In response Cleverly was careful to point out that Chikli is just one member of a “broad coalition within the Israeli government,” adding: “I have no doubt that a number of other people in the Israeli government are as uncomfortable with that as I am.”
But he said: “I think it’s a foolish move on behalf of the individual that did that. Tommy Robinson and others of his ilk are now wrapping themselves up in a pro-Jewish, pro-Israeli posture, because basically it’s an opportunity to do what they really want to do, which is to be anti-Muslim.
“I think it’s an error,” Cleverly added, describing Robinson as “no friend of the Jewish community, whether it be in London or anywhere, whether it be in the U.K. or anywhere else in the world.”
Cleverly’s comments come after a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue last week left two worshippers dead.