Reform UK’s Tice slams Starmer’s move to recognise Palestinian state as ‘disgraceful’
Tamar Eshet, cousin of Evyatar David, still held by Hamas in Gaza, spoke at a fringe event at Reform UK's conference in Birmingham
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has suggested Keir Starmer has “abandoned” the Gaza hostages with his “disgraceful” move to recognise a Palestinian state.
Speaking at a fringe event at Reform’s annual conference, where Tamar Eshet, the cousin of hostage Evyatar David addressed the audience, Tice spoke of the need to stand “shoulder to shoulder with Israel”.
He added:”Evyatar is not abandoned by those of us who are doing the right thing.”
Tice continued:”Who are standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel to get the hostages out.
“They only person who has abandoned Evyatar, and the other hostages, is our Prime Minister.
“With his disgraceful suggestion that now is a good strategic time to recognise at state of Palestine, and therefore reawarding Hamas for that sort of treatment”.
Introducing Eshet at Friday morning’s fringe event, Tice noted that she had grown up on the same street in Israel as her cousin, and was born seven weeks apart from him.
Speaking to Jewish News herself, Eshet warned there is “no time left for political arguments” on the release of those still held captive by Hamas in Gaza, after delivering an emotional address at Reform UK’s annual party conference.
Eshet, who holidayed with her cousin weeks before he was captured by terrorists on October 7, 2023, spoke at the event on the first day of the party’s conference in Birmingham to mark 700 days since the attacks in southern Israel.
Eshet, 24, said the speaking engagements such as Friday’s were part of her mission “to raise awareness of the hostages and the urgency of releasing them”.
“I think we all have to do whatever we can to bring the hostages home as soon as possible,” she added, after being asked what her message was to both the Israeli and UK governments.
“As we’ve seen in the video of Evyatar, they don’t have time for political arguments. There is no time left. Every minute for him is torture. We have to save them.”
In a clear criticism of the Israeli government’s failure to secure a hostage deal that would lead to David being freed, she added: “This is why we have a country to save Jewish lives, yes, protect them.
“This should be at the top of their priorities”.
Appearing to call for the UK and other Western governments to step up the pressure on Hamas to free the hostages, Eshet said: “I think the Western world has to use its power to do good, to save lives. Not just look at one side of the story”.
In August, Hamas released a shocking video of 24-year-old David, who appeared so emaciated and pale that his own father said he didn’t recognise him.
He was filmed by his Hamas captors as he was forced to dig his own grave in a cramped underground tunnel.
The video was the latest moment of intense pain for David’s family, who have all campaigned for his release, regularly speaking with the media and addressing events all over the globe.
Eshet recalled watching the video released last month by Hamas. “It was really devastating – I couldn’t imagine what I just witnessed,” she said.
But she also noticed that Hamas made one mistake in a video, which she said they released as part of a starvation propaganda campaign, aimed at convincing those who watched it that the lack of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was impacting the hostages as well as local civilians.
“You could see the arm and hand of one of the people from Hamas, it was fatter than anything on my cousin’s body looked,” said Eshet.
“You could see that while my cousin, looking like a human skeleton, and others are starving, Hamas are still getting food, still eating well.”
Eshet recalled how she last saw David when they went on a family holiday together, just a few weeks before October 7.
“He was talking to me about his plans for the future,” she recalls. “He wanted to be a music producer, and study it as a profession. He really loves music, he’s a guitar player”.
Since October 7, Eshet says she and her family have not been able to celebrate any of the Jewish holidays. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this year will continue to be solemn occasions, with the family meeting up with other hostage families feeling the same way.
Asked what her message to the Hamas terrorists would be, she says: “It’s hard, I don’t think they see him as a human being, the way they treat him, the way they use him”.
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