Starmer insists he hasn’t stepped back support for Israel

Keir Starmer took a different tone on Israel today. That change of tone is to a certain extent to be expected, given the Prime Minister was marking the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks. He reflected in the Commons this afternoon that there were still nearly 100 hostages unaccounted for, and families across Israel still feeling ‘acute’ pain after atrocities committed by Hamas. He opened by saying the attack was ‘born of hatred, targeted not just at individuals, but at Jewish communities, at their way of life and at the state of Israel – the symbol of Jewish security to the world’. Later on, he told MPs that the impact of meeting families of the hostages was ‘profound’ – and you could tell from the emotion that lay under his voice during the statement that he really meant that.