Starmer faces backlash over New Year post after recognizing Palestinian state

Sir Keir Starmer faced sharp criticism on Monday for wishing the Jewish community 'peace, health and sweetness' for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, just 24 hours after he announced that the United Kingdom would recognise a Palestinian state. Opponents described the post as tone-deaf and hypocritical, arguing it appeared to reward Hamas while hostages remained in Gaza and civilians continued to bear the brunt of the conflict.

Hours earlier, Starmer had published an op-ed in an Israeli newspaper on the festival's first day, headlined 'Why I recognised a Palestinian state', in which he urged families facing near-daily rocket attacks to change direction toward peace. He said the recognition would revive hope for peace and insisted that Hamas would play no role in any future Palestinian government, prompting immediate pushback from supporters of a tougher stance on Gaza. The post coincided with an escalation in regional tensions and a broader international reshaping of alliances surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Former Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz said Starmer appeared detached from reality, challenging whether Britain would commit troops or other military measures to confront what he described as an emboldened terror movement beneath Starmer’s stated policy. In remarks that circulated in media and on social platforms, Gantz pressed whether the British government would take concrete actions to back up the recognition, highlighting the risk that symbolic moves could be misconstrued as endorsement of one side over the other.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the British recognition and vowed to respond after returning from the United Nations General Assembly later in the week. Netanyahu’s stance underscored a widening gap between some Western capitals and regional partners about how to pursue a two-state outcome while maintaining security guarantees and deterring violence.

In London, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper urged Israel not to broaden settlements in the West Bank, arguing that political and diplomatic steps should aim to reduce tensions rather than inflame them. Her appeal reflected the delicate balance the government sought to strike between supporting its long-standing ally and pursuing diplomatic moves that could alter the regional dynamic.

Internationally, the recognitions broadened with France lining up alongside Britain, Canada and Australia. President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, argued that recognition by states across Europe could strengthen the path to peace if paired with concrete steps to reduce violence. Macron told the assembly that the move was a step toward a more stable region and framed it as a defeat for Hamas, should it fail to yield progress toward a two-state solution.

The domestic and international controversy extended to the human dimension of the conflict. Heidi Bachram, whose husband’s relatives were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, shared a stark image of a hostage and wrote that this New Year would not be sweet while hostages languished in Gaza. Other observers argued that the UK should avoid celebratory messages that could be interpreted as praising any party to the conflict while civilians suffer.

The episode illustrates how diplomacy is increasingly judged not only by policy outcomes but also by timing and tone. Starmer’s recognition of a Palestinian state was widely framed as a bold political signal aimed at resetting regional dynamics and signaling a shift toward negotiations. Critics, however, argued that a festive message to a targeted community in the same week could be read as incongruent with a hard-nosed assessment of the security environment and the suffering of civilians on all sides.

As European capitals continue to adjust their positions in response to evolving dynamics in the Middle East, observers say the episode highlights a broader risk: foreign-policy gestures that aim to catalyze peace can become flashpoints if the accompanying messaging appears misaligned with ongoing crises on the ground. The coming weeks are likely to test how governments reconcile symbolic recognitions with substantive steps to reduce violence and advance a durable two-state framework.