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LONDON: Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had argued with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday during a “tough” meeting that covered deep disagreements over recent behavior by each other’s country.
The meeting comes a day after Israel expanded its attacks on Hamas by launching an airstrike aimed at killing the Islamist group’s political leaders in Qatar, a British ally in the Middle East, which Starmer condemned.
Israel has been angered by Britain’s plans to join several other Western countries, including France and Canada, in recognizing a Palestinian state later this month — unless Israel meets conditions including a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies,” Herzog said at a later Chatham House event.
He said Starmer’s plan for Palestinian statehood and his views on humanitarian aid in Gaza had been the root of the disagreement and added that he had invited the British government to undertake a fact-finding mission to Israel.
Starmer’s office said the British leader implored Herzog to change course over Gaza, expressing deep concern about the humanitarian crisis and urging Israel to allow in aid and halt offensive operations.
He reaffirmed that the UK and Israel were longstanding allies and said he remains committed to working toward an enduring peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Earlier, the two men briefly shook hands without smiling on the steps of Downing Street before they entered the building.
Starmer also raised with Herzog the Israeli airstrike on Qatar, condemning the incident as “completely unacceptable.”
“He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The Gaza war has strained Israel’s relations with Britain and other European countries. Britain has blocked Israeli officials from attending its biggest defense trade show taking place this week.
Starmer is under pressure from politicians in his own party to take a tougher approach to Israel, but he told parliament on Wednesday that diplomacy was needed to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and to get the Israeli hostages released by Hamas.
Herzog’s role as Israel’s president is mainly ceremonial but he caused anger when he said all residents of Gaza were responsible for the Hamas-led attack on Israel after the October 7 attacks in 2023.
Asked earlier on Wednesday why he was meeting Herzog, Starmer said: “I will not give up on diplomacy, that is the politics of students.”
Wes Streeting, who is health minister in Starmer’s government, said this week that Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza was leading it to “pariah status.”
Starmer also hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, where they agreed there would be “absolutely no role” for Hamas in the future governance of a Palestinian state.
Britain has promised to recognize a Palestinian state ahead of the UN General Assembly later this month unless Israel meets four conditions, including ending the war in Gaza and allowing more aid into the Palestinian enclave. 

UTAH: Charlie Kirk is in critical condition at a hospital after being shot Wednesday at a Utah event, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
A video captured at the event showed Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, bleeding heavily from an apparent gunshot wound near his neck. Officials said a suspect was in custody.
“We are confirming that he was shot, and we are praying for Charlie,” said Aubrey Laitsch, public relations manager for Turning Point USA.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.”
A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus.
Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. The event had been met with divided opinions on campus. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”
The college said a “single shot” had been fired at Kirk and a suspect was in custody.
President Donald Trump and a host of Republican and Democratic elected officials decried the shooting and offered prayers for Kirk on social media.
“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year.
Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.
“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.
He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough.
“Utah is one of the safest places on the planet,” he said. “And so we just don’t have these types of things.”
Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
But Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers.
Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign.
Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.