In an interview with the Jewish News on Monday, Conservative candidate for Mayor of London Shaun Bailey said that stopping the anti-Israel annual Al Quds Day march would be a priority for him.
The London Mayoral election is to take place on 7th May 2020.
Mr Bailey said the annual rally, which sees anti-Israel demonstrators march through London waving Hezbollah flags, is “unnecessary” and “doesn’t need to happen – it sends the wrong messages”. He emphasised that he would ban the march.
Voicing his support for a full ban of Hezbollah as a terror organisation before Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced the ban on Monday, Mr Bailey said: “I don’t see personally the distance between the two wings of that party… They to me seem the same thing. If you ban one half it seems bizarre not to ban the other”.
Mr Bailey said it was a “privilege” to visit Israel with CFI, heralding the potential for bilateral trade ties: “When I went to Israel I had an absolute ball. It was a real eye-opener for me. I met a wide-range of Israeli people and I remember coming back to London and having those experiences to swap with the Jewish community”.
An engineering graduate, he said “there is a mutual benefit… there’s been years of collaboration”, adding that “Israel is showing itself to be an absolute hub” of modern technology, business and innovation, citing startups Waze and Gett.
Click here to read the interview in full.
