A candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party has hit back at broadcaster Kay Burley and defended his decision to wear a jumper that said, “Hamas are terrorists”.

Facing questions at the main auditorium at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, Jenrick hit back at the Sky News presenter who in a tweet had queried whether it was appropriate.

“Kay Burley said I was inciting people by doing that. I don’t know why we should be worried about inciting Hamas supporters”, Jenrick said, adding “They should be arrested” to applause from the audience.

The words on his hoodie were “the law, not a controversial statement,” he said.

The former home office minister was keen to emphasise his pro-Israel credentials and told the crowd: “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. I’d love to think that there was a world in which a Palestinian state that was as democratic, as liberal, as free as Israel. That’s some way off.”

Jenrick, whose wife was born in Israel, asked the auditorium: “How would we feel if 1,200 men, women, children were murdered. If our fellow citizens were raped. If it was Glastonbury and not the Nova music festival? If we had on our doorstep terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah?”

The MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire said that he would “always stand with Israel” but could also be a critical friend if needed.

When fellow contender James Cleverly, who went onstage after Jenrick, was asked whether he would wear a jumper saying, “Hamas are terrorists”, the former foreign secretary giggled and said “You don't need to wear a t-shirt to show what your principles are” in a quote he attributed to Margaret Thatcher.

Cleverly said that that his support for Israel was “longstanding”. He added, “I’m proud of it. I’m a friend of Israel. I said that directly to President Herzog when I went to see him in the days immediately after the October 7 atrocities.”

The MP for Braintree in Essex said that Israel had a “right” and “responsibility to defend its right to exist”, highlighting the threat of Iranian-funded militias on Israel’s borders.

Other leadership candidates, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch and former security minister Tom Tugendhat, faced questions on Monday.

All four leadership candidates gave speeches to a rally organised by Conservative Friends of Israel on Sunday night, in which they highlighted their support for the Jewish state.