UK ex-minister Alan Duncan cleared of antisemitism allegations
Former UK minister Alan Duncan has been cleared of allegations of antisemitism, and has said that a Tory probe launched into him was an example of "underhand collusion" between "immoderate defenders of Israeli extremism" and senior Conservative figures.
Duncan, a former foreign office minister, announced his exoneration at a news conference in London on Tuesday organised by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
The probe dates back to an interview the former minister gave on LBC radio on 4 April, in which he said it was time to "flush out those extremists" in and around parliamentary politics.
At the time, he cited the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), which he described as "doing the bidding of" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bypass processes and exercise "undue influence" on the UK government.
He said the former head of the CFI, Lord Polak, should be removed from the House of Lords for "exercising the interests of another country" alongside former cabinet minister Lord Pickles.
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Following the interview, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Duncan was "invoking classic antisemitic tropes of Jewish power and disloyalty" - a charge he strongly denied.
Hours after the interview, the Conservative Party launched an investigation into Duncan.
"I was contacted by the press, who had been told I was accused of being antisemitic and was to be put into the party's complaints procedure under threat of expulsion. Nobody at that stage from the party had contacted me," Duncan told reporters on Tuesday.
"The party refused to tell me who had complained or what precisely the complaint was."
'They've tried to threaten me, but I will not be bullied'
- Alan Duncan, former UK minister
He said that rather than resigning from the party, he engaged lawyers at "considerable personal expense" to clear the allegations against him.
The adjudication was withheld until after the general election, and handed to Duncan in recent days.
It concluded that Duncan's comments "did not go beyond" political debate, and that his comments “were not antisemitic and could not properly be regarded as such."
The former minister revealed that there had been no formal complaint against him, and that the Conservatives had converted public comments into a complaint which the party itself levelled at Duncan.
"It was, in fact, a political decision by invisible actors who have not come forward," Duncan said.
"What we have seen is a perfect example of the underhand collusion that has existed for so long between immoderate defenders of Israeli extremism and figures at the top of the Conservative Party, both inside and outside parliament," he added.
"They've tried to threaten me, but I will not be bullied."
He went on to say that there was a "perverse" and "corrupt" relationship between CFI and the Tories, which involved "money, improper influence and the promotion of Israeli interests above our own."
He said that relationship had contributed to the "destruction of the UK’s independent foreign policy", and undermined the United Nations, the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) and international law.
"It all comes at the expense of innocent Palestinians," Duncan said.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "Sir Alan's claims about the Conservative party and its links are entirely false and unfounded. In the case of the CFI, this organisation is not a body recognised by the party board."
MEE approached CFI for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
On Monday, Jewish News reported that a long-standing Jewish member of the Tories resigned from the party over its failure to punish Duncan following the probe.
Conservatives 'brainwashed' during Israel trips
Speaking to Middle East Eye, Duncan said that he was in a minority in the Conservative Party who were outspoken on the rights of Palestinians and Israeli breaches of international law.
"There's a real lack of understanding about the history and the facts, and it's very difficult to teach people when so many of them as candidates, now [MPs], have been on paid trips to Israel," he said.
Duncan added that the trips meant that some Conservative members were effectively "brainwashed," and would not speak out "for fear of aggressive attacks."
He said that equivalent trips to the occupied West Bank and Gaza were more difficult to arrange and had less funding, and that once politicians went on them, they were likely to be attacked by their political base.
"The climate of fear perhaps sums up why people are not prepared to make a stand.”"
Duncan was asked about reports that the new Labour government was not planning to drop a UK objection to arrest warrant applications against Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant at the International Criminal Court.
"What we've seen over the last few years is the rise of politicians who think they can challenge the propriety of institutions of which… they are a signatory," he said.
"That's not acceptable. So if the ICC takes a step, it should be supported as an organisation to which we are signatory."
He also described the appointment of prominent lawyer Richard Hermer as the UK’s new attorney general as “highly encouraging”, and called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to use his own background as a human rights lawyer to be “courageous and principled”.
Hermer has been a vocal critic of Israeli human rights violations, and criticised the former UK government’s bill that sought to crack down on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement opposing Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
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