Israel-Palestine war: Starmer uses mosque visit to demand Hamas release hostages

Keir Starmer has faced fresh criticism from the Muslim community in the UK after posting a tweet saying he had used a visit to a mosque in South Wales to reiterate Labour's call for Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza since its attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

Posting on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, following his visit to the South Wales Islamic Centre, Starmer said: "I repeated our calls for all hostages to be released, more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, for the water and power to be switched back on, and a renewed focus on the two-state solution."

Since his post, the Cardiff mosque has faced a backlash over its decision to host Starmer, who has faced previous criticism over comments in which he appeared to defend Israel's decision to cut off electricity and water to the Gaza Strip.

In a statement posted after the visit, the mosque said it had told Starmer his comments were "totally wrong" and offensive to Muslims.

"Facing him is better than avoiding him. We raised all our complaints, and we criticised him for what he said," it said.

"It is best to face those whom we disagree with and show them the truth. What he mentioned recently is totally wrong and has offended us Muslims which is totally unacceptable.

"We asked him to put pressure on the government to allow humanitarian aid to enter the people of Gaza and to stop these massacres, which are happening in Gaza."

In further tweets posted on Monday, Starmer said he had been "questioned by members" about his stance on Gaza during the visit to the mosque.

"I made clear it is not and has never been my view that Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines. International law must be followed," he said.

Critics took to social media to condemn Starmer for the initial tweet and questioned why he would use a visit to a mosque to call for hostages held by Hamas to be released. 

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The Muslim Association of Britain said Starmer's visit to the South Wales Mosque was a: "Rather embarrassing photo opp for the Labour Party."

It added: "Keir Starmer visited a mosque and called for hostages to be released. Are the hostages being held in a South Wales Mosque?"

Frances Coppola said on X: "If you marched into a Jewish community demanding that Israel cease military actions in Gaza, you'd be rightly accused of antisemitism. 

"So, why do you think it is okay to march into a Muslim community demanding that a terror group that [has] nothing to do with it release hostages."

While Faridah asked Kier Starmer: "What exactly can the Muslim community in the south of Wales do about [releasing hostages]? Or are you assuming that all Muslims are Hamas?"

Former Labour adviser Matt Zarb-Cousin also tweeted sarcastically: "Just off to the South Wales Islamic Centre to ask them to release the hostages."