‘Hypocritical’: Applause As Tory Peer Sayeeda Warsi Calls Out MPs Stance On Israel
Both Labour and Conservative politicians were lectured to audience applause on Thursday’s BBC Question Time as Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi spotlighted the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s exploitative funding of Hamas and thwarted historic opportunities for peace.
Throughout Warsi’s rousing contribution Conservative Minister Lee Rowley sat beside her despondent. Neither the Conservative Party nor Labour Party leaders have supported the motion for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, with many politicians in the opposition party breaking rank with the party line to speak out in support of a halt to the violence.
Warsi opened. She said: “I think, at the moment, what we don’t have in Israel and Palestine, between Hamas and Netanyahu, is that either party is a partner for peace.”
To emphasise her point, Warsi quoted Netanyahu from a 2019 statement in which he said: “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support the bolstering of Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy, to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Warsi summarised her take: “That was Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2019, supporting Hamas, because he knows that as long as Hamas remains there, he can always argue that there is no partner for peace.”
She went on to point out two historical moments when peace seemed within reach. Firstly, the early 90s saw the Oslo Accords, negotiated by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Both leaders were subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. However, tragedy struck when a right-wing Israeli settler assassinated Rabin, leading to the end of the peace process.
Warsi went on to cite the second opportunity for peace in 2016. The U.S. Secretary of State at the time, John Kerry, proposed a peace plan, which the Palestinian Authority accepted but was turned down by Netanyahu.
“I do believe,” Warsi said, “that there is an opportunity for peace. It’s the only way that Israel will secure its long-term future. And I genuinely believe that what we should be saying to our politicians is that you’ve got to stop using language, which actually in the real world makes no sense. It sounds like…”
Host Fiona Bruce interjected to challenge Warsi. “Are you including your own…” she asked.
Warsi responded: “I’m including the Conservatives and, actually, the leader of the opposition.” She lamented the nature of political discourse around the topic, stating, “in the real world, it sounds insensitive, it sounds like it’s one-sided, it sounds hypocritical, and it sounds like you do not understand the depth of this issue.”
Rounding to criticise Netanyahu’s cabinet, she said: “All you do is embolden Netanyahu, a man who is mired in allegations of corruption, who actually in his cabinet, has a minister who has been convicted of terrorism, another minister who is a self-confessed fascist and who are governing on the basis of a coalition agreement which denies the very right of the Palestinian state to exist.”
