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Former Tory minister:’I intend to make it clear in a way I haven’t felt the need to do before that I am a Zionist’
Andrew Mitchell MP was speaking at a fringe event at Conservative Party conference in Birmingham
Former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell has told a fringe event at the Conservative Party’s annual conference: “I proudly intend to make it absolutely clear now, in a way I haven’t felt the need to do before in British politics, that I am a Zionist.”
Speaking at an event in Birmingham the former deputy foreign secretary expressed his anger and disbelief at the Green Party’s recent decision to pass a motion declaring “Zionism is racism.”
Royal Sutton Coldfield MP Mitchell recalled, “I first entered the House of Commons just under 40 years ago,” adding, “I have never seen anything like the irresponsibility of the Green Party.”
He noted that, in the past, people joined the Green Party over concerns about climate change and saving the planet, but said the party had now “made this quite extraordinary decision, which, let us be in no doubt whatsoever, basically is saying that Israel should not exist.”
Mitchell continued: “We should be absolutely clear about this. It moves the debate onto a very extreme position.”
He warned, “It is a decision that will endanger large numbers of people. We’ve seen the attacks that have been made on the Jewish community over the last year…. And I can only say that the motivation for this decision that the Green Party has made is antisemitic.”
During the event, hosted by Conservative Friends of Israel and the Jewish Chronicle, Mitchell also criticised the Labour government’s approach to Israel, claiming, “We should be in no doubt whatsoever that Labour is not pursuing the UK national interest. It is pursuing the Labour Party interest.”
Reflecting on his own experience in government, Mitchell spoke about working alongside former Prime Minister David Cameron when the latter served as Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet.
At the time, both Cameron and Mitchell faced criticism from some in the community for their tougher stance on Israel. However, Mitchell suggested that the Conservative position then was fundamentally different from Labour’s approach today.
Addressing last September’s recognition of a Palestinian state by the British government, Mitchell reiterated: “It is the policy of the Conservative Party to recognise Palestine when the time is right – and the time is right when recognising Palestine would help move the debate towards a successful two-state solution. To give it up by the British government in the frivolous way they did, again to engage with their backbenchers, was a very, very foolish thing to do.”
He made clear that the Conservatives “would never have imposed an arms embargo against Israel,” adding that “our armed forces [were] helping Israel avoid the weapons attacks, the drones, and the missiles that were coming from Iran.”
Mitchell also revealed: “But let me be clear: when David Cameron was foreign secretary, we had fierce discussions with the Israelis. We did not agree with some of the things they were doing in Gaza, and we made it quite clear that we would follow international humanitarian law. And as a matter of fact, when I was in the Foreign Office, there was no suggestion that Israel was breaking international humanitarian law in respect of Gaza.
“Now, some of you may think that’s a surprise, but I can tell you, when the lawyers looked at it, it was clear that the activity in Gaza was not breaking international humanitarian law.”
Reflecting on his increasingly defensive stance regarding Israel, Mitchell said that both the impact of the October 7 attacks and the threat posed by a potential Jeremy Corbyn government on the Jewish community had influenced the way he now thought and spoke about the Middle East.
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