Anti-Semitism Goes to Parliament Modern-day Holocaust denial went on full display last week—in the seat of Britain’s government. By Daniel Johnson

Posted By on November 1st, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/anti-semitism-goes-to-parliament-1477940443

Europe’s descent into a new kind of anti-Semitism hit a new low last week in, of all places, the Palace of Westminster. There, at an event in the House of Lords, Jews were blamed for the Holocaust, Israel was compared to Islamic State and Zionists were said to have power over Parliament.

Jenny Tonge, a baroness and former member of parliament who hosted this showcase of anti-Semitic lies on behalf of the Palestinian Return Center lobby group, was launching a campaign to press Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration. The centenary of this historic promise to create a home for the Jewish people in Palestine will be marked next year.

One unidentified speaker blamed the “heretic” American Rabbi Stephen Wise for having “antagonized Hitler over the edge” with calls for a boycott of Germany in 1935. He quoted Wise’s 1905 statement that there were “six million bleeding and suffering reasons to justify Zionism” and made special note of the number. This is a classic trope of Holocaust denial, suggesting the number of the Nazis’ victims has been fabricated to match this earlier number.

 Not only did Ms. Tonge fail to interrupt or dispute this speaker: she responded by demanding a boycott of Israel. The baroness’s reputation as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist has earned her notoriety but never ostracism. Six years ago she suggested that Israel’s humanitarian mission to Haiti was harvesting the organs of disaster victims. This modern version of the medieval blood libel was tolerated by her center-left party, the Liberal Democrats.

Even after last week’s event was publicized by the Israeli embassy in London, the baroness was merely suspended from the party. She has since resigned, blaming Israel for manipulating British politics: “They like to be in control of things.”

The precincts of Westminster ought never again be desecrated by anti-Semites acting on behalf of Islamist lobbyists. The Conservative floor leader of the House of Commons, David Lidington, has protested on behalf of the government. Free speech doesn’t require turning Parliament into a safe space for Holocaust denial. It is now for members of Britain’s upper chamber to put their house in order.

But an avalanche of such propaganda can be expected, as Palestinians and the left exploit next year’s anniversary to mobilize support for their delegitimization of Israel. The Balfour Declaration plays a crucial role in their mendacious narrative depicting Zionism as a form of imperialism.

It is vital to put the record straight: Israel is not and never has been a colonial enterprise, but—in the words of Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour in his “declaration,” which was actually a public letter to Baron Rothschild—a “national home for the Jewish people.” Zionism is the political expression of the legitimate aspiration of Jews to have their own state. CONTINUE AT SITE

 

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