Reform UK’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, has refused to be drawn on whether too many innocents have been killed in Gaza, including Middle East Eye journalists.
At a fringe event hosted by The Spectator magazine at the party’s conference in Birmingham on Friday, MEE asked Yusuf to respond to the killing of two of its journalists by Israeli forces last week.
Mohamed Salama and Ahmed Abu Aziz were killed while covering an Israeli attack on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza last Monday. At least three other journalists were among the 20 Palestinians murdered in the attacks.
Yusuf expressed support for the Trump administration’s policy in the Middle East and said Reform would work to end the war in Gaza.
But he would not say whether Israel had killed too many innocent people, and claimed sustainable peace would be difficult because of Hamas.
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Reform does not have a developed official foreign policy platform, but its approach to issues like Israel’s genocide in Gaza is hugely important.
The party has consistently topped national opinion polls in the UK during the last several months and is considered a serious contender to lead the government at the next general election, with its leader, Nigel Farage, as prime minister.
Farage has consistently defended Israel and opposed the Labour government’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state later this month.
Yusuf, meanwhile, has similarly opposed the government’s plan. He has expressed a desire for an end to the war, but has never accused Israel of war crimes.
‘That awful war’
Multiple Reform members heckled MEE during the question-and-answer session.
MEE further asked whether a Reform government would seek to stop Israel’s war on Gaza.
“You asked us whether a Prime Minister Farage would do everything he could to stop that awful war. You better be darn sure he would, absolutely,” he said.
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Yusuf then digressed into an extended reflection on the state of the British military, saying: “Nigel believes in peace through strength.
“We think the Ministry of Defence, we think our armed forces should be proud and powerful and well-funded and equipped for the new age, and make any enemy think twice before testing us.”
Yusuf added: “Sadly, despite – and this is no indictment at all of the brilliant people who serve in our military – and by the way we speak to these people. We speak to these people all the time.
“And you know, I want to make this point too, because we talked about you know, somebody saying the military might say this or that. And I accept there are people like that and I hear these stories. That is not the preponderant view in the military.”
Yusuf appeared to be referring to figures in the British military criticising Reform’s policy proposals.
“You know, I speak to so many active members of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, including quite senior people,” he said, “who tell me no one is more appalled than they are about the state of affairs with the [migrants arriving on] small boats.
“They’ve never had the political clarity. They’ve never had the will from leadership politically to be able to [stop the small boats].”
‘You need Hamas to give up the hostages’
Yusuf then returned to the topic of Israel and Gaza.
“So Nigel wants an end to that war,” he said. “But look, you’ve got to be realistic about what that also means. You need Hamas to give up the hostages.
“I do think it’s very difficult to arrange a sustainable long-term peace with an organisation whose founding documents literally say that Israel has no right to exist, is illegitimate and must be eradicated.”
The Israeli military has destroyed more than 70 percent of the buildings in Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.
More than 64,000 people have been killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
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Over 10,000 more are missing and presumed dead. At least 18,000 of those killed were children.
Yusuf said: “So there’s a reason why we have a war in the Middle East, and it’s an incredibly intractable problem. President Trump is working really hard to end it.
Yusuf went on: “To the degree that a prime minister of the United Kingdom can – and by the way Britain’s influence on the world stage sadly has greatly waned over the last few years, in no small part due to performative non-entity actions – a Prime Minister Farage would do everything he can to end the war in the Middle East, yeah.”
In June, Yusuf – a self-declared “British Muslim patriot” – resigned as Reform’s chairman in a shock move following a public row with Reform MP Sarah Pochin after she called for a ban on women wearing the burqa during a parliamentary debate.
Just days later, he rejoined the party as head of its department of government efficiency, saying his resignation had been a mistake.
Farage announced on Friday that Yusuf is now Reform’s policy chief.
