The Shame of Starmer’s Folly

There are mistakes in politics, there are lapses in morality, and then there are decisions so disastrously misguided that they will one day be studied as cautionary tales. Sir Keir Starmer’s rush to recognise a Palestinian state, even as Hamas still parades hostages and vows more October 7 massacres, belongs firmly in that last category.

Nine out of ten Britons do not support this recognition. The public instinctively knows what their leaders will not admit: rewarding terror is not peacemaking but folly. To hand statehood to those who glorify murder is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. And appeasement, as history has taught us time and again, never brings peace. It emboldens violence and guarantees more bloodshed.

The Torah could not be clearer: “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse” (Bereishit 12:3). This was God’s promise to Avraham, father of the Jewish people. History has borne it out. Nations that stood with Israel flourished; nations that turned against Israel eventually diminished. Britain, through the Balfour Declaration, once chose blessing. Today, under Starmer, it stumbles toward curse.

This is not leadership. It is betrayal. Betrayal of Britain’s legacy, betrayal of justice, betrayal of peace itself.

The Torah commands: “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Devarim 16:20). Our sages explain the repetition: both the ends and the means must be just. Yet where is the justice in legitimising a Palestinian Authority that pays salaries to terrorists? Where is the justice in strengthening Hamas, which openly declares its goal of eradicating Israel? This is not justice. It is the corruption of justice.

The Torah also warns us with lo techanem (Devarim 7:2), do not give your enemies a foothold. Recognition of a Palestinian state at this time is precisely that: a foothold for terror, a gift of legitimacy to those who neither renounce violence nor recognise Israel’s right to exist. It is, in the plainest sense, placing a sword into the hand of your would-be murderer.

And so we come to Britain’s bitter irony. The nation that once recognised the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland now, under Starmer, lends recognition to those who desecrate that very land with blood. Instead of standing with life, democracy, and dignity, Britain now chooses hatred, corruption, and antisemitism disguised as diplomacy.

This will not end well for Britain. A country that abandons Israel abandons its own moral compass. And when a nation abandons its moral compass, it loses its way in the world.

History will not remember Sir Keir Starmer as the statesman who brought peace to the Middle East. It will remember him as the politician who mistook appeasement for principle, who confused weakness for wisdom, who dressed up shame as justice.

For the Torah has spoken, and history has confirmed it: “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.”

And so the moment has come for Britain’s citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, to raise their voices. To remind their leaders that peace will not come by recognising terror. Peace will only come by recognising truth.

Starmer has chosen shame. Let us, the people of Britain, choose blessing.