Controversial Tory backbencher Crispin Blunt has warned that Britain will be “complicit” in war crimes if it continues to support Israel’s attempt to defend itself.
Mr Blunt said this would happen without pointing out breaches of international law. But it has emerged that the former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee less than two years ago was facing demands that he was thrown out of the Conservative Party for opposing Hamas being officially proscribed as terrorists.
He also claimed in 2021 that Hamas had “legitimate targets” in Israel in words which at the time were branded “disgraceful”.
Mr Blunt, the MP for Reigate who is stepping down at the next election, is a director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP).
This week it put out a legal notice to media objecting to the reports of Israeli babies being beheaded by Hamas claiming that it “risks exacerbating anti-Palestinian racism and islamophobia in the United Kingdom.”
The objections by that and and a number of other groups and claims of “fake stories” on social media forced the Israeli government to publish horrific images of a beheaded baby and children who had been burnt to death by the terrorists.
But in his intervention today, Mr Blunt warned that it is the Israeli government which is breaking international law in its response and that the UK could be complicit.
He told Sky News that “everyone must act to restrain people” if they know war crimes are likely to happen.
He went on: ‘If you know that a party is going to commit a war crime – and this forcible transfer of people is a precise breach of one of the statutes that governs international law and all states in this area – then you are making yourself complicit.
“And as international law has developed in this area, the fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime.”
Mr Blunt, who has previously been investigated by the Standards Commission in Parliament for failing to declare £20,000 in payments from the ICJP, is concerned about Israel bombing parts of Gaza, ordering civilians to move and cutting off water and energy supplies.
The comments were a clear attack on his own government’s support for Israel with James Cleverly becoming the first senior western minister to visit the country after the conflict started. UK government buildings havd also been flying the Israeli flag.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed as a result of Hamas’ invasion last week with hundreds more wounded and kidnapped while more than 1,000 Palestinians have died as a result of retaliations.
In 2021 Blunt sparked outrage with his comments about Hamas calling for their terrorist proscribing to be removed.
He claimed during a debate that “people have a right to resist and we must understand that we are talking about an occupied people”.
He added: “We have already taken a position on what is plainly the stupid, illegitimate and immoral mortaring of people where you cannot tell where the targets are, simply flying weapons over the wall, because you do not have the capacity to engage in that targeting of what would be legitimate targets under international law.”
At the time fellow Tory MP Mark Harper, now Transport Secretary, asked him to clarify his comments rather than withdrawing the party whip in Parliament.
Blunt responded: “Under international law, you have a legal right to resist.
“Not only is the use of those weapons unlawful because they are integrated and indiscriminate; it is also fantastically stupid because it gives the Israelis’ argument about the threat they face from the Palestinian people its raison d’être.
“I deplore violence of any kind from the Palestinians because they are going to get smashed if they try to resist under international law.”
He added: “Do I support Hamas? That is a little unlikely, speaking as the gay chair of the all-party parliamentary humanist group.
“But have I taken the trouble to try to understand political Islam? Yes, I have.”
At the time Tal Ofer, a former member of the Board of Deputies, said: “Boris Johnson should remove the Tory whip from Crispin Blunt.”
Campaign group Never Again described Blunt’s comments as “rancid” and Stephane Savary, vice chairman of Jewish Labour, described the speech as “disgraceful” urging the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “remove the whip now”.
Express.co.uk has approached Mr Blunt for further comment and asked if he still holds the same views but have not yet received a response.
