London – A British minister who was the first Muslim to sit in the cabinet resigned on Tuesday over the government’s “morally indefensible” policy on Gaza.
The decision by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a minister at the Foreign Office and for faith and communities, heaped fresh pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to take a tougher line against Israel over its actions in Gaza.
His coalition government has faced sustained criticism in recent days, led by the main opposition Labour Party, that it has not spoken out strongly enough over a conflict that has killed 1,867 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side.
“Our approach… in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain’s national interest and will have a long-term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically,” Warsi wrote to Cameron in her resignation letter.
She said there was “great unease” in the Foreign Office, where Philip Hammond took over as Foreign Secretary from William Hague last month, about how recent policy decisions had been made.
While Warsi’s star has dimmed in recent years, she was once a high-profile example of Cameron’s desire to diversify his Conservative party away from its traditional white, male base.
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