Nick Clegg urged to act after Lib Dem peer says Israel ‘will not last for ever’

Party leader urged to condemn Lady Tonge, who said Israel would ‘lose support and then they will reap what they have sown’

A Liberal Democrat peer has said Israel will not last for ever, with her remarks prompting calls for the party’s leader, Nick Clegg, to take disciplinary action.

Lady Tonge – who was sacked as the Lib Dem children’s spokeswoman in the Commons when she suggested she could consider becoming a suicide bomber in 2004 – made her remarks in a meeting at Middlesex University.

She said: “Beware Israel. Israel is not going to be there for ever in its present form. One day, the United States of America will get sick of giving £70bn a year to Israel to support what I call America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East – that is Israel.

“One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough.”

The peer added: “It will not go on for ever, it will not go on for ever. Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown.”

Ian Austin, a former Labour minister, said: “There is a cross-party consensus that a two-state solution is the only way to bring peace to the Middle East. At the very least, Nick Clegg must make Baroness Tonge withdraw these remarks.”

Tonge’s remarks were made last week and disclosed on the Guido Fawkes website.

from Nicholas Watt

via http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/lib-dem-israel-not-last-for-ever