The leader of the Conservative Party has called for foreign antisemites to be deported from the United Kingdom.
In an interview with the MD Meets podcast, Kemi Badenoch also criticised pro-Palestine marches and the offensive anti-Jewish content on display during some of them, saying: “We need to be very clear that this is something we don’t stand for. A lot of those marches are covers for intimidation. They are not protests. We need to ban some of them – we need more powers to do that.”
“But we also need to expel people from this country who do not belong here, who are promoting these things,” she went on.
"We need to remove some people in public institutions who carry out very naked, open antisemitism… It has to start from the top.”
In the interview with Mathias Döpfner, the chief executive of German publisher Axel Springer – set to be the new owners of the Daily Telegraph – she emphasised that she thought antisemitism was a good enough reason to deport someone: “I think so, yes ... Anything that’s inciting violence against Jews, that sort of thing, has got to go.
“There has been a sort of looking away or pretending it’s about Israel. It’s being used as a cover – ‘anti-Zionism’ being used as cover for antisemitism.”
Her comments come after a Kuwaiti national who arrived in Britain via small boat on two different occasions allegedly attempted to break into the Israeli embassy in London armed with two knives in a suicide attack.
The 34-year-old man currently on trial at the Old Bailey denies preparing to commit acts of terrorism and says the knives were intended for personal use as he was homeless.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the JC last year, speaking about the attempted intimidation of Israeli professor Michael Ben-Gad by pro-Palestine demonstrators, Badenoch labelled the protesters “modern-day Brownshirts”.
“I think that those students, certainly if there was a conservative government, they would be expelled, and those who were not from this country would have their visas revoked,” she said.
"This is not protesting against the state authority or even another country. It's going after a particular individual simply because he's had military service elsewhere. I think that's quite wrong. I think that they have probably violated quite a few of our laws already, and that should be looked into.”
In the aftermath of the arson attack on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green last month, the Tory leader also called for tougher action and punishments for antisemites.
The Conservative Party announced their intent to deport foreign antisemites during their annual conference in 2025.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, told a Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) reception: “If there are people here who are foreign citizens, not UK citizens, if they exhibit racial religious hatred, including antisemitism, if they express extremist views, or if they express support for violence or terrorism … we should deport them”.
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