We write as Jewish members and supporters of the Labour Party in support of Ken Livingstone. We do not find the disciplinary charges brought against him in the name of the NEC to be credible.
Starting in February last year there has been a skilfully delivered campaign to present the Left of the Labour Party as riddled with antisemitism, a charge which we can refute based on many years of accumulated experience. The motivations for this campaign have been widely discussed, and we do not intend to address them here. It is sufficient to say that contesting antisemitism has clearly not been the only or even the main reason for the enthusiasm with which this campaign has been pursued.
To be specific, we do not find Ken Livingstone’s remarks about the Zionist leadership’s involvement in negotiating the ‘Ha’avarah’ (Transfer) agreement with the Nazis in the 1930s in any way antisemitic. This agreement is a historical fact, and it gave vital support to Hitler at a time when his regime was under severe international pressure.
In his interview with Vanessa Feltz in which this remark was made Ken Livingstone was defending Naz Shah from accusations that her social media postings of two years previous were antisemitic. He did not believe this to be so, and neither do we - nor does her subsequent apology make them so. They fall well within the spectrum of reasonable comment on a contentious political issue. (We think it is now well known that the allegedly offensive map she re-tweeted came from a prominent Jewish US academic and activist.) Naz Shah made no expression of hostility to Jews because we are Jews. There is no expression whatsoever of prejudice directed at Jews.
As Jews, we are appalled that such a serious issue as antisemitism is being used in this cynical and manipulative way. It is harmful to Jewish people that false charges of antisemitism are so casually thrown around. The Labour Party should decisively distance itself from this practice.
Over many years the Labour Party in office has contributed consistently to the fight against antisemitism. In particular we pay tribute to the leading role that Ken Livingstone has played in this, both as Leader of the GLC and as Mayor of London.
In sum we believe it would be a travesty if the Labour Party were to find Ken Livingstone guilty of conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the Party. We would urge the Party not to make such a damaging mistake.
Signed by:
Prof. Haim Bresheeth, Hornsey & Wood Green CLP
Ron Cohen, Finchley & Golders Green CLP
Li Doran, Tottenham CLP
Michael Ellman, Islington North CLP
Arye Finkle, Barnet CLP
Murray Glickman, Ilford South CLP
Abe Hayeem, Harrow East CLP
Rosamine Hayeem, Harrow East CLP
Riva Joffe, Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Ann Jungman, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP
David Kaye, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
Marion Kozak, Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Simon Korner, Hackney North CLP
Beverley Krell, Cheadle CLP
Prof. Frank Land, West Devon/Totnes CLP
Ralph Land CBE, Hammersmith & Fulham CLP
Rachel Lever, Hastings & Rye CLP
Susanne Levin, Cities of London & Westminster CLP
Miriam Margolyes OBE, Lambeth CLP
Helen Marks, Liverpool Riverside CLP
Frances Rifkin, Holborn and St Pancras CLP
Steven Mendoza, Twickenham CLP
Glyn Secker, Dulwich and West Norwood CLP
Angie Mindel, Nottingham East CLP
Prof. Mica Nava, Islington North CLP
Leon Rosselson, affiliated Labour Party member via Musicians’ Union
Prof. Donald Sassoon, Islington South and Finsbury CLP
Amanda Sebestyen, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Sam Semoff, Liverpool Riverside CLP
Prof. Avi Shlaim, Oxford West and Abingdon CLP
Prof. Annabelle Sreberny, Islington North CLP
Sam Weinstein, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
Argue the issues with like minded people by leaving a comment below or joining the discussion here
Showing 15 reactions
Sign in with
Facebook TwitterOnly the other day, outside the hearing, he told everyone that examples of concentration camps and Jews being banned from flying their national German flag were examples of collaboration!!! He’s gone round the bend and taken a group of you with him. Well congrats, you are sharing territory with cranks like Lenni Brenner, or worse, racists and holocaust deniers.
First did you see the reality of what was happening during and subsequent to Ken speaking these and other words?
Hitler was most definitely “supporting” (which incidentally also means “to put up with”) the faction of those Zionists who would collude with him and serve his purpose.
What hurts the far Right of Israel’s Zionists is any confusion with Nazis…. well.. ponder as you wish… Unpleasant facts come back to haunt.. and show their own beliefs and actions all rather to similar to those they claim to protect their ilk against…
It is absolutely NOTHING to do with anti Semitism!
The issue is fairly simple… Zionists did collude with Nazi Germany in an attempt to save ~60,000 German Jews.
“When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”
Ken Livingstone.
The point I would make is that, in a very short comment, Ken stated a fact regarding an agreement between the Zionist Federation of Germany and the Nazi Party.
This agreement allowed German Jews to leave Germany and go to what would later be recognised as Israel.
The travel for the 60,000 who got out came at a punishing cost. They did, however, get out.
Adolf Hitler had a total hold on the Nazi Party until his death so the idea that the agreement could have been made without his knowledge is ludicrous. In fact in about 1936 or 37 the SS wanted to halt the travel authority and Hitler vetoed the idea.
Ken’s comments might have been inadvisable in light of the current stance of the Israeli government but it was accurate.
To expel him from the party would simply be a boost for the RW people who try to throttle free speech.