Sir Keir Starmer’s recognition of the state of Palestine contrasts with his past silence about – or muted criticism of – Israel’s destruction of Gaza, which made the UK complicit in an ongoing genocide of terrible cruelty, as described in a highly detailed report by a UN Commission of Inquiry this month.

The importance of the UK action – made simultaneously with similar statements by Canada and Australia, and ahead of France’s expected recognition at the UN today – is not that it opens the door in the foreseeable future to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian crisis, but that it underwrites the right of the Palestinians to exist free from the threat of physical annihilation or enforced exodus.

“The Israeli government’s relentless and increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offens

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