KEIR Starmer has accused the SNP of engaging in "student politics" amid anger over the Israeli president's visit to the UK.
Isaac Herzog is set to meet with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, despite Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.
During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, the SNP accused Starmer of "harbouring" Herzog "while children starve" in Gaza.
The Prime Minister asserted that the meeting was an act of "diplomacy", as he accused the SNP of engaging in "student politics".
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: "Mr Speaker, Gaza is a graveyard.
"But rather than end arms sales, extend sanctions, and stand by international law, the Prime Minister will today welcome into his home – a home entrusted to him by the people of these isles – the man who called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people and who signed the artillery shells that destroyed their homes, their families, and their friends.
"A man who will ignore every word the Prime Minister says.
"Would he invite Vladimir Putin into Number 10? Would he invite Benjamin Netanyahu into Number 10?
"What does it say of this Prime Minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?"
Starmer responded: "Mr Speaker, for the record, we have suspended arms that could be used in Gaza, we have sanctioned extremists, we suspended trade talks.
"But the point he raised is a very serious one.
"We all want an outcome that ensures peace, that the hostages get out, that aid gets in, and there's a two-state outcome.
"It is the only way we will get peace in a region that has suffered conflict for a very, very long time.
"I will not give up on diplomacy – that is the politics of students."
It comes as an arrest warrant is being sought for Herzog during his three-day visit to the UK.
And on Wednesday, the Scottish Greens called for Herzog to be "arrested upon arrival to the UK" for his involvement in the genocide in Gaza.
Herzog has previously asserted that all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
In December 2023, he was pictured signing artillery shells which were used in Israel's brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Despite Israel's brutal assault on Gaza – which has killed at least 41 Palestinians since dawn on Wednesday – along with Israel's strike on the Hamas delegation in Qatar, Downing Street insisted Starmer's meeting with Herzog will go ahead.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister will be meeting the Israeli president, where he’ll raise the intolerable situation in Gaza, the action Israel must take to end the horrific suffering we’re witnessing. It cannot go on any longer.”
