Israel’s president meets with UK prime minister

Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday in London, England.

As part of his three-day trip, Herzog was welcomed at the door of Johnson’s official residence by the prime minister himself. 

The two leaders held a diplomatic meeting where they touched upon the recent United Nations climate summit, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and the nuclear situation with Iran. 

President Herzog thanked Johnson for “fighting antisemitism" while PM Johnson noted how the visit was an important testimony to the relationship between the two states.

Herzog voiced his appreciation of the United Kingdom’s recent designation of Hamas’ political wing as a terror organization as well.

“This is a very important message to terror organizations and global radicals trying to undermine the situation in the Middle East,” Herzog said.

The president continued to mention that, ahead of negotiations among the UN Security Council's five permanent members over the Iranian nuclear situation, Israel is “looking forward for... the P5+1 to be as tough as possible” on Iran.

Johnson responded by echoing that while the UK’s decision on Hamas was difficult and controversial, it was the right decision and was “almost immediately vindicated by the appalling incident that we saw in Israel.”

The prime minister further referred to the upcoming negotiations over Iran as a “situation in which the world doesn’t have much time.” 

Earlier on Tuesday, Herzog met with leaders of Britain’s Jewish community and discussed environmental matters with Prince Charles the day before.