Former Conservative Party Chairman Sayeeda Warsi, who resigned from government in protest at Israel’s war on Hamas, has expressed her shock at the anger her behaviour caused amongst British Jews. On Twitter today she claimed she had received “vitriolic emails” from people “self identifying as British Jews.”
Warsi had become Britain’s first female Muslim cabinet member when David Cameron became Prime Minister is 2010. But it all came to an end when she left government claiming Britain should have been more critical of Israel over Operation Protective Edge, in which the country launched rocket attacks on sites used by Hamas to bomb Israel.
Baroness Warsi’s comments led to an immediate backlash from North-West Friends of Israel (NWFOI) , a group that campaigns against boycotts of the country and against anti-Semitism in general. From it’s official Twitter account the group replied to Warsi asking her to “reflect” on her “lack of condemnation of Hamas for hiding its terrorists amongst civilians?”
In the exchange, which included a number of others, Warsi attempted to explain her actions by claiming the others were “justifying abuse against her.”
One of her detractors described her Twitter feed as “bizarre.” He claimed she was guilty of “Repeated tweets attacking Israel… Followed by complaints that so many Jews don’t like her much.”
Warsi’s comments are the latest incident in a war that is now developing between right-wingers and the former minister. As Conservative Party Chairman she presided over a “purge of the right” and many of the groups sidelined, including the Jewish lobby are fighting to ensure she never returns to front-line politics.
Warsi’s claims to have been hard done by in the communications she received after her resignation are likely to gain little traction. She is known to be a tough operator and criticism of her style has never appeared to upset her in the past.
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