Donald Trump reaffirmed his opposition to a looming UK decision to recognize a Palestinian state, but the US president passed up the chance to personally urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reconsider the move.
“I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score – one of our few disagreements actually,” Trump said at a joint news briefing during his state visit to the UK on Thursday, when asked about Starmer’s decision to press ahead with recognition. He stopped short of calling on the British leader to reverse course.
While Britain has been expected to follow through on its promise to recognize Palestine due to Israel not meeting its conditions to commit to a ceasefire in Gaza, officials wanted to wait until Trump’s state visit had concluded to avoid a political clash, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
Starmer called recognition of Palestinian statehood “part of the overall package which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we’re in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a Palestinian state.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving ahead with a long-threatened ground operation into the heart of Gaza City, a stronghold for Hamas and the de facto capital of the territory, after weeks of air strikes.
Led by France, Australia, Canada and the UK are expected to use the annual UN General Assembly in New York as a platform on Monday to become the first major Western powers to recognize an independent Palestine alongside Israel, joining around 147 countries that already do and pushing more to follow suit. The plans were condemned by Israel and its closest ally, the US, which banned senior Palestinian officials from attending the annual UN gathering.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, alongside similar organizations in Australia and Canada, issued a joint statement this week that argued the announcements have “lessened rather than maximized” pressure on Hamas to release all hostages.
They “are gravely concerned that our governments’ announced intentions to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN this month are seen by Hamas as a reward for its violence and rejectionism towards Israel,” the joint statement said.
