UK’S Priti Patel likely to be fired over Israel links
LONDON: British international development secretary Priti Patel, who is facing flak for conducting what is being called a “freelance foreign policy”, was on Wednesday the subject of intense speculation that she may be dropped from the key post.
Patel, the only Indian-origin MP to hold a cabinet-level post in British political history, has apologised for holding 12 secret meetings in Israel while on holiday in August, including with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, breaking conventions and possibly the ministerial code.
The 45-year-old MP’S future in the government became increasingly uncertain when it emerged on Tuesday that she held two more meetings that did not follow procedures. Downing Street has already reprimanded her.
Some fellow Conservative MPS remarked that Patel, known to be pro-israel, may not be aware of all dimensions of the conflict when she later tried to send money to the Israel Army for humanitarian work in Golan Heights.
Britain does not recognise Israel’s permanent presence in the Golan Heights, which was seized from Syria in the 1967 war. And, providing aid to the Israeli Army in this occupied territory would be considered going against the British foreign policy.
“The secretary of state did discuss potential ways to provide medical support for Syrian refu- gees who are wounded and who cross into the Golan for aid. The Israeli Army runs field hospitals there to care for Syrians wounded in the civil war. But there is no change in policy in the area. The UK does not provide any financial support to the Israeli Army,” Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesperson said.
Currently on an official trip to Africa, Patel discussed her Indian background and India with Netanyahu in Israel, according to the list of 12 meetings she said she had. The meetings were attributed to her “enthusiasm” in her apology statement.
The Guardian commented editorially on Wednesday: “As acts of insubordination to the prime minister and her government, this is hard to beat, and even Ms Patel must have known it. Almost incredibly, she nevertheless went ahead”.
“The Middle East is not New Zealand or Denmark, places where a mid-vacation courtesy call can perhaps be informal and unfreighted,” it said.