He said the UN needs to work together for peace, progress and equality. “I call on Israel and Hezbollah: Stop the violence, step back from the brink,” the PM said…reports Asian Lite News
Keir Starmer has called on Israel and Hezbollah to agree on a ceasefire in his UN General Assembly address. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Starmer said “escalation serves no one” as he urged both sides to “step back from the brink”.
He said the UN needs to “work together for peace, progress and equality”. “I call on Israel and Hezbollah: Stop the violence, step back from the brink,” the PM said.
“We need to see an immediate ceasefire to provide space for a diplomatic settlement, and we are working with all partners to that end. Because further escalation serves no one.”
It comes after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah. The US, UK and their allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire in a joint statement.
It said the recent fighting is “intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation”.
“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy,” the statement said.
“We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary cease-fire immediately.”
But Netanyahu shut down the proposal, saying his forces will keep fighting at “full force”.
His office said: “The news about a ceasefire – not true. This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond. The news about the supposed directive to moderate the fighting in the north is also the opposite of the truth. The prime minister instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to him. Also, the fighting in Gaza will continue until all the goals of the war are achieved.”
In his speech Starmer also addressed the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “We must put new energy and creativity into conflict resolution and conflict prevention, reverse the trend towards ever-greater violence, make the institutions of peace fit for purpose, and hold members to their commitments under the UN Charter,” he said.
He went on to announce action being taken to tackle climate change as well. Billions from pension and insurance funds will be put into “fighting climate change” and “boosting development”, Starmer said.
On Monday, a protester shouting about British arms sales to Israel briefly interrupted a speech given by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. On Tuesday, activists attempted to write “Genocide conference” at the entrance to the convention centre.
Starmer’s own speech was interrupted by a protester shouting about Gaza. He resumed his speech with a joking response. “This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference. We’ve changed the party,” he said.
“While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party, that’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”
Much of Starmer’s speech was devoted to the theme of change, as recent polls suggested his approval ratings have plummeted and public optimism about his party was already running dry.
Starmer won the election in July on a promise to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative Party governments, rebooting Britain’s sluggish economy and restoring frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.
Since then, his government has announced there is a 22 billion-pound ($29bn) “black hole” in public finances left by the previous Conservative government, warning the upcoming October 30 budget will be “painful”.
Taking “tough long-term decisions now” will mean the “light at the end of this tunnel” can be reached “much more quickly”, he said in Tuesday’s speech.
The mood at the conference was also dampened by public outcry over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when millions of people are struggling with the cost of living. Starmer insists he followed the rules when he took thousands of pounds worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from Waheed Alli, a media entrepreneur and Labour donor.
After days of bad press, the party says he and other ministers will no longer accept any more free outfits. “I’m not going to pretend to anyone in this room that I’ve enjoyed some of the headlines and stories over the last week,” Starmer told a meeting at the conference. “But nor am I going to allow them to define the government.”
Starmer’s speech was intended to show that under his premiership the UK would offer ‘responsible global leadership’. He announced a new British International Investment initiative, working with the City of London to use billions of pounds from pension and insurance funds ‘to invest in boosting development and fighting climate change’.
Starmer also called for a new international levy on global shipping to ‘put a price on the true cost of emissions’ with the money raised going to tackle climate change. The Prime Minister also demanded changes to the UN Security Council ‘to become a more representative body’ which was ‘willing to act – not paralysed by politics’.
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