On Sunday 21 September, Husam Zomlot (Palestine’s ambassador to the UK) sat down with the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg. As the UK is at odds with the UN’s verdict Israel is committing genocide, Kuenssberg was able ‘both-sides’ the conflict in a fashion which will likely look unimaginable twelve months from now. It didn’t really matter to Zomlot, who was more than prepared to demolish every argument put to him over Palestine statehood:
#bbclaurak: “There are many who believe that giving Palestinian statehood today.. does give a propaganda win to Hamas”@hzomlot: “What does Hamas have to do with the Palestinian right to self determination.. the question is, why didn’t the UK recognise Palestine all this long?” pic.twitter.com/UGwkJPpyMz
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 21, 2025
‘Why didn’t the UK recognise Palestine statehood all along?’
The UK is set to recognise Palestinian statehood later today. While we’ve flirted with doing so for many years, political pressure grew following the announcement of an Israeli-caused famine in Gaza.
On this topic, Kuenssberg said to Zomlot:
If The UK announces recognition of Palestine later today, which everybody expects, what would that mean for the people you represent?
Zomlot responded:
It would mean a lot, but what would it mean to the people of Britain? … that’s the most important question, because this is more about Britain than it is about Palestine. Palestine existed long before the Balfour declaration. Palestine existed long before Israel. Palestine is the cradle of civilisation, the birthplace of Christianity. So we existed.
The issue today is ending the denial of our existence that started… a hundred and eight years ago in 1917. And I think today the British people should celebrate a day when history is being corrected; when wrongs are being righted; when recognition of the wrongs of the past are beginning to be corrected, and when taking responsibility of that colonial era, because that era has led us directly to the genocide in Gaza today…
that era has led to the ethnic cleansing of two thirds of the Palestinian people during the Nakba and during the British mandate.
Zomlot also said:
So, of course, we will welcome it, Laura. And, of course, this is a step forward in the direction of peace… in the direction of justice, and in the direction of ending the erasure and the genocide.
In a more contentious exchange, Kuenssberg put the following to Zomlot:
Many politicians – we’ve heard that from Malcolm Rifkind here this morning, a foreign secretary of many years – there are many people who believe that giving Palestine statehood today, at this moment in this conflict, does give a propaganda win to Hamas.
In case we forget, this is what Palestine looks like as it’s receiving this alleged “win”, as documented by Canary journalist Alaa Shamalay:
هذه الصور حقيقية في #غزة ، ليست ذكاء اصطناعي أو مشهد من فيلم..
هذا مشهد حقيقي !! كيف ستعيش هذه الطفلة ومثلها آلاف الأطفال؟! كيف ننسى هذه المشاهد؟!
هل بقيت لنا حياة بعد كل هذا؟ pic.twitter.com/nwd89Hrurx
— Alaa Shamaly (@alaashamaly) July 18, 2025
أكثر فيديو ما قادرين نتخطاه #غزة pic.twitter.com/sMY1JhKuGj
— Alaa Shamaly (@alaashamaly) July 8, 2025
Zomlot responded (emphasis added):
No, no, no. What they’re saying is propaganda. What does 7th of October, Hamas, have to do with the Palestinian right to self-determination? May I ask you, Laura?
This right to self-determination, the right to exist on our homeland, has come long before Israel, long before Hamas. This is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people, a birthright, long overdue. And the question is never, why should the UK recognise the state of Palestine? The question is why didn’t the UK recognise the state of Palestine all along?
Zomlot also noted it’s clear the tide is turning:
#bbclaurak: “Mr Zomlot, thank you very much indeed for coming in.. and of course the UK govt does not yet accept that Israel has carried out genocide… the UN have found that that is the case.. but the UK position at this stage is not to accept that”
Yet. At this stage. pic.twitter.com/4gnthmgKVo
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 21, 2025
This isn’t the first impressive performance from Zomlot:
“I refuse wholeheartedly that our children are less of a human being than theirs.”
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot challenged what he described as the Western media’s double standards regarding the value of Palestinians’ lives pic.twitter.com/FlBIPqWVPO
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 7, 2025
Free Palestine
The fact that we have an ambassador from Palestine while not recognising their statehood highlights the ridiculous games we’ve been playing. We haven’t acknowledged Palestine because America and Israel don’t want us to; not because we don’t believe in it; not because it doesn’t obviously exist.
As we reported, Keir Starmer and many members of his cabinet belong to Labour Friends of Israel, an organisation which:
supports a negotiated two-state solution for two peoples; with a safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable and independent Palestinian state.
Despite this, Starmer showed no signs of recognising Palestinian statehood before Israel’s atrocities became so pronounced that he had to create political distance between himself and Netanyahu (even as we continue to offer military support).
Writing on Western interference and oppression, Omar El Akkad penned a book titled One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. Keep this phrase in mind after the UK recognises the genocide and journalists and politicians stop demanding the oppressed Palestinians justify their right to exist.
Featured image via BBC
