The Tory Party has gone from being the party of Foreign Office Arabists and Conservative Friends of Palestine to becoming the staunch supporter of Israel, as exemplified by the current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. How this transformation took place is discussed here: “The Strange Death of Tory Arabism (or how the Conservatives became a pro-Israel party),” by William Atkinson, Conservative Home, October 18, 2023:
Crispin Blunt [director of a pro-Palestinian group] is a man used to ploughing a lonely furrow. Whether in defending the mandate of Heaven that gay men should have access to poppers, or in standing up for Imran Amad Khan after his conviction for child sex offences, the Reigate MP has often championed causes that few other Conservative MPs have shown an interest in.
His recent accusation that the Government is “aiding and abetting war crimes” by supporting Israel during its war on Hamas is the latest example. This is hardly a surprising line from the co-director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians. But it is one in a Conservative Party that is remarkably united in supporting the Israeli cause.
In fact, the pro-Israel tendency amongst Tory MPs is stronger – and the Arabist tendency weaker – than ever before. Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) has previously claimed around 80 per cent of Conservative MPs as its supporters. It provides more overseas fact-finding missions for them than any other organisation. By contrast, the two most prominent members of the Conservative Middle East Council are outside of Parliament.
Nicholas Soames is one of the two (the other is Blunt) who lost their bids for re-election. In 2011, Soames was one of only two MPs who called for the creation of a Palestinian state. He has held to his pro-Palestinian line, and his deep anti-Israel animus, ever since. The other MP who called in 2011 for the creation of a Palestinian state was Peter Bottomley, who is still an MP, and father of the House.
Why is this [the overwhelming Tory support for Israel]? It can’t be for votes. On the (not unreasonable) assumption that Jewish voters are more sympathetic to Israel and Muslim ones to Palestine, basic numeracy would see MPs throw in their lots with Britain’s almost four million Muslims over its 300,000 or so Jews. Twenty-six seats had a Muslim population of more than 20 per cent based on the 2011 census. Only one – Finchley and Golders Green – can say the same for Jews.
If demography isn’t destiny, then the best explanation for Tory MP’s tilting towards Tel Aviv must lie in a mixture of principle, politicking, and the notable tendency for Arabist MPs to have found themselves on the wrong side of history over Brexit.
It’s clear that the Conservative MPs who support Israel know there are far more votes to be gained on the other side — there are fourteen times as many Muslims as there are Jews in the U.K. Their support, then, is a matter of principle, partly sympathy for Israel as it is perennially under attack by terrorists, and partly a dawning understanding that the jihadis who are now directing their murderous hatred at Israel will soon enough have all of Europe, including the U.K., in their sights.
Historically, according to Leon Epstein, “the Conservative Party generally stood aloof…from Zionism”. Inter-war attitudes ranged from apathy to the Balfour Declaration, to linking Zionism with Bolshevism, to open antisemitism. After Israel’s creation, Arabist tendencies remained strong amongst former and future ministers, with Anthony Nutting, Ian Gilmour, and Dennis Walters all helping establish the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding in 1967.
As is habitual with modern Toryism, it was Margaret Thatcher who most changed the party’s attitude to Israel. Whereas Edward Heath and Alec Douglas-Home had refused to arm Tel Aviv during the Yom Kippur War, the Finchley MP became the first British Prime Minister to visit Israel. She viewed it as Britain’s best Cold War ally in the Middle East. Between sheltering an Austrian Jewish girl as a teenager and serving as Finchley’s MP, Thatcher also retained a lifelong affinity for Jews and Israel….
Improving Conservative relations with Israel took place in the context of changes in the politics of the American and Israeli right. Ed West has highlighted how, from an initial sympathy with the Palestinian cause, Israel’s victories in the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars – alongside Soviet support for its opponents – turned Republicans towards Tel Aviv. Israel also built its connections with American Evangelicals from the 1970s onwards. A higher birth rate amongst Orthodox Jews also made its politics more conservative….
The Conservatives are therefore now an instinctively pro-Israel party. The upside of this is that we go into the current crisis with less of a chance of tearing ourselves apart than Labour.
A situation when Labour, representing the vast majority of seats and votes of British Muslims, becomes a party of Palestine and the Tories one of Israel would be just as antithetical to national harmony as one in which we were the party of India and Labour the party of Pakistan. Or us the party of white voters, and they the party of ethnic minorities. This Balkanisation must be avoided….
From being the party of the Arabists, the Conservative Party is now overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and no one more so than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who, in Israel, has just delivered his remarks: “Above all, I’m here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism. I’m proud to stand here with you in Israel’s darkest hour as your friend. We will stand with you in solidarity, we will stand with your people. And we also want you to win.”
To which one can only exclaim, as they do in the House of Commons, Hear, Hear.
Phil Copson says
“Tilting towards Tel Aviv” ? In case anyone else has forgotten, the capital of Israel is Jerusalem.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Outside muslim countries, I don’t think Right leaning parties (comparatively speaking, in the case of Tories vis a vis Labour) are in any position to compete w/ Left leaning ones, when it comes to appeasing the muslims. Reason being that the latter is a globalist movement, and more often then not hates its local i.e. national roots, and is therefore more than happy to sacrifice it in winning over muslim support. For any Right leaning party, their base support comes from local, nationalist and faith based movements, be it Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or whatever else there is, and the Right won’t be as willing to sacrifice that to satiate muslim cravings for power. As a result, it makes sense for them to instead appeal to non-muslim communities
However, the Tories need to wake up and recognize the damage muslims have done to Britain, and put together a plan to expel them all. Otherwise, Britain will be done before they can get there
jewdog says
The fact that Zionism is a form of nationalism based on ethnicity and religion is hardly an attractive model for the Left, which is influenced by wokeism, or cultural Marxism, an ideology which divides the world between oppressive races, such as “whites”, ex. Israelis, and “people of color”, such as Palestinians. Accuracy in assessing Islam is anathema, as that would undermine this convenient fantasy since it would expose the oppresive nature of the alleged oppressed victims.
This is the same Left that expouses open borders and hates all forms of nationalism or ethnic or religious identity, as long as those things are associated with the oppressive classes. Too bad for them that reality is closing in rapidly.
Mick says
The assassination of David Amess by the son of a Somali politician, opposed to Qatar’s funding of Faramaajo, may have educated the clueless Westminster APPG sybarites.
Amess chaired the Qatar APPG.
Jim Harmon says
One reason the Tories back Israel Is that they sense that if they don’t face up to the Muslims, they’ll be murdered.