Latest news with #ConservativeFriendsofIsrael
New Statesman
7 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
Kemi Badenoch's position on Israel is discrediting the Conservative Party
Photo byandWhen Kemi Badenoch became leader of the Conservative Party, she very sensibly aimed not to rush into early statements of detailed policy. Unfortunately, her appointment of Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary was its own statement. Following her unauthorised 2017 trip to Israel while secretary for international development, Patel has been a disgraced figure. While there, accompanied by the peer Stuart Polak of the Conservative Friends of Israel, she met the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu without UK government officials or the British ambassador. Afterwards, she advocated a change in UK policy which, in breach of long-established humanitarian practice, would have included the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in its aid delivery. This episode could not have been a starker example of impropriety. It merited her dismissal but Theresa May was too weak to wield the axe. Instead, Patel was allowed to resign. And yet, Badenoch saw fit to appoint her to the shadow cabinet. Patel is now in a position to perpetuate her views at a critical moment in world events. Badenoch has shown no indication of knowing anything about Israel and Palestine, and has not made any profound statements on this, the one foreign issue, other than Ukraine, that has dominated global news since she was elected. All she utters is uncritical support for Israel. The Conservative Party used to have a world-view. It supported enlightened international cooperation, and institutions such as the UN along with its accompanying treaties, rules and conventions. More broadly, it was the UK that pledged to support a homeland for the Jewish people, and a future for the Palestinians next door. To their shame, while successive governments have forever delayed implementing that commitment, the Israelis each and every day have violently stolen ever more Palestinian land. Palestine is the only populous legally undisputed land in the world not allowed to call itself a state. It does not belong to Israel, and Israel's determination to annex it does not mean it is disputed. The illegality of Israeli encroachment is cast-iron in international law, a belief that has been the policy of Conservative and Labour governments for decades. Badenoch, however, seems to share the view of those like Patel who do not believe in their own policy. They can never bring themselves to say explicitly that settlements are illegal. The charge sheet against Israel is growing every day: disproportionate force, indiscriminate bombing, mass displacement, food deprivation, the replacement of the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA with mercenaries, the killing of tens of Palestinians each day as they desperately scramble for food, state-backed support for settler terrorists, and the banning of journalists from Gaza. Badenoch and her front bench have done nothing to condemn any of it. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: Jonathan Sumption on Israel and Gaza: A question of intent] Amid all this, Priti Patel has refused in the Commons to condemn settler violence – all she would say was that settlers are a barrier to a two-state solution. And when extremist Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir were sanctioned in June, she declined in her response even to mention their names. The likes of Suella Braverman, meanwhile, have branded pro-Palestine demonstrations 'hate marches'. Contemptibly, any pro-Palestinian voice within the Conservative Party is almost systematically accused of anti-Semitism and put into its complaints procedure, which silences and bullies. And as Michael Gove increases his hold on appointments to the leader's office, what could be more warped than his recent recommendation that the IDF be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? It has now reached the point where Conservative comment has become so extreme it has discredited their entire foreign policy and is making them despised more widely. The party is increasingly becoming defined by its lack of humanity. The world is watching the extermination of an entire country. Palestine is being annihilated. Meanwhile the Conservative Party is covering itself in shame, and will stand no chance of re-election unless it states a clear policy based on international law, and promotes the UK's historic understanding of the region. This issue is and always has been about land. Israel's extremist government has only one objective, and that is to make all of Palestine theirs. All other talk, horrendous though the facts may be, is second to that. As leader, Kemi Badenoch could redeem herself speedily by stating loudly what all should be saying to Israel: 'Get out of Palestine, it isn't your country.' [See also: Keir Starmer alienates left and right on Gaza] Related
The Guardian
05-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Conservative peer accused of using antisemitic tropes in Lords debate
A Conservative peer has been accused of using antisemitic tropes after telling a debate in the Lords that Jewish people should pay for a proposed Holocaust memorial in London because they have 'an awful lot of money'. Archie Hamilton, who served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major and was made a peer in 2005, was criticised after the debate about whether to put the memorial and education centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to parliament. Lord Hamilton said that he lived nearby and the park was too small for the memorial, before adding: 'I do not understand why the government have volunteered taxpayers' money, when there is so little of it, to finance this. 'The Jewish community in Britain has an awful lot of money. It has a lot of education charities that would contribute towards this. I do not understand why they should not pay for their own memorial.' Ian Austin, a former Labour MP who now sits as a crossbench peer, intervened to say that the memorial was not one for the Jewish community but 'a memorial for everybody'. Hamilton replied: 'I take that point, but the driving forces behind putting up this memorial are the Jewish people in this country. They are people who have property everywhere. I do not see why they should not fund it.' The peer added that he had 'plenty of Jewish blood, and I am a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel'. Austin said afterwards that Hamilton's comments were 'completely unacceptable' and that the Conservatives should take action. He said: 'How many antisemitic caricatures is it possible to get in one speech? It is shocking to hear comments like this in a debate about the Holocaust. It shows that antisemitism remains a real problem – even in parliament – but it does show why a memorial that focuses on anti-Jewish racism is still necessary.' Danny Stone, the chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, which works with parliamentarians and others, said: 'Not only were Lord Hamilton's comments ill-judged, racist and false, they betrayed a lack of knowledge and understanding about the Jewish community and what the Holocaust memorial is for. 'It is shocking that his slur was not challenged by those leading the debate. We will be working with parliamentarians to ensure this appalling rhetoric does not remain unchallenged.' The site for the memorial and education centre was approved in 2021 following a public inquiry, eight years after David Cameron's government announced the idea. While the decision was backed by many Jewish groups, some people said the decision to use a relatively small green space was mistaken. Among the opponents was the crossbench peer Ruth Deech, whose father fled the Nazis. Speaking in the same Lords debate as Hamilton, Deech said she wanted to bring some 'fiscal discipline' to a project she said could now cost more than £190m. Hamilton and the Conservative party were contacted for comment.
