Labour leader Keir Starmer received two standing ovations after stressing the party’s support for Jews and for Israel in his keynote speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
Starmer said that he was “shocked and appalled by the events in Israel”. He went on to “utterly condemn the senseless murder of men, women and children, including British citizens, in cold blood by the terrorists of Hamas.”
Affirming his commitment to the two-state solution, he added that “these actions by Hamas do nothing for the Palestinian people, and Israel must always have the right to defend its people.”
These comments followed a one-minute silence in the conference main hall on Monday held in memory of the victims of the Hamas attacks.