Sajid Javid speaks of ‘love’ for Israel during conference fringe event

Chancellor Sajid Javid has professed his “love” for Israel at a conference fringe event on Tuesday.

“When I look at Israel … it is a country that aligns with all of our values… it’s great to see how strongly this party supports the values of Israel at every level,” Javid said.

Professing his “love” for Israel, Javid described his visit to Yad Vashem earlier this year as Home Secretary as “something I will never forget”.

Issuing a rallying cry to “everyone in this room” to combat rising levels of antisemitism in the UK,” he said: “Anyone with a sense of history knows full well why the Jewish community feels uneasy now, and nowadays we don’t have to look to the past to learn, sadly you just have to look around you.”

Speaking at the event chaired by Lord Pickles was Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl, who thanked attendees for their support to the Jewish community and Israel.

“Together we have got to defeat racism and antisemitism,” she said. “I’m proud of the way you are approaching all of this and of your support for Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy.”

Echoing Javid’s words, Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers described Israel as a “phenomenal success story, created out of adversity, surrounded by enemies, it is a country that has thrived”.

Also attending were Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev, who discussed trade between Israel and the UK, and the former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who said Israel was “the only liberal pluralist democracy in the Middle East.”

Regev told attendees they could be “proud… that under this Conservative Government, the Israel-UK partnership is stronger than ever before.”

“Our trade is growing beyond the £8.6 billion we had last year, we have just signed a trade agreement so that trade will continue to grow in the years to come, that’s prosperity and that’s jobs,” he added.

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Michael Ellis, the MP for Northampton North, made the final remarks, praising Israel as “a country for whom the rule of law matters”.

He said: “We support Israel, we support its people, we support its freedoms, it’s a country who projects way beyond its weight, a country the size of Wales, a country with a tiny population, but a country that is admired and respected the world over, not least by Her Majesty’s Government and by everyone in this room”.