Robert Jenrick has called for the Star of David to be displayed at every point of entry to the UK to show “we stand with Israel”.
Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel event, the Tory leadership frontrunner donned a ‘Hamas Are Terrorists’ hoodie as he pledged to move the British embassy to Jerusalem if he becomes prime minister.
He said that, while immigration minister, he had pushed for Israelis travelling to Britain to be able to use e-gates.
“If the Foreign Office or the civil servants don’t want to do it, I will build it myself,” he added
Jenrick said this would mean that at “every airport and point of entry to our great country”, there was a Star of David, as a “symbol that we support Israel”.
Addressing the same event, shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said that those who fought against Nazi Germany and South African apartheid would “turn in their graves” at the words “genocide” and “apartheid” being applied to the situation in the Middle East.
And he added: “In parliament, on the streets of London, in university campuses around the world, we have witnessed a form of hysteria. Words like apartheid, genocide.
“Words that would make those who fought against Hitler and against the apartheid in South Africa turn in their graves. The vitriolic outpouring of hostility has crossed all boundaries of sane debate.
“Some of it may be well intentioned; people must be free to express their anger, and protest [about] the government of Israel and the genuine humanitarian concerns for the suffering we are witnessing.”
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