Speaking at UK event, Israeli President Herzog says unilateral recognition of Palestinian state undermines Middle East peace

Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the ongoing Gaza war and prospects for Middle East peace during an interview with Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) Director Bronwen Maddox in London on Wednesday. He cautioned that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Kingdom, France, or other Western countries would neither advance peace nor improve the humanitarian situation.

“Unilateral recognition will not free one hostage, will not feed one Palestinian, and will only embolden Hamas and reward terror. Friends and allies can disagree, but such a step would dangerously distort the path to real peace,” Herzog warned.

The Israeli president also firmly rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, reminding the British audience that while their government has sharply criticized Israeli military operations, it has likewise dismissed claims of genocide.

Herzog addressed the widespread rumors of “famine” in Gaza stating, “In the past 24 hours alone, over 600 trucks of food and medicine entered Gaza, alongside air drops and water supplies. Prices of food are dropping sharply because aid is flowing. The tragedy is that Hamas hijacks aid for profit and for war – selling it back to the people at triple the price.”

While welcoming discussions and disagreements between allies, the Israeli president criticized a growing number of Western nations for abandoning their support for Israel during the ongoing war, thereby strengthening radical jihadist ideology that threatens the entire free world.

“The big mistake of many countries is that they are making a huge mistake about who’s their friend, who’s their ally, or their enemy. We are fighting here to defend the free world. Israel is at the frontier of fighting jihadist civilization. We are defending Europe. We are defending western values and the free world with the blood and the tears of our sons and daughters. That’s what we’re doing. We’re fighting an aggressive barbaric enemy that has butchered, slaughtered, burnt, raped our citizens,” Herzog explained.

He also corrected the interviewer's claim that Israel has attacked seven countries in the Middle East since the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre in 2023.

“We were attacked from seven corners of the earth by ballistic missiles, by the most advanced weapons supplied by Iran to the proxies who want to eradicate us.”

“We are defending Europe and the free world with the blood of our sons and daughters. Our message is simple: help us bring the hostages home, defeat Hamas, and build a future of peace,” Herzog said.

While Israel is generally facing harsh international criticism for the war against Hamas in Gaza, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praised the IDF's Operation Rising Lion offensive, which severely degraded Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities.

“This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us,” Merz stated in June. “We are also affected by this regime,” Merz said during a G7 meeting in Canada, stressing that the Iranian regime constitutes a threat to global peace and security.

Herzog, who has been a voice of moderation and unity within Israel, has long advocated peace between Israel and the Arab Muslim countries and communities.

In July, the Israeli leader hosted a delegation of European-based imams who arrived with a “message of peace” to Israel.

“We are all children of Abraham, and I believe the historic progress in our region is a progress of dialogue between Muslims and Jews, and Jews and Muslims,” Herzog stated. “Here in Israel, we want peace. We want to see all our hostages back home, and we want to see an end to the suffering of the people in Gaza, too. We want to see better lives for everyone."