Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

JNS.org – A prominent British Muslim former politician has called on the UK government to prosecute British citizens who volunteer to fight in the Israeli military.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former Conservative Party cabinet member who resigned from her post in 2014 because the UK government did not condemn Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza that year, said she is seeking to eliminate a loophole allowing Brits to serve in state armies like those of Israel or Pakistan.

“If you go out there and fight for any group, you will be subject to prosecution when you get back. If you go out and fight for [Bashar] Assad, I presume, under our law, that is okay. That can’t be right,” Warsi said in an interview with Middle East Eye.

According to Warsi, anyone who serves in the IDF should be treated as a foreign fighter, much like those who have gone to fight for the Islamic State terror group.

“The only reason we allow the loophole to exist is because of the IDF, because we are not brave enough to say if you hold British citizenship, you make a choice. You fight for our state only. That has to go out strong,” Warsi said, adding, “Let’s just shut down this loophole. If you don’t fight for Britain, you do not fight.”