As I wrote in January, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg promised to deal with any new outbursts by Baroness Tonge along the lines of her track record of antisemitic remarks and sympathy with antisemitic terrorism. Since he made this promise he has had two opportunities to act but refused – indignantly - to keep his word.
I concluded, “If Nick Clegg doesn’t even have the balls or the decency to deal with antisemitism and support for terrorism within his own party, why on earth should we believe he is in any way ready to be a leader of the country?”
This week Tonge has called for an inquiry into the ludicrous blood libel allegations that the IDF was harvesting organs during its admirable humanitarian work in Haiti. So, Mr Clegg, will you keep your promise this time and act immediately?
Well said, Chas.
Fat chance of Chas-Clegg has neither the balls or the decency
“when did you stop beating your wife” springs to mind
Who has harvested Tonge’s brain?
Whoops…. it was never there to harvest in the first place
Well, she does seem a rather unhappy soul.
This is a cross-comment from Cif Watch:
Poison Tongue (to the tune of “Robin Hood, Riding through the Glen”)
(Hat tip: Carl Sigman from “The Adventures of Robin Hood” TV series 1955-60)
Jenny Tongue, Poison Tongue, shvitzing in the Lords,
Lib-dem joke, Tongue will croak slime, bile and eat its words.
Feared by Nick Clegg; a Tongue-lash he’ll beg
From Poison Tongue; up his bum; yum-yum-yum.
(trumpet riff solo with coconut shell hoof percussion and whoopee cushion)
Poison Tongue licks the crumb from the terrorists’ table.
Scalds the lips of Lib-dem schnips.
She’s no Betty Grable.
Loves Jeremy Thorpe; at them we’ll gawp.
Poison Tongue; takes a bung; upstairs slung.
(trumpet riff solo + coconut shell cracking sound effect)
DS Al Coda
You’re through to the next round.
Great song Duvid.
I encourage people to write to Nick Clegg about this like I did this afternoon. You can raise your concerns with him via cleggn@parliament.uk
Jonathan Sacerdoti did just that and I’m reproducing his letter here with his permission:
Dear Mr Clegg,
I am writing to you about Jenny Tonge.
Her latest call for there to be an enquiry into the allegations that Israel’s aid mission to Haiti stole organs from the victims of the disastrous earthquake there, is outrageous. I think it is time you took serious action to deal with Tonge, who has a track record of antisemitic statements and actions, and who is offensive and upsetting to many Jewish people in the UK and beyond. She is an embarrassment to your party, and by jumping on this latest 21st Century blood libel bandwagon she has gone too far, once again.
I attended your Q&A for the Jewish community some months ago, and questioned you then on the Lib Dem record on antisemitism and also on Israel issues. I write to Sarah Teather often on these matters and others and met with her in the House of Commons only a few weeks ago. I’ve discussed it with Carol Shaw. I have spoken many times with Ed Fordham who you would like to represent me in my constituency, sometimes discussing Tonge with him. Every time, I either receive vague platitudes about standing up to antisemitism, or worse, I realise that there is a level of ignorance and dubious logic underlying the position of the person involved (Sarah Teather hadn’t even read the Hamas Charter which calls for the death of Jews and the eradication of Israel, but still thought that negotiation with Hamas was essential).
If your party wishes to convince Jewish voters in Hampstead and Kilburn, or anywhere else for that matter, that you will deal with rising antisemitism (see the CST’s recently released data on this), you really ought to deal with Tonge and her disgusting antisemitic statements. As I’ve explained to Ed Fordham, the electorate requires actions, not just words. No matter how many trips Ed takes to Israel, or how many promises you make that if Tonge does it again you’ll deal with her, until we see action, constituents like me will have to judge you on what actually happens, not on vague, unfulfilled promises and sketchy suggestions of support. How many Lib Dems who claim to or wish to represent me do I need to talk to about this before I simply write the party off?
You promised that if Jenny Tongue repeated her antisemitism, she’d be out. She just has. Please deliver on your promise.
Yours sincerely
Jonathan Sacerdoti
I presume you’re question is rhetorical Chas? The silence from Clegg will be deafening…again!
This message is being circulated in South West London:
Baroness Tonge, the Liberal peer, said this week that Israel should set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that its medical teams in Haiti “harvested” organs of earthquake victims for use in transplants. http://thejc.com/news/uk-news/27070/tonge-investigate-idf-stealing-organs-haiti
These allegations are completely unsubstantiated and when made last month, were being used as a distraction from the IDF Search & Rescue teams’ magnificent and prompt response to the Haitian earthquake disaster.
If you feel that Tonge’s remarks serve to propagate this libel against the IDF & Israel, and you have a LibDem MP either Edward Davey, (Kingston & Surbiton) , Susan Kramer, (Richmond Park) or Vince Cable (Twickenham) please write to them:
Edward Davey: daveye@parliament.uk
Susan Kramer: http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/constituencies/richmond-park
Dr Vince Cable: http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/constituencies/twickenham/messages/new
or the LibDem party leader Nick Clegg: cleggn@parliament.uk
(I have written to my MP but I’m not holding my breath……)
I have written to a whole bunch of people and to Clegg. Frankly, if he does not now act on Tonge, either he has no concept of the effect this vile woman has, or she’s got something on him!
Please do write to him and ask your friends to, too.
I presume you’re question is rhetorical Chas? The silence from Clegg will be deafening…again!
If people sit around moaning but not acting, maybe. You can write to Nick Clegg here cleggn@parliament.uk
Jonathan – do you want to drop me an email? I’m the conservative candidate running against Ed Fordham and the Lib Dems here. I’m also an enthusiastic member of Conservative Friends of Israel, and spent a very happy summer living and studying at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot when I was younger. I’m at philp_chris@hotmail.com. Best wishes, Chris
Thanks Chris. I’ve passed that message directly to Jonathan.
Myself – and many others – have also been asking Ed Fordham (on Twitter) what he is going to do to ensure Nick Clegg keeps his promise about Baroness Tonge. I’ll keep you informed of any response.
I should have added that the Lib Dems in the area have been sending leaflets to Muslims with a picture of a dead child in Gaza saying “nick clegg calls for israel to be disarmed”, while half a mile up the road are leafleting jewish households with pictures of their candidate pretending to be friends with israeli MPs. It is the worst kind of political manipulation. Chris Philp
Be very careful Chris what precisely you are saying – my track record on these issues is well known to friends and commentators. Don’t confuse your own ambitions with this stupid, nasty and unwarranted outburst from Jenny Tonge. The is nothing ‘pretend’ about my friendships and you would be advise to pause, take advise and think before typing such allegations.
Good to hear you condemn Tonge, Mr Fordham. Do you agree that Nick Clegg must discipline her?
What a disgrace
Chris
I’m truly appalled that the LD’s in your area are circulating these opposite views in their election literature. Obviously, I can’t see the leaflets but in calling for Israel to disarm, can you tell me what, exactly, he is asking for?
I’ve heard Clegg speak myself and I fear he is wholly naive in terms of the Middle East and defence in general. He appears to be one of those who don’t understand that you cannot take Western values and logic and extrapolate them across the whole globe. That Ms Teather can speak about Hamas without reading their Charter is also quite a revelation.
As for Tonge – a quick look at the Palestinian Telegraph of which she is a Patron is pretty much all you need to know about her outlook. I note another headline is along the lines of America causing the Haitian earthquake!
Clegg’s apparent reluctance to deal with Tonge is, for me, the bigger issue.
I too have heard Clegg speak in public at a Jewish News event and was appalled by his pompous naivety and by his bizarre “but my wife is Spanish” defence, which it seems he trots out a lot.
The empty ‘pro-Israel’ support of certain Lib Dem candidates is shameful. So is Clegg’s cowardly refusal to keep his promise about Baroness Tonge. Voters will draw their own conclusions at the forthcoming election.
If Nick Clegg does not discipline Baroness Tonge the Liberal Democrat party will lose my vote. I shall also ensure that all members of the community that I know are reminded of how he broke his promise to us.
What’s your view on what Clegg has done? Satisfied?
Chas – If you send me your email address (mine is in a msg above) I will send you a scan of the offending Lib Dem Gaza/disarm Israel leaflet. Penny in an above post is aking for it, and maybe you could stick it up so people can see what I am talking about. BW, Chris Philp
Chas.
Unfortunately, this naivity is not confined to Clegg – but as the leader of a mainstream party, it is troubling.
I am so curious about these election leaflets. What does Mr Clegg mean by ‘Israel should disarm’? What does he forsee happening if they were to oblige? I would like to know quite how deep into la-la land Mr Clegg is building his house.
It’s my experience that those who seek outcomes along these lines (bring down the wall / one state solution etc. etc.) have not considered what would then happen in the region.
I agree Penny. I am obtaining scans of all the relevant leaflets…
Oh good, Chas!
Might we then indulge in a little ‘Educating Nick’?:-))
(with all due apologies to Michael Caine)
Chas, maybe Ed Fordham would like to send you copies of all the leaflets his party have put through the doors of Hampstead and Kilburn voters, be they Jewish, Muslim, or anything else. Then we’d all be able to judge for ourselves what he thinks, what his party thinks, and what tactics the Lib Dems are willing to use to win votes. That would clear this whole thing up without the need for squabbling between candidates.
Dear Mr Clegg
If, as reported, Baroness Tonge does not believe the “IDF stealing Haitian bodyparts” allegations, then why has she seen fit to raise the issue & demand an investigation?
I suspect that when asked about the IDF’s recent prompt (& some would say “disproportionate”) response to the Haitian earthquake disaster, Tonge was unable to acknowledge the IDF’s contribution unreservedly – such is her visceral hatred of Israel that she had to get a dig in & mention these totally unsubstantiated malicious allegations, giving them the oxygen of fresh publicity.
She should have been thrown out of the party when she empathised with suicide bombers. Since then, there have been a number of crass anti-Semitic statements from her. And instead of ostracising Tonge, one of your predecessors, Charles Kennedy elevated her to the House of Lords where she is not even accountable to any constituents.
Some apologists for Tonge might say that this latest outrage isn’t anti-semitic, but aimed at the IDF. Not so. These outrageous claims, made only against Israeli rescuers, by singling out the Jewish state, are anti-semitic & have roots in medieval blood libels against Jews.
I demand that you expel her from the Party. No other action can possibly go some way towards assuaging the hurt, disgust & outrage felt by me, my family & members of my community.
Yours truly,
Here is the opinion of a woman member of the IDF team in Haiti: “Every night in Haiti I would go on youtube, click “Israel Haiti” and follow the stories of the reporters who came to visit the hospital. As time went by, these two words brought up horrible and saddening videos, mostly accusing Israel of organ harvesting, trying to steal Haitian children, exploiting Haiti for PR and so on…These where not just coming from your average left wing or right wing psychos, but from respectable papers in Arab countries and Europe. It is beyond me how people can take such a positive situation and put such a disgusting and negative spin on it. Can Israel never win? I can only offer my own personal experiences – the stories of the nurses who slept two hours a night, the paramedics who gave blood to help children they never met, and the surgeons who performed 20 operations a day in a tent with a temperature of 100 degrees. and you know what? If all these hard working people put their lives on the line for PR’s sake – so be it. The casualties of this “Zionist PR campaign” were the 1,111 patients treated at our hospital and the 15 babies born.” http://yaelbt.blogspot.com/
Penny – your generosity in describing Clegg as ‘naive’ is surely admirable, but is a person of such apparent naivety fit to lead the third largest party in Britain, particularly as in 3 months’ time we may well find ourselves with a hung parliament in which the Lib Dems would be punching above their weight?
For my part, I see nothing naive in Clegg’s stance on the subject of Jenny Tonge or his attitude to the Middle East in general. His party’s attitude towards Israel has been made amply clear to me both on a national and a regional level. The organisation of a pro-Hizbollah demonstration in our town square by a local Lib Dem councillor in July 2006 pretty much sealed it for me.
Extremism of the type displayed by Jenny Tonge has no place in mainstream politics, and if Clegg does not realise that on his own, he’s in the wrong job.
It’s decided then: Clegg prefers to deny Tonge’s antisemitism than act on it. What a shame. Looks like Lib Dems just lost quite a few Jewish voters.
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/27144/clegg-tonge-ludicrous-not-racist
What’s amusing is that he seems quite happy to have someone who is “completely, totally wrong.” and who says a number of “irresponsible and offensive” things as a very vocal and high profile part of his party!
What a coward Clegg is.
“Clegg’s apparent reluctance to deal with Tonge is, for me, the bigger issue.”
Exactly. He has again refused to call her antisemitic, and to take any further action. That she thus has such a powerful hold on her party’s mores is the most disturbing thing here. Either Clegg doesn’t recognise classical antisemitic tropes when they bash him constantly in the face, or he feels that he needs to ignore them. Either option has terrifying implications for a mainstream party.
http://tongelashing.blogspot.com
JENNY TONGE IS NOT *ANTI-SEMITIC!!
*oic definition applies
Israelinurse – you’re absolutely right. I’m being over-generous. But, in addition to all else, he does strike me as wet behind the ears, I’m afraid.
I also agree that a LibDem coalition threat is terrifying. Am I right in thinking that in addition to Sarah Teather giving forth on Hamas without so much as a peek at their Charter, Ed Davey can’t see through the Goldstone report either? Are they all terminaly naive?
As for the Hizbollah episode, a friend sent me this link this morning. It would seem even Gorgeous ‘the cat’ Galloway’s self-seeking Viva Palestina convoy is not out of bounds to the odd LibDem judging by this.
http://www.vivapalestina.org/alerts/bristol_071009.htm
The organisation of a pro-Hizbollah demonstration in our town square by a local Lib Dem councillor
That you descibe a protest against the bombardment of the Lebanese people as ‘pro-Hizbollah’ confirms you as a deeply dishonest person,Israelienurse.Sorry if you think that’s harsh,but that’s the truth.
Some of the demonstrations that summer certainly were pro-Hizbollah and proudly so: “We’re all Hizbollah now”.
I can’t speak personally for the one Israelinurse referred to as I wasn’t there. Presumably, given your response, you were?
Given that ‘some’ is the key word, what is your view of some of my Lebanese acquiantances who fled their homeland for America, and were hopping mad that Israel didn’t rid her country of Hizbollah and their like?
Blahblahblah: every time you post here, you work to belittle the Jew hatred abroad caused by people like Tonge and to engage in hateful “whataboutery”. But I don’t think I’ve ever had more contempt for you than when you claimed that IsraeliNurse is a “deeply dishonest person”. I think you will struggle to find a more honest, thoughtful person, and it is to your shame that your Judeophobic agenda blinds you to that.
And yes, the demonstration to which IsraeliNurse alludes was explicitly and proudly pro Hizbollah. Are you?
Thank you for this Chas, I will send Nick Clegg an email. I am also going to make sure that all my friends and family (Jewish and non-Jewish)are aware of this. No decent person should consider voting for the Lib Dems.
Oh yes, I also remember a letter in LibDem news where a senior party apparatchik praises the kidnap of Gilad Shalit. He says of the Hizbollah kidnappers: “What courage, what determination!”
Something rotten in the heart of the LibDems, I think.
Hamas kidnapped Gilad, just to clarify.
Can you remember who wrote that?
Sorry Chas – indeed.
Here’s Iain Dale’s report of the letter:
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2006/07/libdem-news-publishes-pro-terrorist.html
Breaking news http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/27160/jenny-tonge-stripped-lords-role
Actually I am pro-Hizbollah.I don’t want to disappoint anyone,so for a bit of “hateful whataboutery”,would anyone like to take a guess on how many cluster bombs were dropped on Lebanon by Israel while negotiations for a ceasefire were taking place?
Actually I am pro-Hizbollah.
Not a huge surprise!
Where you on the demonstration that you accused Israelinurse of being dishonest about? Or were you the one being dishonest?
Just to clarify Chas,just because some
of the demonstrators are carrying placards saying this,and saying that,that proves nothing about the demonstration as a whole.Some.It’s the key word here!
Don’t you need to get permission for demos nowadays?In any case,it shouldn’t be hard to provide proof of a demo in support of Hizbollah.Not a demo where people carried placards which read “we are all etc”.A demo where the organisers explicitly stated it was in support of Hizbollah.C’mon,where is it,Israelinurse?And you,Chas.
As I said, I wasn’t there so I can’t say. I am guessing you weren’t there either.
I appreciate the distinction you made by the way but I still don’t think your original remark to Israelinurse was fair.
There is a big difference between harsh and unfair.It doesn’t always feel like it when the harshness is coming your way.Guess what? I wasn’t on the demo that Israelinurse refers to.But that doesn’t make me dishonest.Mistaken perhaps.
But I don’t think so…not in this case.
Here is a clue:when you refer to an unnamed Libdem councillor organising a pro-Hizbollah rally you don’t run the risk of a libel action.If you name the person you are levelling your accusation against…
Apparently Clegg has sacked Tonge.At least that’s what Harry’s Place are saying.Clegg is right to do so.
The link about the latest news is a little further up on the comments here.
Blahx3 – when people are actively collecting money for Hizbollah, I consider that a pro-Hizbollah demonstration.I do not intend at this stage to disclose the location of that demonstration as such a move would compromise the security of my family and the sad fact is that Israelis have to take things like that into consideration.
Strange though that people like you did not also see fit to protest the bombardment of one million Israelis with Hizbollah rockets for over a month. Are our lives of less value to you than Lebanese ones? And do you feel comfortable about ignoring why,how and by whom that war actually started?
Wow, what a great thread Chas. Brilliant. You are truly big-time. By the way, that Fordham and his threats don’t impress me much. Would write a Shania Twain-style song about him, but am currently too busy writing one about Chris Davies, yet another Lib Dem creep MEP. Looking forward to the thread with the pamphlets on it.
Thanks, and stay tuned
Chas where are the Lib Dem leaflets mentioned earlier in this discussion?
I’ve got them. I’m just deciding whether to post about them here or save them for my next Jewish News column. Even if I hold the story back for the column it will still appear here as all my columns do.
Perhaps this might interest you and your readers in the light of the leaflet scandal mentioned earlier on this page. I found it on Harry’s Place:
‘Let us not forget that the Liberal Democrats know all about dog-whistle politics. After all, they were the party which put out a leaflet in a white area of the Isle of Dogs, showing an aggressive looking black man, with fists raised, next to text describing a 74 year old lady, vulnerable on a “dangerous estate”.’
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2010/02/12/clegg-sacks-tonge/
I remember when the Lib Dems were the nice guys. The ineffectual nice guys, but the nice guys all the same.
Where did it all go wrong?
Congratulations to Chas, you are always doing things. Just talking is not enough so it’s nice to see someone involved even when you’re not Jewish. We owe you I think.
Happy to provide copies of any of the leaflets I print and distribute to you Chas – drop me an email and will send over. Wouldn’t want people mislead by the tricksy shenanigans of cut outs from places outside of my seat provided by the Tories and delivered to jewish voters here in my constituency where I am standing. My views and stance on this stuff is pretty well known – indeed increasingly covered in the media – so let me know where to send full copies and it’ll be sitting in your inbox
Ed
Internationally well-known, I’m sure.
To be honest with you Ed I don’t know what your views and stance on this issue are.
I’ve seen you take part in numerous photo-opportunities but can find no unequivocal statements of support for Israel, its right to self-defence and so on. I’m not suggesting you haven’t made any statements, just that I’ve not been able to find any.
Can you point us towards a clear manifesto of your view on Israel and related issues?
Did you hear back from Ed Fordham yet Chas?
Not yet, but I have sent the question direct to him so he is aware of it. Hopefully we’ll hear back soon.
He’s made a lot of effort to court the Jewish vote, so it will be good to know what his “well-known” stance on Israel is.
Regading the questions about Ed Fordham, he has pointed me to this blog that he kept during his trip to the Middle East http://474towin.blogspot.com/search/label/Israel
Although there are few “views” and no evidence of a “stance” it does make for interesting reading in parts, particulaly his observation when he visited Gaza that “there is little love for the British MP George Galloway and he is perceived by the people as stirring up anger and negative passions”.
I should add that Ed is writing a column for Jewish News too, so keep an eye out for that if you’re interested.
As a registered voter in Hampstead and Kilburn who has a copy of Ed Forham and the Lib Dems’ election material right in front of me, I can say that sadly there does appear to be a lot of pandering and not much substance…
I’m sorry Ed, but just because you can translate ‘lib democrats’ into Hebrew and show yourself standing by the kotel doesn’t mean you support Israel, in fact nowhere in your flyer do you make your views clear, beyond that you enjoy going to hear ‘all sides of the story’ and visiting Gaza and the West Bank too, which sounds like waffly moral equivalnce crap frankly. The only hint of views you give is in a comment about the West Bank economy (which you acknolwedge has been growing at 7% (faster than any Western economey recently) and then offer thinly veiled criticism that it hasn’t grown faster due to israeli security restrictions!
Hence, knowing you are supportive and a close collegaue of Sarah Teather’s who’s views are nieve at best and dangerous at worst – I have no reason to think you would stand against the well-known anti-Israel elements of your party.
In which case, pretending to be something you are not and cynically targeting Jewish voters in this way, seems dishonest and despicable and I hope other constituents will too….
As I understand it, Tonge is sacked from her role, but not had the whip withdrawn, because she isn’t antisemitic? If she or her action was NOT antisemitic, then why was she sacked. If she or her action WAS antisemitic, then why does she still have the whip?
Is it me or Clegg who is confused here?
2/3rds of LibDem MPs have signed EDM502 opposing a change to Universal Jurisdiction, to stop individuals being able to obtain arrest warrants on vexatious grounds.
Don’t forget the collusion in Rochdale between Lib Dem Paul Rowen and MPAC
The local Liberal Democrats claim that MPAC-UK’s influence in the campaign was exaggerated, not least by MPAC-UK themselves, but there is little doubt that they gratefully accepted the mantle of MPAC-UK’s favoured candidate in the
seat. The contest however was overshadowed by controversy, and one in which MPAC-UK played a pivotal role.
MPAC-UK teamed up with a local organization in Rochdale, the Association of Rochdale Muslims that put out its own leaflets in the constituency – apparently rejecting the leaflets designed by MPAC-UK. Although MPAC-UK sanctioned
the leaflets, a breakdown in their quality control system meant that the false claim that Fitzsimons was Jewish was made in the leaflet. According to MPAC-UK, the Association of Rochdale Muslims “mistakenly assumed Lorna Fitzsimons MP was Jewish”.
On April 19, MPAC-UK issued a public apology to Fitzsimons which contained the phrase:-
We deeply regret that this leaflet was taken as implying that Muslims should vote against Lorna Fitzsimons on the basis of her being ‘Jewish’.
The press release went out to reaffirm MPAC-UK’s determination to drive Fitzsimons from her seat. However, in a contest destined to be very close, the
naiveté, at best, of MPAC-UK was highlighted as an example of dirty tricks by at least two sources.11 Fitzsimons lost her seat to Rowen by a little more than 400votes in 2005 (Table 7) and continues to hold MPAC-UK responsible for
galvanizing a religious vote against her based on a falsehood.
http://www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr/events/jointsessions/paperarchive/nicosia/ws9/Russell.pdf
“Can you point us towards a clear manifesto of your view on Israel and related issues?” asks Chas.
Nu Mr. Ed?
(Just a minute. Isn’t “Mr. Ed” an old US TV show about a talking horse? Duvidl feels a song coming on.)
The Fordham Song (Take 2 with new third verse)
(to the tune of the “Mr. Ed” US 60s TV series theme song,”I am Mr. Ed.”)
A horse is a horse of course, of course.
A Lib-Dem will talk to a horse, of course.
A Poison Tongue or a Clegg’s so coarse,
As is infamous Mr. Ed.
Chorus: Lib-Dems yakkety-yak a streak
And waste your time of day.
But Poison Tongue will always screech,
Despite having nothing to say.
Any Lib-Dem is a horse of course,
Tongue-lashing you till its voice is hoarse.
Clegg’s on an anti-Israel course,
And so is Mr. Ed.
Chorus
They claim they’re not anti-semitic, of course,
Lest electors call in the police force
And stick up Clegg’s tuches a bunch of gorse,
Or make his arse grass instead.
DS Al Coda
I just wanted to say thanks for all the comments on this post.
Deja vu I’m afraid. Years ago when “Bomber” Tonge empathised with suicide bombers there was a similar row, and the then LibDem leadership dismissed her as Health Spokesman in the Commons. Yet not long afterwards, Kennedy made her a Baroness, so she continues to spout her vitriol in the House of Lords instead. This dismissal means nothing. she still has the party whip. It is just the very least he could do and in my view, may be connected to the vast number of e mails Clegg & many LibDem MPs have been receiving on this issue.
Thought you might like to see what I wrote to Mr Clegg today:
Dear Mr Clegg,
I am following up my email sent you yesterday regarding Jenny Tonge and her racist and antisemitic comments.
I firstly want to thank you for taking some action in stripping her of her title of your health spokesperson in the Lords. But it is not enough. She has repeatedly made antisemitic comments over the years, and has only got worse recently. You apologised for her having caused ‘offence’ but I think it is important for you to realise that this is not about ‘offence’.
The problem is that Tonge, speaking as a Lib Dem peer, used her position to spread baseless, repulsive and lunatic conspiracy theories that accused the IDF of stealing body parts, which originated on a YouTube video, were spread by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s propaganda station Press TV, and were then picked up by the Palestinian Telegraph, a revolting rag which prints articles by the extreme right (and of which she is a trustee). Such blood libels move at quite a pace, as this chain of events shows, regardless of their total lack of truth. Tonge’s contribution was to accelerate and exaggerate this particular accusation’s dissemination and impact, And you should want to make it clear that such cynical manipulation of your party’s reputation in order to attack Jews and Israelis is never acceptable.
It is time, for the sake of your own party’s reputation, and for the sake of the Jewish citizens of this country and the rest of the world, that you call Tonge out for her antisemitism, and totally absurd knee-jerk anti-Israel bile, and withdraw the whip from her. She has no place in your party and you should make this perfectly clear to everyone you wish to vote for you. Call it what it is: antisemitism. And deal with it properly: expel her from the party.
Regards
Very well said.
After Joe Grimmond, a true friend of Israel and the Jews it all went bad for the Liberals and us, The Thorpe affair, Alcoholic leaders etc etc.
I remember in that terrible JC interview with Nick Clegg, when he claimed that Tonge had nothing to do with the Middle East in her party. It’s interesting to note that, as I type, this still appears on the official LibDem bio of Tonge:
“Expertise & Interests:
International Development
- Middle East”
http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers_detail.aspx?name=Baroness_Tonge&pPK=ea9f44b2-bdcd-4024-b0d3-67722eb2c125
I haven’t heard back from Ed Fordham in response to my challenge above to point us to some specific examples of his “pretty well known – indeed increasingly covered in the media” views on Israel.
However, I see that Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Linda Jack thinks that Nick Clegg has overreacted against “brave and courageous” Baroness Tonge http://lindyloosmuze.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-praise-of-jenny-tonge.html
Thanks, Chas, for the link to Lindy’s blog, which, though called “Lindysloosmuze,” should be more correctly spelt as “Lindy’s loo-schmooze.” Her mental confusion continues:
“…but that peace will continue to allude us…”. Duvidl should allude to the fact that a decent education appears to have eluded “Spoonerism-Lindy.”
It also occurs to Duvidl that Spoonerism Lindy appears to elide the meaning of “allude” and “elude”. She may have been taking one quaalude too many.
Good post, interesting discussion. The Lib Dems definitely wont have my vote.
I just read Ed Fordham’s pathetic article in Jewish News. Once again Fordham is all gesture and no substance. Heck, he is not even that good at gesture.
“I’ve never seen Nick Clegg so angry,” he claims. Absolute bullshit – Clegg at first effectively told the Jewish Chronicle he was not going to discipline Tonge. Then, as the pressure grew, he took the absolute minimum level of discipline available to him and didn’t even remove the whip from her. This is not the act of an “angry” man, nor one who was even bothered by what she said. It is the action of a coward.
And, Ed Fordham, you are a coward by gesturing endlessly for our vote but dodging every chance to actually offer a statement of support for Israel and against anti-semitism.
You’re a fool too if you think you aren’t being seen through. And to think you tell journalists to write that you are the next Barack Obama! Pathetic.
David in Hampstead, I completely agree with what you said. I got Ed Fordham’s flyer with random holiday photos from Israel. It was patronising crap. It made absolutely no comments about anything to do with the middle east. It was a pathetic attempt to make him look like he was a friend of Israel without actually saying he was by expressing any views at all on anything. The only reason I can think of that he would do that, rather than just come out and support Israel openly, is that he actually does not support Israel at all, and therefore has to resort to this shameless style of campaigning, trying to fool us into thinking otherwise.
As if translating the name of the party into Hebrew proves something! What a total idiot. I shall happily vote for Chris Philp when the election comes. He isn’t bullshitting me like Fordham and he seems a more honest prospect.I’d encourage all Jews and lovers of Israel to do the same, and in fact lovers of the truth and honesty.
It is insulting not just that he campaigns so dishonestly but also that he clearly believes the Jewish community is so stupid that they won’t see through it. As I said before, if this is how he behaves when he is desperate for votes imagine how contemptuous he will be if/when he gets the seat.