Joan Ryan



Joan Marie Ryan (born 8 September 1955) is a British former politician. Originally elected as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP), she representing Enfield North from 1997 to 2010 and from 2015 to 2019. She switched to the Independent Group early in 2019, losing her seat at the December general election.

Quotes

 * The barriers to a two-state solution are well known. As a strong friend of Israel, I admit freely, but with great regret, that these include the expansion of settlements on the west bank. Settlement building is wrong. It threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state—the case for which is unarguable. It does immense damage to Israel’s standing in the world, and, over time, it will put at risk that which is most precious about Israel’s character: its Jewish and democratic character. However, as Secretary of State Kerry stated clearly, this is not to say “that the settlements are the whole or even the primary cause of this conflict.” There is also the incitement tolerated, and, in many cases, perpetrated by the Palestinian Authority. I am talking about the payment of “salaries” to those convicted of terrorist offences, and the naming of schools, streets and sports tournaments after so-called martyrs, thereby glorifying their violence. Then there is the greatest barrier of all: the rejectionist, anti-Semitic ideology of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, which denies Israel’s very right to exist, and the terrorism that inevitably flows from it.
 * On the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during a House of Commons debate,, Hansard (18 January 2010)