A number of Conservative MPs stood up in Parliament on Thursday to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in a debate. Communities Minister Luke Hall MP paid tribute to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).
CFI Parliamentary Chairman Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP paid tribute to Holocaust victims and explained why he is a Zionist: “I am a proud defender of Israel, that makes me a Zionist. I believe in a Jewish homeland, and we recognise that the foundation of the State of Israel was in the ruins and the aftermath of the dark events that we are remembering today. There is a direct link. And the Jewish homeland, the State of Israel, is the last defence against antisemitism. The right of Jews to live in a country where they can walk around without fear of being Jewish, about who they are, where they can own their identity fully and live in a Jewish state”.
Vice-Chairman of CFI and Co-Chair of the APPG Against Antisemitism, Andrew Percy MP, said “it was sad, but also reassuring” at the recent election to hear residents in his Brigg & Goole constituency raising concern about the rise in antisemitism. He underlined: “I’m very proud of people in my area for standing as resolutely as they have done”.
Vice-Chairman of CFI, John Howell MP, quoted Sir Nicolas Winton who rescued around 700 Jewish children from Nazi occupied Europe: “Don’t be content in your life just to do no wrong, be prepared every day to try and do some good”.
The debate featured a number of contributions from newly elected Conservative MPs, including Scott Benton MP, Alicia Kearns MP, Nicola Richards MP and Brendan Clarke-Smith MP. Scott Benton MP, who joined CFI on a visit to Israel in July 2019, observed: “Few relationships are more important…than the strong bond we have with the State of Israel. We can be rightly proud of the UK’s role in creating a homeland for the Jewish people. And it is more important than ever that we reassert our commitment to Israel’s security, it’s right to defend itself, and it’s right to exist”.
Watch videos from the debate on CFI’s Twitter.
