Home Affairs committee’s anti-Semitism inquiry is a kangaroo court so far

Last Updated: June 14, 2016By
Jonathan Arkush [Image: Evening Standard].

Jonathan Arkush [Image: Evening Standard].

Parliament’s Home Affairs committee is holding its first evidence session into allegations of anti-Semitism, and what a disgusting exhibition it’s turning out to be!

Committee members seem to have assumed the guilt of those Labour members who have been accused of anti-Semitism, are taking the opportunity to attack the Labour Party as a whole, and have a willing cheerleader in Jonathan Arkush, the president of the board of deputies of British Jews.

He has taken every opportunity to repeat the disproved misinterpretations that we’ve all heard already many times – that Ken Livingstone said “Hitler was a Zionist”, for example. Livingstone said Hitler was an “anti-Zionist”, in fact.

It is one of the most disgusting displays This Writer has witnessed in more than 20 years of political reporting. Tune into it here if you have the stomach for it. If not, I’ll be writing a report later today (June 14).

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6 Comments

  1. Phil Woodford June 14, 2016 at 2:47 pm - Reply

    You should check your facts, Mike, if you hope to be taken seriously. Livingstone’s exact words on Hitler were: “He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”

    That is NOT saying that Hitler was anti-Zionist. It is saying the reverse.

    • Mike Sivier August 2, 2016 at 1:21 pm - Reply

      And you should check your facts, Phil. He was saying that, while Hitler was anti-Zionist in his beliefs, he was supporting Zionism in this matter because it was mutually beneficial.

  2. James Kemp June 14, 2016 at 4:22 pm - Reply

    Uggg….

    Words fail to express the anger i feel towards the intentional twisting of truth to hide behind just to achieve the goal of discrediting Labour, i want my time back witnessing this!

    • Mike Sivier June 15, 2016 at 12:21 am - Reply

      Then I apologise for sending you to it.

  3. casalealex June 14, 2016 at 5:50 pm - Reply

    The Board of Deputies of British Jews (historically London Board of Deputies and London Committee of Deputies of British Jews) is the main representative body of British Jews.

    The Board is currently led by Jonathan Arkush, Deputy for Borehamwood and Elstree United Synagogue, who was elected as President in May 2015

    In 2003, the Board, on its web site, reproduced an extract from a US State Department report that suggested that the aid organisation Palestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal) was helping to fund terrorist organisations. Interpal threatened to sue for libel, whereupon the Board retracted and apologised for its comments

    Uncritical support for Israel and political partisanship[edit]
    The Board of Deputies of British Jews has been criticized for; adopting an uncritical stance on Israel, unwavering support for Zionism, the growing perception that it takes a partisan position the Israel-Palestine conflict to the determent of Palestinian rights and aspirations and ignoring critical perspectives within the Jewish community.
    It has been suggested that the Board of Deputies of British Jews has ‘…no business taking a partisan position on the Middle East…The role of the board is to promote the welfare of British Jews in all their variety, not to defend Israel’

    It has been noted that ‘Since Zionism became a communal orthodoxy in the post-second world war period, and certainly since 1967, the vast majority of British Jewish communal bodies have stressed the need for communal unity in demonstrating solidarity with Israel.

    Independent Jewish Voices[
    On 5 February 2007, a group of prominent British Jews, such as Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and lawyer Sir Geoffrey Bindman, launched an organisation called Independent Jewish Voices to counterbalance what they perceive as uncritical support of Israel and its support for Zionism by major Jewish institutions in the UK, criticising particularly the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

  4. mohandeer June 14, 2016 at 7:47 pm - Reply

    This kind of whitewash and kangaroo court underhand dealings will do nothing to improve relations for Jewish people in this country, quite the reverse is true. It will merely affirm what many people want to believe about Jewish peoples(ie. that they are all Zionists and can’t be trusted). It really is like putting fuel on a fire and will serve to turn many more people against Jews. Really, really stupid and foolish, not to mention dishonest.

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