By Stephen M. Flatow, JNS
Before lecturing Israel on Hamas and Palestinian statehood, he should confront the Islamist extremism, antisemitism and free-speech crackdowns tearing apart the United Kingdom.
Britain’s relatively new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has made a bold threat: Recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September if Israel does not agree to his ceasefire terms to end the war in Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas. One would think that after the horrors of Oct. 7, 2023, in which Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis in cold blood, a Western leader might understand the sheer absurdity of trying to impose preconditions on the victim rather than the terrorists.
But absurdity seems to be the order of the day in Starmer’s government, both at home and abroad.
Let’s be blunt: His ultimatum to Israel is not the act of a principled statesman. It is political pandering cloaked in moral arrogance, designed to appease Britain’s increasingly restive and radicalized urban base. Before Starmer lectures the Middle East on coexistence and peace, he should turn his attention to reclaiming the streets of England’s own cities, where Islamist extremism is on the rise and basic freedoms are under siege.
Starmer is presiding over a country riddled with internal tensions—racial, religious and ideological. Riots in towns like Knowsley and Luton have exposed the deep fractures in British society, particularly over immigration and Muslim integration. Reports show that anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate crimes have surged. Pro-Palestinian marches—many of them featuring open support for Hamas terrorism, calls for the destruction of Israel and veiled threats to British Jews—have become near-weekly events in London.
Instead of confronting the extremists in his midst, Starmer’s government has cracked down on what we in America would call free speech. Pro-Israel students and academics have been silenced. Protesters waving the Israeli flag have been met with hostility, while those chanting “From the river to the sea” walk free. The United Kingdom has even suspended university student groups that support Israel under the guise of “hate speech” violations.
Freedom of expression, which was once a pillar of British liberalism, is now rationed based on political expediency. Starmer’s government doesn’t want to confront the radicalized fringe of the Muslim population in the United Kingdom. So, it targets Jews and their supporters instead, who are easier prey.
Like French President Emmanuel Macron, Starmer is threatening to recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally if Israel doesn’t follow a path that London has deemed acceptable, regardless of the reality on the ground. He insists that Hamas must disarm, yet offers no concrete way of ensuring that happens. He says that a Palestinian state should be “demilitarized” and peaceful, while knowing full well that the Gaza Strip is a fortified Iranian proxy enclave and that the West Bank is teetering on political collapse.
In other words, Starmer wants to gift statehood to people who have shown no intention of building one—at least, not a peaceful one. This is not diplomacy; it’s delusion.
Statehood is not a reward for violence. And diplomacy is not therapy for a guilty West.
Contrast this with how Starmer treats his own citizens. Instead of ensuring civil liberties, he clamps down on dissent. Instead of securing law and order in cities overtaken by radical ideology, he backs off, scared of being branded “Islamophobic.” In the face of real domestic extremism, Starmer folds. But when it comes to Israel, a democracy fighting for its life, he finds his courage.
Israel has not just a right but a duty to defend itself. No other country on Earth would be expected to tolerate rocket and missile fire from its neighbors, border infiltration by terrorists and the open glorification of genocidal groups. No other country would be ordered to sit down at the table with leaders who deny its right to exist.
And yet, that’s exactly what Starmer is demanding. He and his foreign secretary have issued veiled threats of sanctions, the suspension of aid and diplomatic isolation. All the while, not a word is said about the corruption of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s child-soldier factories or Iran’s weapons that flow into the region.
Where is the demand that Palestinian leaders hold elections—something they haven’t done since 2006? Where is the outcry over Hamas using hospitals and schools as weapons depots? Where is the concern for Jewish lives lost—not only in Israel but in the Diaspora, where Starmer’s own citizens are under siege?
Before he presumes to redraw the map of the Middle East (the Brits and the French did a fine job of that in World War I, didn’t they?), he should fix the map of England. He should walk through East London, where my mother lived, and ask whether British values are still alive there. He should visit Jewish schools that require police protection. He should speak with young Muslims being radicalized online and ask himself whether the United Kingdom has become a beacon of integration—or a case study in appeasement.
Statehood is not a reward for violence. And diplomacy is not therapy for a guilty West.
If Starmer wants to be taken seriously on the world stage, then he should stop threatening democratic allies and start confronting the decay at home ... and take back the streets of Britain.
