Sorry for the tardiness and belatedness of this post. Others have tackled it before me but let�s go ahead anyway. The other parliamentary event that took place this week was the Home Affairs Select Committee enquiry about the rise of antisemitism.
This was chaired by Keith Vaz, who pronounces antisemitism with an ��e�, as in �antisemetic� .
Watching Keith Vaz being forensic and painstaking in that laboured manner of his is very annoying, and it makes him look a bit thick. He began by making Jonathan Arkush define antisemitism, dragging it out as though he�d never heard of such a thing in his life. It was quite an emetic, in fact. He used attitudes to �the right to self-determination� as a kind of litmus test.
For all the laborious, misdirected unpickings of what is and what isn�t antisemitism, those familiar, lazy, defamatory generalizations were left hanging in the air.
This enquiry left an overriding impression of unchallenged falsehoods and inaccuracies, ranging from the ubiquitous �What Israel is doing to the Palestinians� to Ken Livingstone�s �700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes illegally at gunpoint� - not to mention the fact that Hitler supported Zionism because he was keen to rid Germany of all its Jews by deporting them to Palestine (before he went mad and killed 6,000,000.)
What was the point of it all? Does it relate to Shami Chakrabarti�s ill-conceived chairmanship of the inquiry into antisemitism in the Labour Party, which is morphing into an enquiry into all kinds of racism including Islamophobia? It happened; therefore it was.
MPs who were sympathetic to Jonathan Arkush and hostile to Ken Livingstone still appeared to be in agreement that condemnation of Israel was understandable because of �What it is doing to the Palestinians�, but they seemed to think that the elusive affliction known as antisemitism was shameful and a real menace. Nobody seemed to wonder why Israel kept on �doing� stuff to the Palestinians. It was unanimous. Everyone, including forensic examiner Keith Vaz agreed that criticism of Israel was not antisemitic.
Mr Winnick:
The last question I want to ask is arising from what the Chair asked you about Israel. You accept entirely that criticism of Israel is perfectly compatible with non-racism, and that it is not connected automatically in any way with antisemitism. The criticism of Israel, which could be very strong indeed�some, indeed myself would say that it is often very much justified�is not antisemitic.
The most interesting sound-bite and quotable performance arose from Chuka Imunna�s dramatic speech, somewhat marred by his consciousness of the need to preempt the inevitable trolling. That says a lot about the atmosphere in Corbyn�s current Labour Party, and is a tacit admission that antisemitism is the very thing that is motivating the predicted trolls.
�You know what? I will get trolled incessantly after this exchange. I don�t care��
He still let Livingstone get away with his appalling lies, if indeed he recognised them as lies.
The speech, for which the Chairman admonished him - �This is not an opportunity to make statements� - began:
�I just say this to Mr Livingstone. You were born in my constituency and you went to school in it. I and many other Labour colleagues of all backgrounds and faiths campaigned not just once but twice for you to be Mayor, and I think you campaigned for me. You did help reduce poverty, you did help reduce inequality and you did improve the housing situation in our capital city.�
It�s all very well to set out a couple of carefully selected examples of Mayor Livingstone implementing Labour values, thereby excusing his party�s support for Livingstone�s mayoralty. An aspiring Labour rising star could do no other. But it does look hypocritical to have overlooked, as Umunna seems to have done, Livingstone�s record of ( amongst other things) courting such disreputable people as Qaradawi and the disgraced Lee Jasper.
�But you are not a historian. You are a politician. And by needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way you have not only betrayed our Labour values but betrayed your legacy as Mayor because all you are now going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against. That is a huge shame and it is an embarrassment. �
That is if one overlooks the other (aforementioned) memorable contributions to the legacy of this particular pin-up boy.
Ken Livingstone is not alone in his attitude to Israel, Jews and his malignant version of history. Why do they so readily believe (and I�ve heard it from others) that (in 1948) 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes at gunpoint?
Chuka Umunna could offer no substantive challenge to this falsehood, thus considerably weakening the whole enquiry.
Ken Livingstone: No, no. It is a catastrophe in the sense that the deal done was for two states and a division. The tragedy is�and it is the legacy that still leads to violence today�that 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes illegally at gun point. The Prime Minister of Israel said, �The old will d
Mr Umunna: Sorry, we only get a small amount of time to ask you questions. Either you thought it was wrong, and it was a great catastrophe, or not. Yes or no?
Ken Livingstone: It was right to say that we will create a haven for those Jews who wish to go there. It was not right for the Israeli Government to expel� Mr Umunna: Ken, was it a catastrophe and was it wrong or not?
Ken Livingstone: It was not wrong to create it. It was a catastrophe to expel at gun point 700,000 Palestinians from their homes.
Mr Umunna: Sorry�that was not the question I asked.
Over the page: Transcript. Umunna and Livingstone.
Mr Umunna:
Our party�s constitution says that the Labour party is a democratic, socialist party and that we seek to create, among other things, a community where we �live together freely in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect�. Those are among the values to which I subscribe. Would you subscribe to them, too?
Ken Livingstone: Absolutely.
Mr Umunna: It also says in our constitution that, in order to achieve those values, we seek to create a society that �delivers people from the tyranny of�prejudice�. Would you agree with that?
Ken Livingstone: Absolutely.
Mr Umunna: As has already been said, well over 6 million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust at the behest of Hitler. Do you believe that conflating Zionism with Hitler�s views, which you did in the Vanessa Feltz interview, causing obvious and foreseeable offence to Jewish people, runs counter to the spirit of solidarity and respect towards others that our party�s constitution demands of us?
Ken Livingstone: Telling the truth cannot do that. I have had Jewish people stop me on the street�a disproportionate amount; hundreds of people have stopped me on the street�to say, �We know what you said is true.� Disproportionately those people have been Jewish because they know their history.
Mr Umunna: The public will be the judge of that. I want to understand your motivations in making the comments that you have, and I am not totally clear what the answers were when the Chair asked you earlier about your attitude towards the Jewish state. For the sake of clarity, do you believe in the right of Jewish people to self-determination?
Ken Livingstone: Yes.
Mr Umunna: Do you believe in the right of the State of Israel to exist? Then why did you say in an interview with the Arabic TV station, Al Ghad Al Arabi, �The creation of the State of Israel was fundamentally wrong.�? In the same interview you said, �The creation of the State of Israel was a great catastrophe.� If you believe in the right of Jewish people to self-determination and the right of Israel to exist, how can you say those things?
Ken Livingstone: What I am pointing out is that a majority of survivors of the Holocaust did not want to go to Israel. They wanted to be absorbed primarily into America or Britain. I think it was a mistake not to give them that choice. The simple fact is, you will recall, that when the State of Israel was created the first Prime Minister urged all America�s 5.5 million Jews to leave America and come and live in Israel. One fifth of one per cent. did in 15 years. That is the tragedy.
Mr Umunna: So, do you stand by the statement that the creation of the State of Israel was fundamentally wrong and a great catastrophe? Do you stand by what you said, yes or no?
Ken Livingstone: It is a catastrophe in the sense that�
Mr Umunna: So you do.
Ken Livingstone: No, no. It is a catastrophe in the sense that the deal done was for two states and a division. The tragedy is�and it is the legacy that still leads to violence today�that 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes illegally at gun point. The Prime Minister of Israel said, �The old will die and the young will forget.� They have not. There are still 3 million in refugee camps.
Mr Umunna: Sorry, we only get a small amount of time to ask you questions. Either you thought it was wrong, and it was a great catastrophe, or not. Yes or no?
Ken Livingstone: It was right to say that we will create a haven for those Jews who wish to go there. It was not right for the Israeli Government to expel�
Mr Umunna: Ken, was it a catastrophe and was it wrong or not?
Ken Livingstone: It was not wrong to create it. It was a catastrophe to expel at gun point 700,000 Palestinians from their homes.
Mr Umunna: Sorry�that was not the question I asked.
Ken Livingstone: But that is the answer I am giving. That is why we have not got peace in the middle east now.
Mr Umunna: Can I ask you another question?
Chair: Order. Mr Livingstone, would you wait for Mr Umunna?
Mr Umunna: Could I just move on a little bit from this and ask you whether you disagree that those who do not recognise the State of Israel or its right to exist are antisemitic?
Ken Livingstone: You cannot simply say because somebody is opposed to the creation of the State of Israel they are antisemitic.
Mr Umunna: Hang on. If a person thinks that the State of Israel does not have the right to exist, you do not regard that as antisemitic.
Ken Livingstone: Many of them will be antisemitic, some will not. Let�s not forget we promised the Arabs an Arab Government at the same time we promised the Israelis. We lied.
Mr Umunna: I don�t need a history lesson; I just need a straight answer.
Chair: Order. Let Mr Livingstone finish his comments.
Ken Livingstone: The British Government lied. It told the Arabs that if you fight on our side in world war one, you will be given a Hashemite kingdom. Instead, we split it all up between France and ourselves. We created a legacy of conflict that is still there today.
Mr Umunna: James Berry just talked about some of this: the various different things that you have said completely separate to what the State of Israel is accused of doing, or may or may not have done. Look at the catalogue: in 1982, the cartoon depicting the Israeli Prime Minister as a Nazi officer; in 2005, calling a Jewish reporter a Nazi concentration camp guard; in 2014, a �Newsnight� interview where you suggest that Jewish people are unlikely to vote for the Labour party as they get more wealthy; and all your various utterances recently. Would you make the same kinds of comments about black people�yes or no? Please just answer the question.
Ken Livingstone: You can�t have a yes or no answer on this. Look at the result of the election last year�
Mr Umunna: I am not asking you what the result of the election was. I am just asking you whether you would make the same comments in respect of black people.
Ken Livingstone: You asked me for my views about why Jewish people vote as they do. Last year
Mr Umunna: That�
Chair: Order. Mr Umunna, you must let the witness answer.
Mr Umunna: But he is not answering my question.
Ken Livingstone: You don�t like the answer�that is different.
Mr Umunna: You haven�t answered the question.
Chair: Order. I am chairing this meeting. Mr Livingstone will answer and then Mr Umunna will ask again. It is for the witness to decide what they want to say.
Ken Livingstone: We went into the election led by a Jewish leader. Over 60% of British Jews voted for the Conservatives and 22% voted Labour. We can argue about why they did and did not then. I think 50 years ago that would have been a very different figure. Look at the facts�
Mr Umunna: Aren�t you just stereotyping a whole group of people?
Ken Livingstone: I am not stereotyping; I am looking at the data published by the pollsters. Look at the facts of my record as Mayor. In seven of the eight years I was Mayor, antisemitic incidents were reduced. The only year they were not reduced was 2006, when in the aftermath of the invasion of Lebanon the figures did not move down�they did not go up. In the rest of Britain and across Europe, according to the Community Security Trust, they doubled. Whatever you may say, my period as Mayor saw a reduction in antisemitic incidents. In Boris Johnson�s first year, I think they went up 50%. So you might not agree with what I say, but the legacy of what I have done should bear some study.
Chair: Mr Umunna, a final question.
Mr Umunna: I just say this to Mr Livingstone. You were born in my constituency and you went to school in it. I and many other Labour colleagues of all backgrounds and faiths campaigned not just once but twice for you to be Mayor, and I think you campaigned for me. You did help reduce poverty, you did help reduce inequality and you did improve the housing situation in our capital city. But you are not a historian. You are a politician. And by needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way you have not only betrayed our Labour values but betrayed your legacy as Mayor because all you are now going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against. That is a huge shame and it is an embarrassment. You know what? I will get trolled incessantly after this exchange. I don�t care�
Chair: Mr Umunna, please put your question if you are putting one. This is not an opportunity to make statements. What is your question? Is there a question for Mr Livingstone?
Mr Umunna: I am just making a comment since he will not answer any of my questions.
Chair: Mr Livingstone, would you like to reply?
Ken Livingstone: All I would say is, if you look back, many of the things I have said have been controversial. When I defended lesbian and gay rights in 1981, we were denounced. When we said we needed to negotiate with the IRA, we were denounced. The simple fact is, show me what I got wrong in those times. I was just prepared to challenge the bigotry of the day and I am prepared to challenge bigotry today.
Mr Umunna: I will challenge your bigotry, too.
Chair: Order. I am sure Mr Umunna will put those views down and write to you and you can reply to him, but it is not�
Ken Livingstone: I will take him out for a meal�that will be easier.
Chair: It is not for this Committee, I am afraid.
