This is a guest post by Jonathan Sacerdoti
Liberal Democrat candidate Ed Fordham must be ecstatic: Last week, the Jewish Chronicle apparently converted him to Judaism, listing him in its editorial as a Jewish Lib Dem standing for election to the House of Commons. He is, of course, not Jewish. Far from it.
Fordham has spent weeks deliberately targeting Jewish voters in the Hampstead & Kilburn constituency, sending us special leaflets showing him on holiday in Israel, but conveniently only delivered those leaflets to homes with mezuzot. Non Jewish homes get different leaflets. Such has been his apparent attempted deception of Jewish voters that in his latest leaflet, he incorrectly captioned a photo of him meeting Knesset member Isaac Herzog, claiming that Herzog is Israel’s Diaspora Minister. He is not, and Fordham knows this, having got it right previously on his website. This can surely only be an attempt to fool us into thinking that Herzog endorses his campaign, and is the Knesset member directly responsible for diaspora Jews. Both suggestions are untrue.
In fact, Fordham has meticulously avoided making any decisive statements about Israel at all, hoping that voters will mistake his ‘interest’ for support. The closest he’s come has been declaring his support for a two-state solution (wow!), and a belief that “the rockets should cease”, but even that gets tagged to his “belief” that “the blockades should end”, presumably just in case any traditional Lib Dem Israel-haters might be listening. In short, his outlook could be summed up as ‘I want there to be peace, and I think if all the horrid stuff could end, we might have peace’. This is hardly ground-breaking or sophisticated. In fact it’s entirely circular. It’s like something a toddler might come up with, not a man hoping to be a Member of Parliament.
The Liberal Democrats are no friends of Israel. With Baroness Jenny Tonge still sitting on their behalf in the Lords, Sarah Teather demanding suspension of the EU trade agreement with Israel, Jo Shaw and Shoaib Patel using anti-Israel flyers in their campaigns, and Nick Clegg calling for Europe and the UK to start an embargo on Israel, we ought to remember who our friends are when we come to vote.
Ed Fordham is not Jewish. Not that it matters. But it also doesn’t matter how many synagogues he visits, or Anne Frank gravestone or Western Wall photos he puts on his flyers: his refusal to express any real opinion on Israel and the Middle East is suspicious in the circumstances. I hope that the electorate is not as easily fooled about Fordham and the Lib Dems as the Jewish Chronicle appears to have been.
Incidentally, Hampstead and Kilburn (where I live) does have one candidate standing in the election who is happy to tell us exactly what he thinks about Israel.
UPDATE:
I’ve received a few responses to this blog entry. Two are particularly interesting. One came from Ed Fordham himself, and the other from an advisor to Minister Isaac Herzog, whose photo Fordham used and incorrectly captioned in his campaigning leaflets sent to Jewish homes.
1) Ed responded below, in the comments section of this blog. He incorrectly reasserted that Herozog is the Knesset [Israeli parliament] Minister for the Diaspora. He is not. A quick look at the Knesset website, or the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, or just about any other reliable source relating to the Knesset, shows this very clearly. Ed got Isaac Herzog’s title correct in his own blog the week they met. I imagine he might subsequently have thought that title to be less appealing to Jewish voters in the diaspora.
2) The response from Herzog’s office thanked me for drawing this information to his attention. Apparently Herzog read it “with great interest”. The email went on to explain that, “when Mr. Fordham asked for a meeting with the Minister we confirmed it because we understood that he came to Israel on an official delegation. The picture was taken as a friendly photograph with no other intentions.” In his blog, however, Fordham went out of his way to explain that his Israel trip was “organised… entirely by myself – I have had no official support from anyone in arranging appointments or meetings – it is all at my own initiative.” [source: Ed Fordham's blog]. I can’t say exactly how the two people involved had such different understandings of their meeting. It does not surprise me, though: the longer I have followed Fordham’s gestures and comments regarding Israel, the more he has confused me and many others in the Jewish community. Perhaps this confusion is deliberate.
Ed Fordham claims he wants to develop links with MKs, and “encourage dialogue”. He’s going about it in a peculiar way. Perhaps more straightforward, up-front honesty would work better for him when dealing with the elected members of another country’s government. As a resident of Hampstead and Kilburn, I can safely say that such an approach would work better with the constituents he seeks to represent here, as well.
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Well said Jonathan. Duvid agrees with every word and trusts that, after the election, Fordham will vanish from public life and memory.
Yeah, well said
I don’t think a prospective London MP particularly needs to have a policy on Israel but I agree it’s odd and somewhat offensive that he doesn’t have one and still uses these photos and superficial references to be seen as a friend of Israel. It’s like cashing in on a family link when you’re not part of the family.
It is insulting, deeply insulting, to be photographed at such highly-charged and emotional sites if you are not going to back it up with real words and action. What a crass individual. Is he very young?
Caroline, of course he doesn’t *need* to have a policy on Israel. But it can only cause distrust if you make such a big deal out of going to Israel, meeting MKs, hanging out in Jewish places, and generally gesturing in ways that suggest a keen interest in Israel and Judaism, but then REFUSE to actually say what your thoughts are on the issues that arise. Add to that his party’s dreadful track record, and it starts to look like an act, or over compensation for something.
the lib dems are resorting to dirty tricks in my constituency (Hereford) by referring to the only real opponent – the tory – as a “London banker” (he used to be a director at Barclays).
Needless to say I’ll be voting tory.
Isaac Herzog currently serves in the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party as Minister of Welfare & Social Services and Minister of the Diaspora, Society, and the Fight Against Antisemitism.
Ed:
Isaac Herzog has not had that role since March 2009, well before your visit to Israel. He is now the Minister of Welfare and Social Services.
(source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website http://is.gd/bQimT )
As I said in the blog post, I think you knew this, as you got it right at the time on your own blog.
Here is his page on the Knesset website, explaining his government roles over the years:
http://is.gd/bQc5x
A gentleman by the name of Yuli-Yoel Edelstein was appointed Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora in March 2009. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he was in London recently, but sadly didn’t get a chance to take a photo of us shaking hands. Here is his Knesset website page: http://is.gd/bQili
Ouch! Oh dear, Mr Fordham – what do you do for an encore?!
Isn’t Martin Linton chairman of Labour Friends of Palestine & not a LibDem?
yes, my mistake (now corrected). It’s sad to see such people are not restricted to one party, but the Lib Dems certainly seem to have a lot of them. I had meant to mention the Lib Dems’ shadow deputy leader of the Lords, Lord Wallace, who addressed the Board of Deputies recently and defended Jenny Tonge’s disgraceful remarks.
How putrefying that the only part of the post Ed felt he could challenge is this one detail, and he’s even wrong about that.
Chris M – calm down – the blog has been privately edited to remove Martin Linton who was also condemned as being a Lib Dem but is a Labour polician… not my error…
Again you’re avoiding the real issue.
Ed, you’re a member of a party whose stooges down the road are handing out “Disarm Israel” flyers and whipping up anti-semitism on Muslim doorsteps. You, standing in a Jewish area, have photos of you smiling in Israel instead. It’s either a brave stand against your party’s national policy or it’s a manipulative way to mislead Jewish voters. You could clarify which. You could make a clear statement. But instead you seem obsessed with raising and then avoiding the issue – hiding behind shallow symbolism while committing to nothing. Get off your high horse and answer the question: do you think Israel should be disarmed or not?
http://cifwatch.com/2010/05/01/the-nightmare-shidduch/
The Guardian likes the LDs … what a surprise… not
You are right, Ed, that Linton is a Labour MP. I got my antisemites mixed up! But happy to correct such an error. Glad you are fine with the rest of what I wrote, though.
A certain amount of disingenuous opportunism is expected – and forgiven – at election time. But the choice of locations for such photographs in this instance would appear to be particularly insensitive.
This will become a more serious issue if he gets elected but fingers crossed he won’t.
What a flake
I saw this on Facebook, what’s the big deal? Fordham sounds like most politicians or at least most Lib Dems, trying to be on both sides of the debate and please everyone. I have disdain for them all, don’t see anything original here.
David he’s posing for photo opportunities at our Holy sites and at the grave of Anne Frank whilst at the same time supporting his political party policy which, if applied, would endanger those of us living in Israel. Nobody wants violence of course we don’t but what would you do if it was London under attack by terror groups? I think we know because an innocent man was shot on your train platform when London was attacked ONE TIME. Imagine London after 60 years of attacks, would you be so restrained as we are? How would you feel perhaps if another country said you should be disarmed so the terrorists could kill you easier? People like this are idiots and it’s impossible to believe they can be so crass as to use our pain and suffering to win them votes in another country. People like this make me hate.
LibDems who hold opinions such as ‘Israel should be disarmed’ / ‘an embargo should be imposed’/’suspension of EU trade agreements’ etc., – should give us their predicted long-term outcomes should such measures be taken. Otherwise it’s all disengenous, sound bite rhetoric designed to appeal to a particular voter. Make these statements if you will, but include your explanation of how they will lead to stability – rather than greater bloodshed – in the region.
For example, I would be more than happy to hear Nick Clegg’s predicted outcome following a forced disarmament of Israel(and how he believes it is possible to disarm a nation would be iteresting, too). His explanation would at least give me some idea of his ability to judge the crucial issues in the ME. It’s easy to throw criticism around; harder to say what your proposed measure is and how it would support a lasting solution.
Now that he’s made this comment, Nick should at least agree to enter into a discussion with representatives from Israel who will, I’m sure, be only to glad to explain Palestininan politics, Charters and goals to a man who appears either not to know or not to care.
I’d like to know which it is, though, Nick.
Attacking the policies of a candidate is not sophisticated politics.
I am pleased that the Lib Dems are viewed as such a threat that you feel you have to attack them.
Was that a mistype, Toby? Did you mean something else?
What a strange statement, Toby. Would you prefer we attack a candidate’s hairdo?
Negative campaigning does not turn me on.
What a ridiculous couple of comments.
You say “Attacking the policies of a candidate is not sophisticated politics”. So what *is* sophisticated politics? Attacking them for their personality, hair colour or dress sense?
I’m sure you find it ridiculous.
Your assumption is that to attack should be the default position.
Toby – you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. The negative campaign is the one being run by LibDems in Hampstead and Kilburn. Jonathan’s article is merely exposing it.
If the LD’s weren’t writing these type of negative Focus leaflets, there’d be no issue, would there? The LibDems have been criticised for this type of campaigning in the past – saying one thing to one sector of the electorate and the opposite to another. It is vital to expose this type of deception regardless of who it makes its target. The community itself has a right to know what its candidate truly feels about the issues. Spin – as this is – is one of the main causes of voter apathy amongst voters in the UK.
It’s certainly vital to criticise a party if you think it is wrong. The LibDem’s did it big style when they organised the anti-Iraq march in London. Were they wrong to attack the policy of the Labour government?
Thank you for your input, Penny, but I do not have the wrong end of the stick.
I have an opinion.
So what is your opinion of the LD’s campaign strategy in Hampstead and Kilburn?
I know very little about the LD campaign in H&K and do not claim to. It may be a good campaign or a bad campaign.
I was not making any point about the LD campaign in H&K.
My point was about negative attacks on one party in order to promote another. I do not like this approach.
Jonathan didn’t promote another party and to imply he did is disingenuous. The only issue he raised is Ed Fordham misleading Jewish voters into voting for a party that is anti-Israel. Some people aren’t interested in tribal – or “sophisticated” – politics. We care about the issues!
Sorry, that should read:’anti ‘war in Iraq’ march’ –
)
Toby, it’s not campaigning. It’s analysis and commentary. I analysed Fordham’s electioneering and uncovered his techniques. Analysing and criticising politicians or would be politicians is a vital part of the democratic process.
If anything, the criticism is that he has no policy on this issue, but insists on bringing it up for discussion.
Thank you for the only legitimate response to my posts that has actually addressed what I had actually said.
Israel’s critics are also growing frustrated with Ed Fordham’s approach: http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/just-what-does-ed-fordham-think
The only reason I can see why a politician would distribute a posed photo of them with “The Diaspora Minister” is to allude to an endorsement from the state of Israel. The role of the minister responsible for the Diaspora is to liase, support and guide Jews living outside the Jewish state. In fact, Isaac Herzog is not the minister, as Jonathan has pointed out, but that is a smaller matter. I ask why Ed Fordham is trying to appear as someone endorsed by Israel when he represents a political party that is fundamentally opposed to Israel’s right to exist (because disarming Israel as Clegg wishes would surely and inevitably lead to the end of Israel). This dishonest stance is offensive in the extreme.