israel Stooges Freak Out over Baroness Jenny Tonge’s Remarks – Again

They plot to get her removed from the House of Lords

By  Stuart Littlewood

 –

November 3, 2018

“Absolutely appalling and a criminal act, but does it ever occur to Bibi and the present Israeli government that its actions against Palestinians may be reigniting anti-Semitism? I suppose someone will say that it is anti-Semitic to say so?”

What’s wrong with that?

Everything, according to the ‘usual suspects’ among the Inquisitors that makes up the Israel lobby.

Lord Pickles, in the House of Lords on 29 October responding to a Private Notice Question, said: “My Lords, will the Minister join me, along with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in condemning the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, in suggesting that the murders in Pittsburgh were caused by the actions of the Israeli Government? That suggestion will clearly cause great pain in Pittsburgh, and falls foul of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism.”

Jenny Tonge, a tireless champion of Palestinians’ rights, has fought long and hard in the struggle for their freedom. So what came as a surprise (for some) was the knife in the back from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), who issued this statement on 30 October: “In the aftermath of the massacre of 11 Jewish worshipers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Baroness Tonge posted a comment on Facebook that suggested Israel’s policies and its treatment of the Palestinians could be contributing to a rise in anti-Semitism generally. Baroness Tonge subsequently removed the post.

“PSC regards the original post to be deeply troubling. Whilst the post acknowledged that the killings were appalling and a criminal act, it risked being read as implying that anti-Semitism can only be understood in the context of a response to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Such a view risks justifying or minimising antisemitism.”

The PSC told Jewish News it had “contacted Jenny Tonge to express our deep concerns at her post and is in the process of considering any further steps.”

Jewish News also reported that Conservative Friends of Israel Parliamentary Chairman Lord Pickles and Conservative Friends of Israel Honorary President Lord Polak had condemned her “callous inflammatory” remarks. They said the post “is in clear violation of the IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism adopted by the UK Government. For a Member of the House of Lords to publish such hateful thoughts brings Parliament into disrepute.”

Never mind that Jenny’s remark was accurate. The Israeli regime strains every sinew to ensure its behaviour is so appalling as to invite detestation and loathing, not because they are Jews but because they are the ‘amoral thugs’ that the late Jewish MP Sir Gerald Kaufman once called them.

Remember the warning from one of their own, former Israeli Director of Military Intelligence Yehoshafat Harkabi, who wrote: “Israelis must be aware that the price of their misconduct is paid not only by them but also Jews throughout the world.”

Bibi and his adoring supporters, not Jenny Tonge, need to think about that. It remains to be seen what motivated the atrocity at Pittsburgh. But whatever the IHRA definition says, the European Convention on Human Rights  and our Human Rights Act provide for freedom of expression which applies not only to information or ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive, but also to those that “offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population”. Unless, of course, they call for violence, hatred or intolerance, which is not the case here.

Nothing to apologise for

Of course the Zionists, even within her own party, have been gunning for Jenny for a very long time. A doctor by training and profession, she is used to being stabbed in the back by scaredy-cat leaders. In 2012 she was sacked after suggesting that Israel would not last for ever. She rejected an ultimatum from party leader Nick Clegg to apologise and said she stood by her remarks.

The row blew up when Jenny allegedly told a meeting at Middlesex University: “Beware Israel. Israel is not going to be there for ever in its present form… Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown.”   She said America would one day get sick of funding what she called America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East. “One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: Enough is enough.”

Israel’s admirers were soon queuing up to spit their venom. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Tonge’s remarks as “sinister and abhorrent”. Chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “There is no place for someone like Jenny Tonge in mainstream political parties in this country.”

The then chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, said: “I am appalled at Baroness Tonge’s remarks. They are dangerous, inflammatory and unacceptable… Views such as those expressed by Baroness Tonge have no place in civil public discourse.”

The Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel applauded Clegg’s “decisive action” and hoped the sacking would “draw a line under the continual smearing of Lib Dem party policy on Israel and the Middle East”. And according to The Guardian an unnamed Lib Dem spokesman said: “Jenny Tonge does not speak for the party on Israel and Palestine. Her presence and comments at this event were extremely ill-advised and ill-judged… The Liberal Democrats are wholehearted supporters of a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue.”

Clegg, who was also Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government at the time, said: “These remarks were wrong and offensive and do not reflect the values of the Liberal Democrats. I asked Baroness Tonge to withdraw her remarks and apologise for the offence she has caused. She has refused to do so and will now be leaving the party. The Liberal Democrats have a proud record of campaigning for the rights of Palestinians, and that will continue, but we are crystal clear in our support for a two-state solution.”

And a fat lot of good adopting that position has done. Even in 2012 it was obvious the two-state solution was stone dead.

However John McHugo, chair of the LibDem Friends of Palestine, said: “Jenny’s motivation in speaking up for the rights of the oppressed is anger at injustice when others, who have the duty to speak out, pass by silently on the other side of the street.”

In 2004 she said about Palestinian suicide bombers: “If I had to live in that situation – and I say that advisedly – I might just consider becoming one myself.” Everyone went mad. A senior Conservative said her comments would “sicken those across the world who have lost loved ones to suicide bombers”. The ignoramus didn’t mention the thousands of Palestinian families who had lost loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods – everything – to Israeli terrorists and occupation forces.

Charles Kennedy, the then LibDem party leader, dismissed Jenny as children’s spokesperson, saying: “Her recent remarks… are completely unacceptable. They are not compatible with Liberal Democrat party policies and principles. There can be no justification, under any circumstances, for taking innocent lives through terrorism.”

But Kennedy too couldn’t bring himself to mention the casualties inflicted by Israel’s acts of terror and frequent high-tech military strikes on an occupied and defenceless civilian population.

Then, in 2006, Jenny told a fringe meeting at her party’s conference: “The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party.” As if to prove her point the LibDem Friends of Israel immediately issued a press release saying: “In the coming days and weeks we will work closely with colleagues inside the Party to ensure every avenue is explored towards removing Baroness Tonge from the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.”

The party’s leader at the time, Menzies Campbell, dissociated himself from her “offensive remarks” and “their clear anti-Semitic connotations”. Offensive? The pro-Israel lobby’s infiltration of Parliament and public life was there for all to see. That’s what was offensive. And the threat to national security was blazingly obvious. For example, our most important security bodies – the Intelligence & Security Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Defence Committee – were all headed by senior Friends of Israel. How could that be in our national interest?

Clegg and Co would do well to re-read the Preamble to their own party’s Constitution, a very fine document indeed especially where it says: “We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience… We reject all prejudice and discrimination… Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be confined by national boundaries; we are committed to fight poverty, oppression, hunger, ignorance, disease and aggression wherever they occur and to promote the free movement of ideas, people, goods and services.”

Those principles are as good as any for guiding a person through political life. But where are they reflected in our political elite’s dealings with the scandalous injustice in the Holy Land?

And just how principled was Clegg’s sacking of one of the country’s most committed campaigners for human rights, Jenny Tonge?

Jenny’s goodbye to the Liberal Democrat party and its sanctimonious hypocrites was a long time coming. She’s well rid of them.

PSC too timid to put down a marker for upholding international law?

And what of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign? I had suspicions in 2007 that the PSC was infiltrated at headquarters level when they refused to review or give any space at all to my book “Radio Free Palestine” (Foreword by Jeff Halper) even after I’d sent them two complimentary copies which they claimed had gone astray. They refused again when the book was published on the web for all to read. How’s that for “Solidarity”? Although I have every admiration for the hardworking campaigners in PSC’s local branches the leadership has done nothing to inspire or give me confidence. Of course, it is to be expected that such a high-profile campaign group would be targeted.

At its Annual General Meeting in 2016 the PSC even threw out a proposal to seek Israel’s expulsion from the United Nations. Chairman Hugh Lanning was reported to have started proceedings on a positive note saying: “Let us recommit to Palestine to make sure that we make a difference in the coming year.”

But a motion put for the PSC’s Executive Committee to “request the Government of the United Kingdom, enforced by a petition and lobbying, to submit a motion to the Security Council recommending that the General Assembly expel Israel from the UN in compliance with the UN Charter, Article 6” failed — 76 for, 116 against. A statement by its main sponsor, Blake Alcott, said that an identical motion to the AGM a year previously was likewise opposed by the PSC leadership who felt “the time is not yet right”. He said: “Pro-Palestinians must wonder how much worse Israel’s crimes must be before the international community takes disciplinary action.”

There is ample reason to call for Israel’s expulsion from the UN. That racist endeavour clearly isn’t the ‘peace-loving state’ required by the UN Charter’s Article 4. Nor has it fulfilled the four conditions to its acceptance as a member back in May 1949. As the record shows, Israel has wilfully breached conditions of membership for decades. Many have argued it automatically disqualifies itself by failing to fulfill membership requirements in the first place. Furthermore it continues to show contempt for numerous UN resolution despite frequent reminders.

When considering what sort of response civil society should make, suspension sounds ‘softer’ than expulsion as membership can be speedily restored if and when Israel satisfies the other member states that it now conforms. And in the circumstances suspension would surely be more difficult to veto. But under the rules expulsion is also an option. This is what the relevant part of the UN Charter says:

(Article 5) A Member of the United Nations against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by the Security Council.

(Article 6) A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

It might be argued that the passing of numerous UN Security Council resolutions amounts to ‘preventive action’ (although still awaiting enforcement). But Article 6, which stipulates expulsion, is more clear-cut. Israel has certainly violated every norm, every rule of decency, every principle of humanity. And it continues to do so without showing a shred of remorse.

Of course Mr Alcott’s motion, if passed, would have been brushed aside by the British Government which is pledged by successive prime ministers to protect and reward Israel right or wrong. But that is not the point. The aim of the motion was to put down a marker and provide a focus around which other campaign groups across the world could mobilise, bringing similar pressure to bear on their own governments and creating an irresistible swell of global opinion to ensure international law is eventually upheld.

The PSC failed that simple test. So how will it ever “make a difference” on behalf of the long-suffering Palestinians?

This week Jenny wrote on her Facebook page: “PSC are very worried about the furore surrounding my remarks following Pittsburgh and I have resigned to save them embarrassment!!! Sad day.”

She was a patron and had been a member for 10 years. I’d say she’s well shot of them and the LibDems, both.

*( Baroness Jenny Tonge, Stop the War Coalition Rally outside the Iraq Inquiry, London, Blair inside. Image credit: Chris Beckett/ flickr)

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“Israeli Apartheid Week” Event at Middlesex Uni Wins Award

by Laura Stuart
Saturday, May 26th, 2012

Some might be looking forward to the Olympic Games in London this summer – but we have 3 even bigger champions to be proud of.

CHAMPIONS OF PALESTINIAN/HUMAN RIGHTS

Baroness Jenny Tonge – Ken O’Keefe and Dr Ghada Kharmi were the three speakers at an “Israeli Apartheid Week” event at Middlesex university. Now the Middlesex Student Union have voted this event

“The Event of the Year“.

Watch Baroness Tonge’s talk here.
Watch Ken O’Keefe’s talk here.
Watch Dr Gharda Kharmi’s talk here.

Despite much gnashing of teeth by Israel supporters such as the Jewish Chronicle no breeches of the law were found by the police investigation. However, despite the fact that no hate speech or racism laws were broken Baroness Tonge had to resign from the Liberal Democrats which illustrated perfectly the fact that our own government takes its orders from Tel Aviv.

A SPECIAL PRIZE FOR THE LOSERS

Sour Grapes for ex Muslim Raheem Kassam and his so called anti extremist website, “Student Rights” (promoters of free speech [/sarcasm off]) for alerting us to the fact that the Free Palestine Society at Middlesex Uni had won the award, because without his website I might not have known.


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Jenny Tonge’s Victory over the Lobby ~ by Ramzy Baroud

By Ramzy Baroud

Palestine Chronicle
April 18, 2012

Jenny Tonge

‘My Lords, I was in Gaza six weeks ago,’ began Baroness Tonge, when she spoke at the House of Lords in January 2009. ‘Now, as a result of the impotence of the international community, not just in Gaza, but…over 40 years of occupation of Palestine by Israel, those institutions that I visited are rubble and many of the children with whom I played are dead.’

Jenny Tonge, then a member of the UK’s Liberal Democrat party, was a dangerous British politician as far as Israel was concerned. She not only dared to use strong language while referencing Israeli actions in the occupied territories, she also demanded action from her government

For this she was subjected to the same, predictable verbal abuse by Israeli officials and media, by the pro-Israeli British lobby, and even by some of her peers. However, calling Tonge ‘anti-Semitic’ was never going to be convincing. The formidable woman has spent years of her life serving her community – as a doctor, MP and spokesperson for Health for Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords – and has amassed far too much credibility to be shaken by defamatory accusations.

Moreover, very few will agree that calling for “the immediate—and I mean immediate—establishment by the United Nations Security Council of an independent fact-finding commission to Palestine to investigate all breaches of international law” constitutes anti-Semitism in any way.

But for those who insist that Israel is above any criticism, the mere suggestion that Israel should be investigated for alleged war crimes is an unforgivable act. Any hint of criticism can easily be misrepresented to equal the questioning of the very existence of the state, and casually labeled as racism.

The Baroness is not easily intimidated, however. Speaking at Middlesex University on February 23, she stated that, “Israel is not going to be there forever in its present form,” a reference to the country’s current racially-based political identity as a ‘Jewish State,’ which leaves native Muslim and Christian Arabs vulnerable to institutional racism and discriminatory laws.

Many others have already warned from the increasingly anti-democratic nature of Israel, especially with the rise of religious and ultra-nationalist parties. Leading scholars, Noble Laureates, acclaimed anti-Apartheid figures and former US presidents have all made similar calls, targeting the skewed nature of the Israeli political establishment, which grants rights to people of Jewish lineage while denying basic civil rights to all others.

Tonge was not targeting any race, but rather the small, yet powerful cliques that have long infested both British and US politics in areas concerning Israeli and the Middle East. “One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough,” she said. “Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown” (The Guardian, Feb 9).

In stating the obvious, Tonge irked British politicians, including members of her own party, who speak of ‘peace in the Middle East’ while actively undermining any real efforts to achieve such peace. Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party, said there was “no place in politics for those who question the existence of Israel.” Tonge, in fact, had done no such thing. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, stated, “I asked Baroness Tonge to withdraw her remarks and apologize for the offense she has caused. She has refused to do so and will now be leaving the party.”

Since his sudden rise to close to the top of British political hierarchy, Clegg has moved substantially from his original stance regarding Palestine and Israel. In his article in the Guardian on December 21, 2009, he had articulated a strong position against the Israeli blockade on Gaza, and asked: “And what has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.”
Once in the government, Clegg changed his position. Tonge, on the other hand, remained consistently audacious, regardless of position or perks. Her stance in 2012 mirrored other stances she has taken in the past. In 2006, she uttered what few before dared to even speak in private: “The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they’ve probably got a grip on our party,” she said (BBC, Sep 21, 2006.) Then, as in now, her comments were manipulated by the media to imply something entirely different from what she had clearly intended. Her exit from the party was a testament to the will of this strong British woman, but also to the power of the very Israeli lobby she often criticized.

It is important to remember that Tonge’s battle is not a skirmish within the ranks of the political elites. Rather, it’s a war of narratives, where Israel and its ‘friends’ insist on silencing any meaningful debate on Palestine-Israel. The other side, encompassing Tonge and numerous others, is slowly encroaching on Israel’s well-guarded discourse, and making serious inroads.

A recent episode in the war of narratives involved Gunther Grass, German author of the widely acclaimed anti-Nazi novel, The Tin Drum. Grass has now done what many others, especially in Germany, never dared to do. He criticized Israel for its aggressive posturing towards Iran. Israeli officials responded by calling the man every bad word in the book of defamation.

The typical ‘storm’ created by Israeli responses has, however, not managed to enact a typical response this time. Nicholas Kulish wrote in the New York Times that judging by the ‘outpouring’ of comments by German politicians and media, “it would appear that the public had resoundingly rejected (Gunter’s) work…But even a quick dip into the comments left by readers on various Web sites reveals quite another reality” (April 13). According to Kulish, “Mr. Grass has struck a nerve with the broader public, articulating frustrations with Israel here in Germany that are frequently expressed in private but rarely in public.” He adds that “charge of anti-Semitism aimed at Israel’s critics is widely viewed as a blunt instrument that silences debate, and in the process prevents Mr. Grass from making a point…”
While Israel does occasionally succeed in silencing critics, the tried and true tactic of the past is becoming less effective. In the final analysis, neither Tonge nor Gunter have actually lost to the lobby. In the world of ideas, only the credibility of one’s views actually makes a difference. The rest is hasbara.

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Victory for the Israel lobby bullies

by Stuart Littlewood

Craven Liberal Democrats dump human rights champion Jenny Tonge

It was no surprise to read in The Guardian on 29 February that Baroness Jenny Tonge, a Liberal Democrat peer who has given unstinting support to the Palestinian struggle for freedom, had been sacked after declaring that Israel would not last for ever. She rejected an ultimatum from party leader Nick Clegg to apologise and said she stood by her remarks.

Nothing to apologise for
The row blew up when Jenny allegedly told a meeting at Middlesex University: “Beware Israel. Israel is not going to be there for ever in its present form… Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown.” She said America would one day get sick of funding what she called America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East. “One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough.”

Israel’s admirers were soon queuing up to spit their venom. The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Tonge’s remarks as “sinister and abhorrent”. Chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “There is no place for someone like Jenny Tonge in mainstream political parties in this country.”

The chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, said: “I am appalled at Baroness Tonge’s remarks. They are dangerous, inflammatory and unacceptable… Views such as those expressed by Baroness Tonge have no place in civil public discourse.”

The Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel applauded Clegg’s “decisive action” and hoped the sacking would “draw a line under the continual smearing of Lib Dem party policy on Israel and the Middle East”.

And according to The Guardian an unnamed Lib Dem spokesman said: “Jenny Tonge does not speak for the party on Israel and Palestine. Her presence and comments at this event were extremely ill-advised and ill-judged… The Liberal Democrats are wholehearted supporters of a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue.”

Clegg, who is also Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition government, said: “These remarks were wrong and offensive and do not reflect the values of the Liberal Democrats. I asked Baroness Tonge to withdraw her remarks and apologise for the offence she has caused. She has refused to do so and will now be leaving the party. The Liberal Democrats have a proud record of campaigning for the rights of Palestinians, and that will continue, but we are crystal clear in our support for a two-state solution.”
The Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine, however, issued this statement: “Her actual words which caused the controversy were

‘Israel is not going to be there forever on its present performance’.

She has confirmed to us that her intention was to imply that Israel’s wilful failure to uphold and respect the human rights of Palestinian Muslims and Christians is behaviour which is likely to lead to its self-destruction.”

They claimed the leadership condemned her before even speaking to her. John McHugo, chair of the Friends of Palestine, says, “Jenny’s motivation in speaking up for the rights of the oppressed is anger at injustice when others, who have the duty to speak out, pass by silently on the other side of the street. It is also an attempt to make Jenny the story, and to detract attention from the evils of Israel’s occupation.”

It seems to me a case of the usual suspects seizing any half-baked opportunity to vilify anyone who dares to call Israel’s criminal conduct into question. Which Israel were they defending – Israel within its 1947 UN Partition borders or today’s Israel in illegal and violent occupation of the entire Holy Land, relentlessly expanding its borders and dispossessing the Palestinians? It’s obvious Israel cannot be allowed to continue on this path, so what exactly was Jenny Tonge supposed to apologise for?
It would help if her detractors kept up to date. They harp on about a lopsided peace process and a two-state solution when both have been dead ever since the Israelis created, without challenge from a spineless international community, irreversible facts on the ground designed to (1) make a viable Palestinian state impossible and (2) ensure their occupation becomes permanent. If Clegg and Co really believed in a just peace and two states why haven’t they insisted, with as loud a voice as possible, on action to stop the land-grab and push Israel back to pre-1967 borders, as prescribed by international law and in countless UN resolutions? There can be no peace under brutal occupation. Robust sanctions, which are very fashionable at the moment as long as they are imposed on Israel’s enemies, are long overdue against Israel itself.

As for causing offence, if anyone should feel offended it’s the Palestinians, having suffered for decades under Israeli oppression and continually hearing Zionist luvvies in the UK trying to silence those who call for justice.

Back-stabbing a leadership trait?

Jenny Tonge, a doctor by training and profession, is quite used to being knifed in the back by scaredy-cat leaders.

In 2004 she said about Palestinian suicide bombers: “If I had to live in that situation – and I say that advisedly – I might just consider becoming one myself.” Everyone went mad. A senior Conservative said her comments would “sicken those across the world who have lost loved ones to suicide bombers”. The ignoramus didn’t mention the thousands of Palestinian families who had lost loved ones and even their homes and livelihoods to Israeli terrorists and occupation forces.

Charles Kennedy, the then party leader, dismissed Jenny as children’s spokesperson, saying: “Her recent remarks… are completely unacceptable. They are not compatible with Liberal Democrat party policies and principles. There can be no justification, under any circumstances, for taking innocent lives through terrorism.”

Agreed. But Kennedy too couldn’t bring himself to mention the casualties inflicted by Israel’s acts of terror and frequent high-tech military strikes on an occupied civilian population.
Statistics from Israel’s B’Tselem provided the truth. Between 2000 and the start of Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ blitzkrieg on Gaza in December 2008, the Israelis’ vast standing army, equipped with the most advanced American-funded weaponry, killed 4,790 Palestinian civilians in their homeland. Of these, 952 were children.

Yes, 952 young Palestinian lives horribly snuffed out and their parents desolated…

In response the Palestinians, with their garden-shed weapons, killed 490 Israeli civilians, including 84 children. In this vicious game of murder and revenge the Israelis were leading by 11 to 1. Those were the “circumstances” in which Kennedy sacked Jenny Tonge.

Then, in 2006, Jenny told a fringe meeting at her party’s conference: “The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party.” As if to prove her point the LibDem Friends of Israel immediately issued a press release saying: “In the coming days and weeks we will work closely with colleagues inside the Party to ensure every avenue is explored towards removing Baroness Tonge from the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.”

The party’s leader at the time, Menzies Campbell, dissociated himself from her “offensive remarks” and “their clear anti-semitic connotations”. But the pro-Israel lobby’s infiltration of Parliament and public life was becoming self-evident and what she said was true. The threat to national security was clear to see. For example, our most important security bodies – the Intelligence & Security Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Defence Committee – were all headed by senior Friends of Israel. How could that be in our national interest?

Was Clegg ‘got at’?

Nick Clegg, like his coalition co-leader David Cameron, is a product of the best
education money can buy – Westminster (Eton in Cameron’s case) and Cambridge (Cameron to Oxford). They are the crème de la crème, born to lead. Or so they think.

But it has slowly dawned on people that expensive schooling does not necessarily endow pupils with the required principles and backbone, and many of these upper-class ‘products’ who find a career in politics are easily pushed around and told what to think and do by people who are busy promoting foreign interests – especially the adorers of the occupying regime in the Holy Land which was founded on terror, practises apartheid and shows no respect for international law or others’ rights.

Back in 2009 Clegg seemed to be his own man and wrote this about Gaza in The Guardian: “…What has the British government and the international community done to lift the blockade? Next to nothing. Tough-sounding declarations are issued at regular intervals but little real pressure is applied. It is a scandal that the international community has sat on its hands in the face of this unfolding crisis.”
At the same time he was telling the Jewish Chronicle: “There is simply not a shred of racism in me….The very suggestion that I might explicitly or tacitly give cover for racism, I find politically abhorrent and personally deeply offensive.”

It sounded like he was warning them not to count on his support for the Zionist Project.

But when by sheer fluke he was catapulted into the Deputy Prime Minister job, Clegg began to turn. He welcomed the appointment of Lord Trimble to Israel’s farcical inquiry into its own entrails after the murderous assault on the Mavi Marmara, well aware that Trimble was a founding member of the new international movement “Friends of Israel Initiative”.

And at the Liberal Democrats’ annual conference he attended a fringe meeting of his party’s Friends of Israel group with the new deputy Israeli ambassador to the UK. He thanked FoI for promoting themselves within the party and declared himself an admirer of “the democratic traditions and liberal ethos of life within Israel”.

So he slid from good guy to dumb-ass in less time than it takes to read his party’s constitution…
Speaking of which, the Constitution says Liberal Democrats “are supporters of international law… welcome the extension of international law to hold individuals to account for crimes against humanity. If governments engage in large-scale violations of human rights, or are unable or unwilling to protect their populations from catastrophes, then this responsibility must be fulfilled by the international community…”

Scaredy-Cat Clegg would do well to refresh his memory on these high principles. He should also re-read the Preamble to the Constitution, a very fine document indeed especially where it says: “We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience… We reject all prejudice and discrimination… Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be confined by national boundaries; we are committed to fight poverty, oppression, hunger, ignorance, disease and aggression wherever they occur and to promote the free movement of ideas, people, goods and services.”

These principles are as good as any for guiding a person through political life. But where are they reflected in Clegg’s recent pronouncements or in the coalition’s non-existent policy for dealing with the scandalous injustice in the Holy Land?

And just how principled is his sacking of one of the country’s most committed campaigners for human rights, Jenny Tonge?

Furthermore, how can encouraging a fan club devoted to Israel’s criminal ambitions and allowing it to flourish under the Liberal Democrat banner possibly be consistent with his party’s principles?
Last time I checked the party website the Liberal Democrats were pledging to put British values of decency and the rule of law back at the heart of our foreign policy… “We want to see rules upheld and international law observed.” Not much evidence of that, Mr Clegg.

Jenny Tonge’s goodbye to the Liberal Democrats has been a long time coming. She’s well rid of them.
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Baroness Tonge: ‘Israel will not go on for ever’

Posted on March 1, 2012 |

Baroness Jenny Tonge (born 1941), member of British House of Lords, has angered leaders of British government of Israel-Firster, David Cameron, and the Opposition lead by Jewish Ed Miliband as result of her statements made at a student panel at Middlesex University last month. The Jewish lobby groups have demanded that Nick Clegg, leader of her Liberal Democrats, should apologize for her remarks and take disciplinary action against her for making such anti-Jewish remarks. Some UK media has reported that Baroness Jenny Tonge has refused to apology and rather has resigned from the party. However, she will remain member of House of Lords under its current system.

“It will not go on for ever, it will not go on for ever. Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown,” declared Baroness Jenny Tonge. Watch a video below.

”One day, the United States of America, will get sick of giving £70 billion ($112 billion) a year to Israel to support what I call America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East – that’s Israel. One day, the American people are going to say to Israel lobby in the USA (AIPAC): “enough is enough”, ” she also said.

“Jenny Tong doesn’t speak for the party on Israel and Palestine. The Liberal Democrats are wholehearted supporters of a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine issue,” said party spokesperson.

In 2010, the British Jewish Chronicle, in an interview asked Baroness Tong’s views on an article published in the Palestine Telegraph – of which she is patron. The artile, entitled ‘Focus on Israel: Harveting Haitian Organs‘, was written by an American Jewish writer, Stephen Lendman. Jenny suggested that Israeli government should set up an inquiry to disapprove the allegations. For that simple suggestion Jenny was hounded by the Jewish press calling her ‘anti-Semite’.

“Israel will be around long after the outrageous comments from Baroness Tonge are consigned to the dustbin of history,” said Stuart Polak, the chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

Baroness Tong is one of very few British lawmakers who have the moral courage to stand up to British Jewish lobby groups. She is totally opposite to Baroness Catherine Ashton, a Zionist stooge who keep threatening Iran and other countries which refuses to accept US-Israel domination. Baroness Tong has been a long supporter of Palestinian resistance against Jewish occupation of Palestine.

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Condemn Treatment of Baroness Jenny Tonge by Clegg

Friends of Al-Aqsa

March 1, 2012

Baroness Jenny Tonge was given an ultimatum by Lib Dem Party leader Nick Clegg when she made a fair and accurate statement about the state of Israel – ‘retract the statement or leave the party’

Baroness Tonge, a long time champion of the Palestinian struggle for freedom chose to leave the party rather than be forced to toe the party line where Israel is concerned.

The exact statement she made at Middlesex University last week was:
“Israel is not going to be there forever in its present form. One day, the United States of America will get sick of giving £70bn a year to Israel to support what I call America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East – that is Israel. One day, the American people are going to say to the Israel lobby in the USA: enough is enough. Israel will lose support and then they will reap what they have sown.”

Ismail Patel, Chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa stated: “There was nothing in her statement which was unfair or inappropriate. The fact is that Israel in its present form is a racist state which has been occupying Palestinian land for over 44 years. This cannot and will not last forever. Millions of people around the world who form the ‘Free Palestine’ solidarity movement will work hard to ensure that Israel ends its occupation and that Arab Israeli’s are given equal rights within Israel. These aims merely represent international legal standards.”

Party leader Nick Clegg’s ultimatum was unnecessary and reflects the unacceptable sway the pro-Israel lobby appears to have on the party’s policies towards Israel.

ACTION ALERT

1. Write to Nick Clegg condemning his ultimatum to Jenny Tonge.
Email: leader@libdems.org.uk
2. Write to Baroness Jenny Tonge expressing support for her brave stand and continued solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Email: tongej@parliament.uk

Read FOA’s letter expressing our disappointment to Nick Clegg and our letter of support to Jenny Tonge.

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Jenny Tonge: A ‘Woman of Substance’

Via Intifada

05. May, 2010 

Jenny Tonge and her like are an endangered parliamentary species

By Felicity Arbuthnot – London
“Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
Ages of hopeless end.” (John Milton, 1608-1674.)

 Democrat M.P., Jenny Tonge (The Rt. Hon., The Baroness Tonge of Kew) has one. Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, does not.

Jenny Tonge is a doctor by training, married to a consultant neuroradiologist. Her positions have included Senior Medical Officer for Women’s Services in the large, multi-racial, London Borough of Ealing. In politics, she has been the Party’s spokeswoman for children and for health.
After her daughter was killed in a electrical accident, in 2004, she retired as an M.P., in order to help care for her two young grandchildren. However, made a Peer in 2005, entitled her to address issues of concern in the House of Lords.

Background.
In January 2004, she was sacked as children’s’ champion, by the then leader of the Party, Charles Kennedy, for saying of Palestine suicide bombers, in the hopelessness of the remnants of their land: “If I had to live in that situation – and I say that advisedly – I might just consider becoming one myself.” Refusing to apologize, she pointed out that: ” …having seen the violence, humiliation and provocation that the Palestinian people live under every day and have done since their land was occupied by Israel, I could understand …”
Her statement echoed the haunting words of the late Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish. In his “State of Siege”, he poignantly tiptoes between despair and what Western and Israeli governments label “terrorism.”

Darwish walks in the shoes of one with only his being remaining:
“I love life
On earth, among the pines and the fig trees,
But I can’t reach it,
So I took aim,
With the last thing that belonged to me”, he wrote of the suicide bomber. Such acts, he too, held, were not of a people with a culture of death, but a reflection of the despair of life under over sixty years of destruction and occupation.
“Palestinian people are in love with life. If we give them hope – a political solution – they’ll stop killing themselves.”

Even in death, Darwish mirrored Palestine’s tragedy, her sons and daughters either exiled or captive – walled, or checkpointed in.

He died in August 2008, far from the land he loved, after a life reflecting his nation’s plight in words of searing, soaring beauty, during enforced wanderings among temporary roofs.
In November 2008, Tonge joined a group of twelve parliamentarians from the UK., Ireland, Switzerland and Italy, breaking the Israeli siege of Gaza by boat, an act of not inconsiderable courage, given Israel’s addiction to ramming, shooting at or apprehending craft, whether attempting to take in aid (1) or fishermen engaged in their livelihood.(2)

In January 2009, in the House of Lords, she drew attention of the relevant Minister to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking of “war crimes being committed in Gaza” (during Israel’s month long bombardment) and asked that the British government “show leadership” (that would be a first) “and call for an immediate … UN fact finding commission … to investigate all breaches of international law.”
That March, Jenny Tonge was part of a small delegation of UK parliamentarians who travelled to Damascus, to meet Khaled Meshaal, Hamas leader since the assassination of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, in 2004. “You don’t make peace by talking to your friends (but) by talking to your enemies”, she commented at the time.
The group, she said, were attempting to pressure the British government to talk to Hamas, who had won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006. Such contact might lead to the US following suit, they hoped. They knew their meeting might be considered illegal and lead to arrest, but: “That is one of the risks you take”, said Tonge.

Strange times when talking to an elected government can lead to arrest. Wrong kind of democracy again?
In a distinctly undemocratic action, Israel’s Mossad also attempted to assassinate Meshaal, in Amman, Jordan, in 1997, approaching him from behind and spraying a lethal nerve gas in to his ear. Two of the agents were apprehended by the Jordanian security services, with King Hussein demanding of Israel the antidote. On their refusal, amid growing international furore, President Clinton successfully intervened.
“Israeli threats have one of two effects: some people are intimidated, but others become more defiant and determined. I am one of the latter”, commented Meshaal, of the episode.

This month, Tonge was again sacked by Nick Clegg, after suggesting an independent inquiry should be established into allegations of organ harvesting in earth quake devastated Haiti, by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). As Liberal Democrat Health Spokeswoman in the House of Lords, her concerns were valid, given statements by even a senior Israeli forensic scientist, over Israel’s past practices. (3)
Ironically, the storm was caused by her measured statement to the Jewish Chronicle, in which she suggested perfectly reasonably that: “To prevent allegations such as these – which have already been posted on You Tube – going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately, to clear the names of the teams in Haiti.” It is fair to assume that were any other country’s nationals accused, their Medical Associations would need little prompting for such an inquiry.

For her stand, Tonge has been dubbed, by a juvenile group of scribblers, “Jihad Jenny.” Contrasting her humanitarian concerns, the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Stephen Pollard, in answer to an email from a reader, who asked whether his paper considered: ” ..extra-judicial murder by Israel or any other state acceptable in any way”, allegedly replied: “Yes.”

Contributors to the Chronicle include Geoffrey Alderman, who has argued that according to Jewish law, it is “entirely legitimate to kill” every Palestinian in Gaza who voted for Hamas.”(4)

The “Jihad Jenny” nonsense, would seem to have come, from amongst others, Douglas Murray, a “self-described neocon and Zionist” and author of  “Neoconservatism: Why We Need It.” He seemingly fails to convince. At the time of writing, it is remaindered on Amazon at $2.00; 59c used. (5)

Nick Clegg, who found her comments re Israel’s teams in Haiti: “wrong, distasteful and provocative”, on becoming Leader of his Party, described himself as: “A liberal by temperament, by instinct and by upbringing.” Indeed. In an interview with GQ magazine, pressed on the number of women he had slept with, he replied: “No more than thirty…” assessing his frolicking skills: “I don’t think I am particularly brilliant or particularly bad.” The interview earned him the title of “Cleggover.”

Frolicking aside, Jenny Tonge should have had a natural ally in Clegg. International in upbringing and outlook, he worked widely overseas before entering politics and speaks Dutch, French, German and Spanish. His father is half Russian and his Dutch mother, as a child, was interned with her sisters and mother by the Japanese, in what is now Jakarta. Her father was in an adjoining camp, where they sometimes saw him through the wire.

Clegg’s mother is still a special needs teacher. Her son has also lectured at Cambridge University on International Relations, a discipline which includes international law, state sovereignty, nationalism, human rights and terrorism. The study is thought to have its roots in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia which constituted the legal concept of Sovereignty, encouraged the rise of the independent nation state and the institutionalization of diplomacy. Haiti and Palestine’s crying needs addressed in a nutshell.
He has defended civil liberties, supports liberal intervention, talked at children’s’ charity Barnardo’s recently about “..giving every child a fair start in life” and in the past has supported Survival International. Another politician perhaps selective about application of beliefs.

Perhaps the principled Baroness Tonge sums up the dilemmas of those with more malleable backbones than hers, when she said:

“The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grip on the western world, its financial grips. I think they’ve probably got a grip on our party.” Slapped down again, by the then Leader of her Party, Sir Menzies Campbell for “unacceptable” comment, she emphasized that she was citing: ” .. the Israeli lobby in politics … a big distance from being about anti Jewishness or anti-Semitism.”

Those whether temporarily or over decades, denied a voice, need the courage of those who can speak out on their behalf, seek redress – even if to dispel an allegation which may have no substance. That is democracy.

Jenny Tonge and her like are an endangered parliamentary species, world wide, as are those they seek to speak for. Perhaps fellow travelers should call Survival International.

- Felicity Arbuthnot is a journalist and activist who has visited the Arab and Muslim world on numerous occasions. She has written and broadcast on Iraq, her coverage of which was nominated for several awards. She was also senior researcher for John Pilger’s award-winning documentary, “Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq”. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

Source: Palestine Chronicle

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The rise and fall of Baroness Jenny Tonge A True Friend of Palestine

Link

Sunday, 14 February 2010 08:49 Added by PT Editor maysaa jarour

UK, February 14, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - It is with great sadness that we see a staunch supporter of the Palestinian people removed from her position as Health Spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. This is a clear sign of the political power that the Pro Israeli Lobby have over all political leaders and their party. This does not stop here in the UK but also extends throughout the US and the EU. So what caused such a dramatic response from the Lib Dems?

I guess dear Jenny has been fighting the traitors of all political parties for some time especially those who appear to pay more attention to their election campaign funds tha keeping a moral and ethical stance in the Houses of Parliament. They appear to protect those that financially prop them up in return for support or favour of anything that aids the Pro Israeli cause. The Friends of Israel are certainly not a group to be taken lightly and should you cross swords with them you can expect severe repercussions as Jenny has now found out.

Some time ago I wrote about who controls the power of politics in the west and I was shocked to see the amounts of money involved in this devious manipulation of our so called democratic political system. Let's just briefly look into the sinister game of "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." Lets first look at the three main political parties and see how it all comes together in order for potential candidates to gain a seat in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. All three mainstream parties have a specific organisation that protects them financially and at the same time promotes good PR for Israel. If one reads the speeches made it is easy to see that even if you are the devils advocate Israel can get away with brutal executions or mass killings as long as they deposit sufficient donations to cover candidates election costs.

The Conservative friends of Israel (CFI) consist of around 80% of all Conservative MP's who provide money for their respective election campaigns which obviously comes with pre conditions! One can relate to such pre conditions when Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader of the Conservative Party at the Conservative Party Conference, 3 October 2006 said the following:

"The Conservative Party is a true friend of Israel because we look at Israel and we see a democracy, we see a democracy that has a right to exist and a right to defend itself and that is a force for good in the world, and I want to say that as clearly as I possibly can."

It was David Cameron who appeared before the CFI lunch some months after Cast Lead and said nothing to denounce the actions of the Israeli Government in actual fact complemented Israel by say "Israel strives to protect innocent life" he also went on to say that "If I become Prime Minister, Israel will have a friend who will never turn his back on Israel."

The Ambassador of Israel, HE Zvi Heifetz, who attended a conference once said: "I know from experience that I can rely on the members of CFI to put Israel's case... The Conservative Party has long been the home of some of Israel's most outstanding advocates. For that you have my deep appreciation and my thanks."

As you would expect the following headline appeared in the CFI weekly briefing on the 22^nd of October 2009: "Conservatives back rejection of UN Resolution on Goldstone Report" No doubt this attracted more funds for the upcoming elections in 2010!

Let's now look at the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI). On their website we can read the following: LFI seeks to promote a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel. We work with the Government, Parliamentarians, advisers, and activists throughout the Labour movement. LFI also strengthens the bond between the British and Israeli Labour parties, organising meetings in both countries between senior figures, officials and the grassroots. "We are fundamentally sympathetic to Israel's position as a liberal democracy facing constant security dilemmas and existential threats."

It is clear that both the CFI and the LFI both benefit from huge donations whilst at the same time having the ability to respond in the right way to the donors. What is incredible about the political scene in Britain and that of the US is that if you say the wrong thing your wallet will suffer with even the possibility of being removed from office by those that hold the power. In that context one can say that the entire system is totally corrupt. Isn't it ironic that Obama, Brown, Cameron and Clegg were very critical of the Afghanistan Government in the area of corruption and yet their own palms are brushed with gold, as and when required!
All parties benefit greatly from this relationship......they are flown to Israel on a regular basis and live a life that most of use would be embarrassed by. They are basically paid to leave behind their ethical duties as MP's and continue to support Israel at whatever the cost. One would have thought that the highest priority for our chosen leaders is to address the issues our own country first. If politically speaking, one objects to the action of another country, you are free to be as critical as you wish. Democracy is all about free speech and having the ability to say what is morally or ethically wrong. The main issue with this type of funding is that it comes at a price and therefore restricts both you as an MP and your party to carry out its true purpose which is to be representative of your people

Finally lets get down to the Liberal Democrats who have bitterly attacked Jenny Tonge on other occasions and yet she has not said anything that any other responsible citizen would have said. It is clear in a democratic society that if someone is accusing you of a wrong doing then you call for an inquiry to dismiss such accusations. But before we go into those issues let just look at the Lib Dems and their relationship with Israel.

The LDFI main objectives are:
1. To Maximise support for the State of Israel within the Liberal Democrats and Parliament.
2. To develop a relationship of mutual trust and respect between the Liberal Democrats and the Jewish Community.
3. To support and promote policies which lead to peace and security for Israel in the context of a comprehensive and lasting Middle East peace settlement.
4. To encourage a broad understanding of Israel's unique political position as the only democracy in the Middle East.

Let's also take a look at its aims:
1    To influence the Party's Middle East policy so it places a high priority on Israel's right to peace and security.
2.     To ensure Liberal Democrat parliamentarians are aware of the up-to-
date situation in the Middle East.
3.     To provide parliamentarians with briefing material for parliamentary
debates, questions to Ministers and public appearances.
4.     To rebut attacks on Israel in the media, Parliament and the Party.
5.     To liaise with Israeli politicians and Government.
6.     To maintain a dialogue with other parliamentary groups having an
interest in the Middle East.
7.     To ensure that the British Jewish Community are aware of the activities
of LDFI
8.     To develop and maintain a broad based LDFI membership inside and
outside of Parliament.
9.     To arrange and accompany LDFI delegations to Israel.
10    To organise fringe events at Party conferences
11.   To keep in regular contact with the Embassy of Israel.

As we can see from the above this corrupt system is firmly embedded in the politics at Westminster and huge sums of money exchange hands, especially as we near a new election in May/June. One can see all these political figures running around the Pro Israeli Lobby Groups to earn "Brownie Points."

If we cast our mind back to 2006 we saw Jenny Tonge highlighting this very fact in at a Lib Dem Conference back in 2006 when she said: "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party."  The Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel leapt on the remarks when Ming Campbell said "I have acted with the maximum powers at my disposal at this time. I have written to Baroness Tonge dissociating myself and the party from her deeply offensive remarks and what I believe to be their clear anti-Semitic connotations. I have asked for a review of the disciplinary powers available to the Liberal Democrat leaders in both the House of Lords and Commons." I am sure that when Ming Campbell made this announcement his party funds would have been boosted significantly.

Back to the current time poor Jenny again got herself into deep water in relation to the many allegations made by the media that the Israelis had been taking organs whilst in Haiti. One would normally expect that if anyone is accused of such allegations over a period of time one would dispel such comments by carrying out some sort of enquiry and that is what Jenny was trying to point out when she made the following comment to the Jewish Chronicle "To prevent allegations such as these - which have already been posted on You Tube - going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti."

In a statement released on Friday evening, Nick Clegg said the allegations were "highly offensive". "The comments were wrong, distasteful and provocative and I recognise the deep and understandable distress they have caused to the Jewish community," he said. "While I do not believe that Jenny Tonge is anti-semitic or racist, I regard her comments as wholly unacceptable. "Jenny Tonge apologises unreservedly for the offence she has caused."

It is not the first time that Baroness Tonge has been dismissed from a party post.
In 2004, when she was still an MP, then Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy asked her to quit as children's spokeswoman following remarks she made about Palestinian suicide bombers. She told a pro-Palestinian lobby group: "If I had to live in that situation - and I say that advisedly - I might just consider becoming one myself."

She retired as an MP after the incident, but entered the House of Lords.

One has to look deeper into the comment made in 2004 and evaluate what she was trying to say. If you and I had our land taken from us, our house bulldozed, maybe also witnessed the shooting of your mother or father and in some cases lost your entire family.....if then you had further daily on going intimidation and humiliation...what is left for you to live for? It is at such moments that you turn to your only hope left which is that of your religion and pay the ultimate price in becoming a Martyr and taking with you those that caused you so much misery.  If one looks at such events from this perspective then maybe one can understand exactly what Jenny was trying to say.

Baronness Jenny Tonge was truly a highly moral and ethical lady and a true friend of Palestine. She now has made the eternal sacrifice in speaking from her heart whilst all the other senior political figures grovel around for Pro Israeli funds to prop up their election campaign. I feel that Jenny should now run as an independent

candidate in the next election as I am sure someone with her courage would do extremely well with having any donations from those that try to manipulate politics.

Bless you Jenny and for all what you have done for the people of Gaza and Palestine.
Peter Eyre - Middle East Consultant - 13/2/2010

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British politician Jenny Tonge sacrificed (again) to appease Zionists

Redress Information & Analysis

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By Stuart Littlewood

16 February 2010

Stuart Littlewood considers the hypocrisy of Britain’s Liberal Democratic Party whose leadership, for the second time running, showed contempt for their own loftily-worded principles by sacking one of the party’s few principled politicians in order to appease the Zionist lobby.

In another blow to British free speech the parliamentarian Baroness Jenny Tonge, a good friend to Palestinians for many years, has been betrayed by her party colleagues and sacked.

Jenny Tonge dared to comment on allegations circulating in the media about Israel harvesting human organs during the emergency rescue operations in Haiti. To prevent these allegations going any further, she said, "the IDF [Israel Defence Force] and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.”

The allegations included reports that the former head of Israel’s forensic institute admitted Israeli pathologists harvested organs from dead Palestinians and others without permission but this nauseating practice had ended in the 1990s. Yet Jenny Tonge’s remarks brought a storm of protest from her own colleagues as well as the Zionist lobby. One of them said: "She is misguided to call for any investigation. On this basis, there could be calls for an investigation to discover the ‘truth’ in the the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

"You have to ask yourself why the IDF, notorious for inflicting wholesale death and destruction on impoverished people who can't defend themselves … would suddenly be interested is saving life in Haiti – praiseworthy though such a humanitarian conversion would be."

 Another said: "We understand why the idea would be offensive to the Jewish community."
Yet another said: “Jenny's comments were damaging within the community and also to the wider debate about the Middle East."

A fourth, eager to cash in on the hysteria, commented: “It’s abhorrent that anyone should suggest that something as perverse and sick as this should be investigated.”

The Israeli embassy said that the allegations were “not fit to grace even the sickest of publications”, an oblique reference, presumably, to The Palestine Times which had published Jenny Tonge's remarks.

After discussions between her party leader, Nick Clegg, and the Liberal Democratic leader in the House of Lords, she was ordered to "stand down" as health spokesperson following what Clegg called "her unacceptable comments suggesting an inquiry into highly offensive allegations against the IDF humanitarian operation in Haiti. The comments were wrong, distasteful and provocative and I recognize the deep and understandable distress they have caused to the Jewish community… I regard her comments as wholly unacceptable."

You have to ask yourself why the IDF, notorious for inflicting wholesale death and destruction on impoverished people who can't defend themselves (especially in Gaza where they have nowhere to run), shooting children, machine-gunning fishing boats, blocking humanitarian aid, abducting civilians in the middle of the night, bulldozing homes, stealing land at gunpoint and suppressing peaceful protesters, would suddenly be interested is saving life in Haiti – praiseworthy though such a humanitarian conversion would be. For 62 years they have been bent on destroying life. Many, therefore, will see no reason to be concerned about hurting the Israeli military's feelings.

And many will question why Clegg deemed it necessary to grovel to Zionist opinion and take such savage action against Jenny Tonge when Israel is known for its lawlessness and apparently has form with regard to organ-stealing.
Jenny Tonge has been sacked before and the knives of her enemies are constantly sharpened in the hope of making a permanent end of her. In 2004 she was talking about Palestinian suicide bombers and said: "If I had to live in that situation – and I say that advisedly – I might just consider becoming one myself." Everyone went mad. A senior Conservative said her comments would "sicken those across the world who have lost loved ones to suicide bombers".

Charles Kennedy, the then party leader, dismissed her as children's spokesperson, saying: "Her recent remarks… are completely unacceptable. They are not compatible with Liberal Democrat party policies and principles. There can be no justification, under any circumstances for taking innocent lives through terrorism."

Agreed. But Kennedy, it seems, couldn’t bring himself to mention the casualties and terror inflicted by Israel’s daily high-tech military strikes on an occupied civilian population.

No knives are sharper than those of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. The stated purpose of this organization is to maximize support for the State of Israel within Parliament, influence the party’s Middle East policy so that it favours Israel, and rebut attacks on Israel in the media, Parliament and the party.

"Many will question why Clegg deemed it necessary to grovel to Zionist opinion and take such savage action against Jenny Tonge when Israel is known for its lawlessness and apparently has form with regard to organ-stealing."

In 2006, Jenny Tonge told a fringe meeting at her party’s conference: “The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the Western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party.” As if to prove her point, the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel immediately issued a press release saying: “In the coming days and weeks we will work closely with colleagues inside the party to ensure every avenue is explored towards removing Baroness Tonge from the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.”

The Liberal Democrat leader at the time, Menzies Campbell, said he dissociated himself from her “offensive remarks” and “their clear anti-Semitic connotations”. However, as people are beginning to realize, what she said was patently true and the pro-Israel lobby’s infiltration of Parliament and public life is a serious threat to us all.

For example, our most important security bodies – the Intelligence and Security Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defence Committee – are all headed by senior Friends of Israel. How can that be in our national interest?

The Liberal Democrats are good with words. The party’s website claims:”Liberal Democrats will put British values of decency and the rule of law back at the heart of our foreign policy... We want to see rules upheld and international law observed.”

The party’s constitution says Liberal Democrats believe that "human rights represent fundamental standards of humanity and that all states have a duty to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms…" It says: "We are supporters of international law… Liberal Democrats welcome the extension of international law to hold individuals to account for crimes against humanity. If governments engage in large-scale violations of human rights, or are unable or unwilling to protect their populations from catastrophes, then this responsibility must be fulfilled by the international community…"

The preamble to the constitution makes even better reading:

We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full… We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely… Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation, and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality. Recognizing that the quest for freedom and justice can never end, we promote human rights and open government…

Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be confined by national boundaries; we are committed to fight poverty, oppression, hunger, ignorance, disease and aggression wherever they occur and to promote the free movement of ideas, people, goods and services.

Is it a question of collective amnesia? Have these fine principles been deleted to accommodate the pro-Israel lobby? If neither, why on earth do the party’s leaders get so upset when a colleague criticizes a rogue state that believes in none of those things that the Liberal Democrats are supposed to hold precious?

You would think they'd pat Jenny Tonge on the back and say, "Good for you, girl, we're right behind you." But no. They prefer to let an Israel fan club flourish under the Liberal Democrat banner.

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Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.

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