At a packed CFI Annual Business Lunch in central London
yesterday, the Leader of the Conservative Party, Rt. Hon. MP, pledged her Party's
continued support for Israel in the face of rising political
opposition to the Jewish State in Parliament.
Addressing a 400-strong audience which included over 100
Conservative MPs and Peers, the Chief Rabbi and Israeli
Ambassador as well as senior diplomats from the UAE, Bahrain,
Jordan and Morocco, the Conservative Leader rallied support for
Israel, declaring: “You are not alone. We stand with you”. Her
full speech can be watched here.
Drawing attention to the growing hostility towards Israel in the
House of Commons since the July 2024 General Election, warned of the “growth of an
unholy alliance between the hard left and Islamist extremists.
Both united by one goal - the destruction of Israel and the
dismantling of our values. They cheer Hamas. They justify murder.
And they are gaining ground”.
“The Conservative Party is the last line of defence. No other
party cares. No other party will do what we do”, she underlined.
She went on to reaffirm her support for a peaceful two-state
solution through direct negotiations, not unilateral moves: “We
want peace for Israelis and Palestinians. But there must be no
reward for terror; no bypassing the hard road of negotiation”.
The Leader of the Opposition added: “Israel is not just a
country. It is the return of a people to their homeland, after
centuries of exile, persecution and genocide. It is a modern
state built on ancient hope. A people who refuse to give in to
fear. That story matters… And that is why I'm proud to be a
Conservative Friend of Israel”.
“We have seen people in this country try to hide their
antisemitic views as ‘anti-Zionism'. They're not fooling anyone”,
she continued. “Ripping down posters of missing children and
other hostages is not anti-Zionism. The idea that Jews - only
Jews - are not entitled to a homeland is antisemitic. It is
racism. Full stop”.
Receiving a standing ovation from the audience, the Conservative
Leader concluded: “The attack on Israel is part of a broader
assault on Western values. An assault on free, democratic
countries by an axis of authoritarian states: against Israel,
against Ukraine, and against our own institutions. Israel is at
the front line in the fight for the West. Their fight is our
fight”.
The new CFI Parliamentary Chair in the House of Commons, Rt. Hon.
MP, used her remarks to
warn about the changed political picture in the House of Commons
towards Israel: “The enemies of Israel are not just at the gates.
I'm afraid many of them are in our Parliament. They twist the
truth with propaganda. They hijack debates, they weaponize
committees, and they attack Israel at every turn. But we, your
friends, will not be silenced. We refuse to flinch in the face of
hostility, smear and moral cowardice”.
Rt. Hon. The , CFI's Chair in the House of
Lords, said that “there has never been a more crucial time to be
a Conservative Friend of Israel and to stand up to be counted”.
He added: “Politicians from all political parties are occupying a
fantasy moral high ground, lecturing Israel - and before they do
- before they get too comfortable, they need to remind themselves
that they must accept some responsibility for the current
conflict, because it was the UK Government, the EU governments,
that funded, directly or indirectly, those school textbooks that
encourage hatred of Jews and of Israel… the pensions of convicted
murderers of Israelis, the pay for slay policy and it's the same
governments who prop up the discredited UNRWA, who are
accomplices to terror”.
Two Conservative MPs, Rt. Hon. MP and MP, spoke powerfully about their
experiences on recent CFI delegations to Israel where they
visited border communities including Kfar Aza and met with
survivors of the 7th October atrocities.
Israeli Ambassador H.E. Tzipi Hotovely also spoke at the event,
which was chaired by former CFI Parliamentary Chair Rt. Hon.
. Chair of the CFI Board of
Directors, KC, introduced the Leader of
the Opposition and thanked her for her support.
At the close of the event, CFI Honorary President CBE presented with a certificate stating
that a grove of trees will be planted by CFI in the Conservative
Party Leader's honour in southern Israel commemorating the
victims of the 7th October Hamas massacre. He also gave the
Conservative Party leader a framed photograph of British-Israeli
national Aner Shapira z”l, who was killed on 7th
October 2023 while heroically throwing grenades out of a bomb
shelter as Hamas terrorists threw them in.
