Baroness Warsi to speak at conference with controversial UN official
Baroness Warsi is due to speak at a conference alongside a United Nations (UN) official who has made controversial remarks about Jews.
It is understood that Baroness Warsi, a controversial member of the House of Lords and the Conservative Party, will be speaking at a conference organised by The Balfour Project.
The keynote speaker for the conference is Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, who described Roger Waters as a “true icon of our time” despite the public backlash against the musician following a series of comparisons between Israelis and Nazis.
Ms Albanese also previously posted an open letter online which reads: “America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines and continue to condemn the oppressed — the Palestinians…”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.
Lady Warsi has her own concerning record. In 2017, She reportedly made divisive comments claiming that Jews, Sikhs and black people do not do enough to speak out against the far-right and anti-Muslim hatred, and only months prior, she claimed that British Jews who volunteer for the Israeli Defence Force should be prosecuted as though they had been fighting for genocidal terrorist groups such as ISIS. In 2022, she was among a number of fawning British politicians to welcome Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to London, despite Rep. Omar’s notoriety for her past appalling comments about Jews.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Francesca Albanese’s indefensible past comments about the ‘Jewish lobby’ should have been cause for her removal from office. Her refusal to do the decent thing and resign – and the failure to sack her – should be no excuse for British NGOs and politicians to lend her legitimacy. That they intend to do so speaks volumes about their commitment to the fight against racism.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
