The Question of Palestine? Trump and Starmer's Shared Silence
As I sit here with my laptop in the late evening, I had full intention of writing a piece on Donald Trump. Sitting here on the sofa with my split screen at the ready, on the left side an empty blank page and on the right, a YouTube video of an impromptu press conference with Trump and Starmer. With the TV on in the background I couldn’t help but get distracted by the segment on BBC 10 o’clock news, a detailed piece on Palestine (finally!). So this piece will almost resemble a brain dump of all the current affairs that I am angry and passionate about by steering the creative direction of my original piece.
I guess that’s the beauty of being a practicing journalist, experimenting in writing, open to all ideas, constant changes in the direction of your original piece. I’ve been making a conscious effort to become more present with forefront politics, after every swipe of doom scrolling on tiktok I feel the overwhelming urge to encourage myself to put my brain to good use. Really pushing myself to continue writing and building this website.
Presidential Return: Trump’s Trip to Scotland
On his 5 day private visit to Scotland to visit his new golf courses, Keir Starmer made the effort to visit Scotland to greet Trump. The pair were seen to be involved in an impromptu interview that was sprung onto the President and Prime Minister, as they stood outside a building awkwardly answering questions from the press. The leading question that forced myself to report on this interview was in response to this: “Mr President, Prime Minister Netanyahu says there’s no starvation in Gaza. Do you agree with that assessment?”
With no surprise in a completely disrespectful and dystopian response, Trump replies “I don’t know. I mean based on television I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry”.
My question to the President is when being asked a question of the inhumane famine and genocide happening to the Palestinians which is an internationally recognised issue, why respond by referencing what you’ve seen on television?
This creates a dystopian connection between higher power and the real world, with all his influence it is beyond concerning and scary that television is Trump’s point of call. As a political leader, currently President of the United States, there is visible disconnect between real life reality and what Trump is concerned with, his understanding of a famine is dismissive.
Trump continues to claim that the United States is currently giving “a lot” of aid and food to Gaza, which in response to the topic of the starvation in Gaza is out of touch and clearly false. In a dismissive manner Trump describes Gaza, “the whole place is a mess”, with a follow up “Hamas did a horrible thing and they paid a big price”. The connection of these statements made my blood boil, again in response to the starvation in Gaza, Trump implies that they deserve this.
In the same light, Trump revealed his belief that the war would end once the number of Israeli hostages had decreased to a certain point. It is speculated that around 20 Israeli hostages are currently captured by Hamas, Trump stresses deeper focus and concern on the hostages rather than the figure of 61,000 Palestinians reported dead from the initial Israeli invasion of Gaza on October 7th 2023. How are these numbers comparable? How are the Palestinians continued to be plastered as terrorists and to blame when 61,000 Palestinians and counting have been murdered.
Whilst I hear these words I look up from my screen, and the BBC are covering a piece on Palestine, showing insider journalist footage of malnourished children. How can this genocide continue to happen, how can Israel still be seen as victims in this situation?
On this note, I will link Starmer’s newly released statement on Gaza, a 3-minute clip that shares his views. The Prime Minister begins by saying the “images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying,” referring to the recently surfaced famine in Gaza. “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable” — pause on the word ‘unjustifiable’.
For a brief moment, it seems like hope for the Palestinian people might be acknowledged. But almost immediately, Starmer flips the switch back to the familiar Israel line. Famine and the starvation of young children are unjustifiable but then he adds, “Just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.” So there it is: a famine, genocide, a war he calls a “humanitarian catastrophe” that “must end,” yet the focus quickly shifts to the hostages, subtly framing Palestinians as responsible for the ongoing conflict.
Starmer continues to downplay Palestine with statements like, “100s of civilians have been killed when seeking aid.” In reality, the number is significantly higher.
Now, as the UN prepares to discuss Palestinian recognition in September, Starmer says the UK will support it—but only if Israel agrees to a ceasefire, halts annexation of the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process. In other words, even as children starve, recognition remains conditional.
