LONDON: A senior Conservative politician has suggested that the UK display the Star of David at all points of entry into the country, and that it should move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Robert Jenrick, who is standing to be leader of the Conservative Party, said the gestures would show that “we stand with Israel,” adding that he wants Israelis to be able to enter the UK via e-gates rather than standard passport control.
Jenrick, the current favorite to replace former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as leader, made the remarks at a Conservative Friends of Israel reception for all the candidates at the party’s conference in Birmingham on Sunday, while wearing a black hoody emblazoned with the words: “Hamas are Terrorists.”
He told the event: “I want this country to be the most welcoming country in the world for Israelis and for the Jewish community.
“A small thing that I fought for when I was the immigration minister was to ensure that every Israeli citizen could enter our country through the e-gate, through the easy access, so that at every airport and point of entry to our great country there’s the Star of David there as a symbol that we support Israel, we stand with Israel. We’re friends and allies of Israel, and Israelis are welcome in our country.”
On the subject of moving the embassy, Jenrick said: “If the Foreign Office or the civil servants don’t want to do it, I’ll build it myself.”
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, called Jenrick’s comments “pathetic.”
Doyle told Arab News: “The Conservative Party leadership candidates are all playing in a beauty contest in terms of their support for Israel — they consider this a ticket to a greater vote share, regardless of actual realities on the ground, and Jenrick is playing up to that.
“The last time this happened, (former Prime Minister) Liz Truss was the one who promoted, in her leadership campaign, the transfer of the embassy, and pretty quickly had to back away from that because it’s such a toxic idea and irresponsible in terms of stoking tensions at a time when we need to be de-escalating.
“As for the idea of immigration and e-gates, it just says how desperate Jenrick is to embellish his pro-Israeli credentials without any sense of any assessment of Israeli government conduct at all.
“The British government should be examining how to prevent violent Israeli settlers and their supporters from entering the UK, not facilitating that entry.”
Regarding Jenrick’s wearing of a hoody branding Hamas terrorists, Doyle said: “He’s trying to provoke. He’s trying to grab attention. It’s typical of a type of politics that isn’t serious.
“It’s not an approach that’s bringing solutions to what is a protracted conflict. It’s all about grandstanding. It’s really rather pathetic.”
Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell also spoke at the event, saying the generation of Britons who fought in the Second World War would “turn in their graves” if they heard Israel’s war in Gaza described as “apartheid” and “genocide.”
He told the audience: “In Parliament, on the streets of London, in university campuses around the world, we’ve witnessed a form of hysteria — words like apartheid, genocide, words that would make those who fought against Hitler and against apartheid in South Africa turn in their graves.
“The vitriolic outpouring of hostility has crossed all boundaries of sane debate. Some of it may be well intentioned — people must be free to express their anger and protest the government of Israel and the genuine humanitarian concerns for the suffering we’re witnessing.”
He added: “There’s a deeply toxic trend that has spread like wildfire, a desire not only to demonize but to de-legitimize the Jewish state to the point of turning back the clock to the time it didn’t exist.”
Jenrick’s fellow leadership candidate Demi Badenoch echoed Mitchell’s words, condemning the election of a group of pro-Palestinian independent MPs in the UK as a “new threat” that had been “elected on the back of sectarianism.”
