UK: Lib Dems summon MP over Jews, Israel remark
British MP David ward has been summoned by his party
chiefs over controversial comments he made recently, associating Israel's
actions with the Holocaust, that drew the ire of England's Jewish community.
British newspaper The Independent reported Friday that
the Liberal Democrats said "further decisions" would be taken after
Jewish leaders demanded action.
Two weeks ago during the signing of a Holocaust memorial
book in parliament, Ward stated that while he was “honoring those who died
during the Holocaust,” he was also “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.”
Following a public outcry, Ward was formally censured by
Alistair Carmichael, chief whip of the Liberal Democrat party for his comments.
However, in an updated post on his website in which he
apologized for “the unintended offense which [his] words caused,” he also
justified his earlier criticism. “My criticisms of actions since 1948 in the
Palestinian territories in the name of the State of Israel remain as strong as
ever,” he wrote. “I will continue to make criticisms of actions in Palestine in
the strongest possible terms for as long as Israel continues to oppress the
Palestinian people.”
The original statement remains on Ward's website.
In an email exchange on Wednesday night, Britian's Jewish
News asked Ward when he would remove the statement from his site. Instead of
offering a date, as the Jewish News had hoped he would, Ward wrote: "Can
you ask the Board of Deputies [of British Jews] if they are in agreement that I
should replace the words "the Jews" with the Jewish community" -
if so, I am perfectly happy to do so."
Following this correspondence, the Liberal Democrats
called a meeting Thursday morning with Board of Deputies and other groups over
the matter. Later in the day the groups released a joint statement saying that
"the Chief Whip (Alastair Carmichael) has assured us that Mr Ward's latest
comments will be dealt with as a fresh issue."
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