Badenoch: My party is ‘last line of defence’ for Israel in Parliament
Conservative leader tells CFI lunch the idea 'Jews are not entitled to a homeland is antisemitic'
Kemi Badenoch has said her Conservative party remains the “last line of defence” for Israel in the UK parliament as we witness the blossoming of an “unholy alliance between the hard-left and Islamist extremists” on the streets.
Delivering the keynote speech at Monday’s Conservative Friends of Israel business lunch, the Tory leader ignored the growing support for the Palestinian cause within her own party to declare: “Israel is not alone – we stand with you.”
Recalling her own upbringing under military dictatorship in Nigeria, Badenoch reiterated her support for Israel and its values which she said were also “British values.”
She added: “And they are Conservative values, which is why the Conservative Party will always stand for them.”
Badenoch reserved criticism for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, saying it lacked “moral courage” and “bowed to the mob, pandered to the haters too often on our streets marching past synagogues.”
She stated that she had refused to hand taxpayers money to the Irish rap act Kneecap when she was business secretary, adding: “Labour got in and handed it over.
“This is the reality of Parliament today. Politically, the Conservative Party is the last line of defence, no other party cares. No other party will do what we do. That is why CFI matters more than ever.”
Badenoch said the Conservatives held “unwavering support for Israel.”
She added: “The idea that Jews and only Jews are not entitled to a homeland is antisemitic. It is racism. Full stop.”
She said Labour MPs were now “actively aligning the UK against our democratic ally” Israel, and that “worse than that, we have elected MPs on sectarian platforms.
“Listen to some statements they made in parliament, and you realise it’s not really about Gaza…. its the rejection of Israel’s right to exist.”
She also backed the Zionist ideal of Israel being “not just a country” but “the return of a people to their homeland after centuries of exile, persecution and genocide.”
Monday’s CFI event saw around 12 members of Badenoch’s shadow cabinet attend, while organisers said around half of the elected Tory MPs were in attendance.
Badenoch also paid tribute to out-going Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, saying she had handled the role with “dignity, strength and grace under fire.”
She said she had watched Hotovely “with admiration as she stood tall in the face of abuse, distortion and outright hate.”
The ambassador had earlier confirmed that this was likely to be the last CFI event she would be attending in her current role before her term in office comes to an end later this summer.
To applause from an audience including around two-thirds of her shadow cabinet and around half of the Tory MP quota in the Commons, Badenoch added: “Israel is lucky to have you, Tzipi.”
Earlier in her speech Hotovely told the annual gathering that she has been “fortunate to have CFI always standing shoulder to shoulder with me over the past five years.”
Israel’s ambassador spoke also over her gratitude for CFI’s support “over the past year in what has been a very difficult time for Israel” adding that the organisation had continued to be “the greatest friends to my country.”
Hotovely then spoke out in support of the Israel’s government and military’s decision to step up its attacks on Gaza in recent days, saying Hamas must be “dismantled” to ensure a victory
She also slammed calls to recognise a Palestinian state as a “dangerous idea” which would “do nothing other than reward terrorism…it must be resisted”.
Earlier, Lord Pickles and former Tory minister Suella Braverman spoke at the event, which was attended by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
Pickles appeared to take issue with the failure of the last Tory government to act over the “funding, directly or indirectly of those school textbooks that encouraged hatred of Jews and Israel” ahead of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Braverman condemned the “enemies of Israel” now in parliament as she spoke of her staunch support for Israel and also paid tribute to the out-going Hotovely.
Lord Stuart Polak took aim at the 13 Tory MPs who had signed a letter calling for Palestinian state recognition, comparing them to Eurovision judges out of touch with the wider public view.
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