The U.S. warned Keir Starmer Tuesday that the U.K.’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state risked benefiting Hamas without bringing peace to the region.
U.S. State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, was asked about the British government’s announcement on Tuesday to recognize a Palestinian state by the U.N. General Assembly in September unless Israel took “substantive steps” to end the crisis in Gaza. Those conditions include committing to a longterm peace process that delivers a two-state solution.
“This is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7,” Bruce said, referring to the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023. “It rewards Hamas.”
Bruce said the measure “gives one group hope” and incentivizes bad actors to not cooperate with diplomatic channels.
“In any other normal environment where someone was so utterly defeated, they would surrender. In this case, that just does not occur,” said Bruce.
Bruce added that Hamas relied on “the hope that they receive on how long the suffering lasts, how much that pushes the world to acquiesce to their arguments.”
Calls for recognition in the U.K. grew across the political divide after images surfaced of the scale of starvation in Gaza. Starmer told his Cabinet Tuesday “now was the right time to move this position forward” due to the diminishing prospects of a peace process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.K.’s move would embolden Hamas and place it at risk.
“[U.K. PM Keir] Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
He added: “A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.
“Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
While Starmer has said Hamas must disarm, release all remaining hostages and accept it cannot be part of a future government in Gaza, it is currently unclear whether it must meet conditions before the U.K. recognizes a Palestinian state.
Donald Trump told reporters that he and Starmer “never did discuss” Palestinian statehood during his visit to Scotland earlier this week and that he and his government “have no view” on it. However, the president warned putting pressure on Israel to reach a long term solution could be seen as rewarding Hamas.
“You could make the case that you’re rewarding people, that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t think they should be rewarded.”
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