regarding this visit, whether President Herzog’s entry to the UK is compatible with our obligations under the Genocide Convention, and what steps will be taken to ensure that Britain is not complicit in shielding or legitimising those accused of grave international crimes.” Finally, they add “Will any visa application made by the Israeli President to visit the UK this week be rejected or will he be subject to police investigation if he does arrive?”
Large and vociferous protests are expected today to condemn the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to London. Herzog has been one of the architects of the genocide in Gaza, that has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including at least 20 000 children, while maiming and traumatising many hundreds of thousands more. The decision of the British government to allow a visit has caused outrage and revulsion amongst supporters of Palestinian rights.
Herzog has been a key member of the Israeli regime throughout the genocide, being pictured signing missiles used in Gaza and making statements such as “The entire [Palestinian] nation out there… is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.”
Andy McDonald MP, said:
“It is of real concern the government has not concluded that Israel is acting with the intent of causing genocide, and that the government does not consider ICJ Provisional Measures should be regarded as warning of the risk of genocide. We all see mass civilian killings. Destruction of hospitals. Withholding vital aid. Israeli Ministers stating ‘no food, no water’. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and the ICJ have all warned states to uphold the Genocide Convention. The UK is failing to do so and that must change.“
Ben Jamal, PSC Director, said:
“The President of a state recognised by a consensus of international law and genocide scholars to be committing the crime of genocide should be welcomed by nobody on a visit to the UK. It is bad enough that the government is not acting to deny him a visa; the news that Keir Starmer appears prepared to sit down with him at Downing Street is further confirmation of his government’s complicity in this genocide. A man who has issued a genocidal statements that dehumanise all Palestinians, as Herzog has, belongs not in a comfy chair in Downing Street but in the dock at the Hague.”
- You can view the letter and its signatories in full here.
- You can follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky and TikTok.
- This article is taken from a press release issued by the PSC on 9/9/2025.
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Yes, it is high time Great Britain decolonised the Six Counties