ISRAEL'S president is set to visit the UK next week, it is being reported.
Two sources have confirmed to The Guardian that Isaac Herzog is expected to meet UK ministers and senior political figures on Thursday.
It will be the first time a senior Israeli leader has been in Britain since Foreign Secretary David Lammy secretly met his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar in the spring.
Herzog's visit is set to take place just weeks before the UK is expected to recognise the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly.
Downing Street has previously indicated that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces arrest if he travels to the UK given the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Herzog has previously asserted that all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
"The entire [Palestinian] nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved,” said Herzog in October 2023 in comments that were later cited by the International Court of Justice in its genocide ruling.
Although from a different political party to Netanyahu, he has broadly backed the military campaign in Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed.
The news of the visit has been met with outrage. Senior Labour MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the International Development Select Committee at Westminster, said she “really hope[d]” that reports of the visit would be inaccurate.
She added: “The UK’s recognised the ‘real risk’ of genocide perpetuated by Israel, so unless this meeting is about peace – what message are we sending?”
SNP MSP James Dornan commented: "Meanwhile we proscribe anti-genocide protest groups. If only they’d bribed, sorry I meant ‘donated to’ Westminster political parties instead.
"This is truly a dark day for the UK and it’s so called Mother of Parliaments."
Green MP Sian Berry said: "Our Government should have no business meeting with an agent of genocide."
And independent MP Adnan Hussain added: "We should be expelling the genocidal state's ambassador not welcoming its president! If he comes, he should be arrested!"
Keir Starmer last met Herzog more than a year ago in Paris shortly after he was elected as Prime Minister, where he praised the “historic friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom”.
Although sanctions have been imposed on two hardline Israeli cabinet ministers, there is still considerable anger in the Labour ranks that the UK has not taken more severe action against Israel.
Lammy's meeting with Sa'ar was heavily criticised after the UK Government refused to publish documents linked to it.
The undisclosed meeting was held on April 15 and came one month after Israel had broken the ceasefire in Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a single night, and with a complete blockade on aid still in place.
After knowledge of Sa’ar’s London visit became public following reports in the Middle East Eye and The National, two groups – the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the Hind Rajab Foundation – filed an application for an arrest warrant.
The groups alleged that Sa’ar had aided and abetted grave breaches of international humanitarian law in Palestine including torture, wilful killing, and extensive destruction of property.
The arrest warrant was refused by the UK Government on April 17, as Lammy had reportedly personally assured Sa’ar it wouldn't happen.
On Wednesday in the Scottish Parliament, MSPs voted to bring in a package of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against the state of Israel, while First Minister John Swinney confirmed the Scottish Government would not inject new public money into arms firms supplying Israel.
Swinney called what was taking place in Gaza a genocide and stressed "business as usual" was not an option.
No 10 has not yet confirmed a meeting between Herzog and the Prime Minister.
