Tories investigating Alan Duncanâs comments on partyâs pro-Israel âextremistsâ | Alan DuncanThe Conservative former minister Alan Duncan is being investigated by the party after he said pro-Israel âextremistsâ within the party, including some ministers and peers, should be expelled because they refuse to support international law. Duncan, who served as a foreign minister and an aid minister before stepping down as an MP in 2019, named Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and the peer and former cabinet minister Eric Pickles among those who should be kicked out. Speaking on LBC, Duncan accused Pickles and another Tory peer, Stuart Polak, of âexercising the interests of another countryâ by lobbying for Israel through the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) group, which he formerly headed. In a later interview with Times Radio, Duncan said other Tory MPs and ministers, including Michael Gove, Oliver Dowden, Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Priti Patel, were also extremists for not condemning illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. He called for Braverman, the former home secretary, who argued this week that Israel is not impeding aid getting into Gaza, to lose the Tory whip. A Conservative spokesperson told the Guardian that Duncan would be investigated by his party over the remarks to LBC. In his LBC interview, Duncan said that any support for Israelâs current tactics in Gaza was âmorally unacceptableâ. âItâs what Israel has been doing for years has been wrong because the Israeli defence does not follow international law,â he said. âIt has been backing and supporting illegal settlers in the West Bank who steal Palestinian land and it is that land theft, that annexation of Palestine, which is the origin of the problem, which has given rise to the Hamas atrocity and the battles weâre seeing.â Some people in UK politics ârefuse to condemn settlements and therefore are not supporters of international lawâ, Duncan said. âI think the time has come to flush out those extremists in our own parliamentary politics, and around it.â He said the CFI had been âdoing the bidding of Netanyahu, bypassing all proper processes of government to exercise undue influence at the top of government. âSo what you have is a lot of people now sitting around Rishi Sunak who are giving him appalling advice. Letâs start with the head of CFI â or had been for many years â Lord Polak. âIn my view, I think he should be removed from the Lords because he is exercising the interests of another country, not that of the parliament in which he sits, joined by Lord Pickles. Theyâre the sort of Laurel and Hardy who should be pushed out together.â Tugendhat, Duncan argued, should be sacked for having previously condemned settlements while supporting the current Israeli conduct in Gaza. Speaking to Times Radio, Duncan said: âFor Suella Braverman today to say that there is not a humanitarian problem in Gaza and thereâs plenty of food and sheâs seen the photographs. Frankly, it is so disgusting, so repulsive, so repellent that I think she should immediately have the whip withdrawn.â The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Duncanâs comments âeffectively accuse two Conservative peers, one of whom is Jewish, of dual loyaltiesâ and described this as âdisgracefulâ. The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was ânot the first time [Duncan] has made accusations of parliamentarians being controlled by Israelâ, and called for him to be expelled from the party. In a later statement, Duncan said he was still awaiting formal notification of the investigation, or the reasons why. He said: âIf this is indeed their intention, I will probably be the only person ever to be reproached for upholding his partyâs policy and for defending the principles of international law and justice in the face of others who would undermine them. âShould they choose to pursue this, they should not be surprised if it rebounds on them massively and proves dangerously harmful to their own reputation.â Source link Posted: 2024-04-04 18:07:32 |
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