What's Happenning To The Libdems?

[ToraToraTora]

http://news.sky.com/story/1117439/mp-whip-withdrawn-after-zionist-tweet
anti semetism rearing it's head in the "nice" party! What next?

[sandyRoe]

Aren't anti Zionist views different from anti-Semetic ones?

[ToraToraTora]

I'd say being against the entire state is pretty anti semetic even if there is some sort of semantic difference. It's be like saying I'm not against the French but lets not have France eh?

[Gromit]

MPs break up for their summer holiday tomorrow, so the ban is pointless.

[Gromit]

Not sure his constituents in Bradford East would think he has done anything wrong in highlighting the plight of the Palestinians.

[ToraToraTora]

perhaps but wanting to abolish Israel is a bit strong wouldn't you say?

[mikey4444]

STOP PRESS !!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23361380

[ToraToraTora]

my link said that, do keep up Mikey.

[mikey4444]

Beg pardon Tora ! I have a natural affinity for the BBC !

[LazyGun]

Not sure about this story. I mean, if I were to be critical of the political and economic aims of the French, for instance, or objected to their treatment of, say romanian gypsies, I could still be critical of those aims or policies without hating the French for being French, if you get what I mean.

And, although I do not know this chap,or his international political sympathies, this is the type of criticism I think he is levelling at the jewish state with respect to the way they treat the palestinian population residing within Israel and on the West Bank.In the absence of an apology from him, I do not see how the Lib Dems could do anything else. They have had a torrid time of late, haven't they? Clegg with his broken pledges, Laws with his expenses fiddling, Huhne with his speeding tickets fiddling,Mike Hancock and his russian spy mistress getting nuclear secrets from him and all that...

Back to the OP.I think there is a distinction between ,say, criticising jewish people out of a stereotyped hatred or dislike of their jewishness or culture, and criticising the way the state of Israel treats the Palestinians.

And I can sympathise to a degree with his sentiment. The jews have endured a long treatment of being treated abysmally in Europe, culminating in the atrocity that was the Holocaust, so it then becomes very difficult for an outsider to understand how on earth they in turn can treat a people so poorly.

And it becomes very difficult to criticise the Jewish state for its activities without being labelled an anti-semite. I imagine some people who argue against immigration into the UK might feel the same exasperation at being labelled racist when they voice a concern.

Having said all that - to try and draw a parallel between the Holocaust and the treatment of the Palestinians is pretty crass. There really is no comparison, and he should apologise for such a hyperbolic and offensive remark.

[jomifl]

LG, I think the zionists learnt a good lesson from the nazis, however what happened to the nazis seems to have passed their notice.

[jno]

yep, anti-Zionist, not anti-semitic. Many Zionists try to fudge this in order to present their opponents as ant-semitic. They should not be allowed to.

LazyGun, where did he mention the Holocaust?

[jomifl]

jno, got it in one, how much longer are the zionists going to get away with playing their 'aintisemitism' get out of jail card.

[Gromit]

Jno

// Mr Ward, MP for Bradford East, wrote on his website in January that he was "saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps, be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza". //

Seems a fair comment to me.

[bazwillrun]

"jno, got it in one, how much longer are the zionists going to get away with playing their 'aintisemitism' get out of jail card. "

for as long as blacks keep using the racism card

[jno]

thanks, Gromit. That wasn't in TTT's link

[jomifl]

baz, you don't need to be black to play the racism card, you just need to think you are 'black' or any other ethnic or religious grouping.

[emmie]

perhaps it has more to do with his constituency than anything,