← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Brooke
Thread ID: 17108 | Posts: 15 | Started: 2005-03-04
2005-03-04 15:06 | User Profile
[url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/548073.html ]London mayor brands Sharon a war criminal[/url]
Fri., March 04, 2005
By Haaretz Service
The dispute between London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Britain's Jewish leaders was reignited Thursday night when Livingstone branded Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a war criminal, the Independent reported on Friday. :)
Livingstone launched a provocative critique of Israel with accusations of "ethnic cleansing" and demonizing Muslims before calling for the imprisonment of Sharon, according to the British daily.
He also claimed in his article that the Israeli government presented a "wholly distorted picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe in order to convey the impression that Jews suffer most discrimination.
"The reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of the extreme right."
The comments were made two weeks after the London mayor controversially likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
[color=#FF0000]Livingstone has refused to apologize for his comments, repeatedly emphasising his anti-racist stance and denying that his words were anti-Semitic, the Independent reported.[/color] :)
His comments on Israel came to light in a written response to criticism levelled at him by the Board of Deputies of British Jews which was published in Friday's Guardian.
"Israel's expansion includes ethnic cleansing," he wrote. "Palestinians who had lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the Israeli state."
He added: "Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return.
"Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison not in office." :cheers:
In Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the mayor's comments "aren't even worthy of an Israeli response."
His comments are unlikely to ease already fraught relations between the mayor and the Jewish community in Britain.
Tensions came to light last year when Livingstone invited the Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to speak at a conference in London, the Independent reported.
However, at the crux of the current conflict are comments made last month by the mayor to Finegold, a reporter at the Evening Standard. His refusal to apologise for his remarks led to a media storm that culminated in the demand by Zvi Heifetz, Israel's ambassador to Britain, for an apology for "abusing" the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
"By using such flippant language, Livingstone not only seriously abused the memories of all those Jews who survived the concentration camps, but also the British troops who died fighting the Nazis and their families," he said.
Livingstone has stood by his decision that he was not going to apologise for his words. At one stage, he said that his words were "not intended to cause offence" and had no intention of trivialising the Holocaust. But he added: "The form of words I have used are right. I have nothing to apologise for."
On Thursday, there was again no sign of apology in Livingstone's comments.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies told The Guardian: "Once again the mayor has shown an inability to understand and show consideration for the Jewish community."
2005-03-04 15:12 | User Profile
[url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0%2C9061%2C1430317%2C00.html ]Sharon is war criminal says Livingstone[/url]
Hugh Muir Friday March 4, 2005 The Guardian
Ken Livingstone has reignited his dispute with Britain's Jewish leaders by launching a provocative attack on the "war criminal" Ariel Sharon.
In a riposte to criticism from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the London mayor accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and said its prime minister should be imprisoned. He also accused Israel of demonising Muslims.
Writing in the Guardian, he again rejected accusations of anti-semitism arising from his confrontation two weeks ago with the Jewish newspaper reporter he likened to a German concentration camp guard.
But while stressing his steadfast opposition to racism and his regard for the Jewish people, [color=#FF0000]he accused Israel of spreading misinformation about the scale of anti-semitism in Europe, and seeking to silence critics by calling them anti-semitic.[/color]
Mr Livingstone said: "Israel's expansion includes ethnic cleansing. Palestinians who had lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the Israeli state."
He added: "Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return.
"Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison not in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila [Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut] massacre."
Mr Livingstone said the Israeli government presented a "[u]wholly distorted picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe[/u]", so it appeared Jews suffered most discrimination.
"The reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims. They are the primary targets of the extreme right."
Relations between the mayor and key sections of the Jewish community are tense because of his clash with the Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold and his subsequent refusal to apologise, and his invitation to the Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to speak at a conference in London last year.
One of Mr Livingstone's most high-profile critics following the clash with Mr Finegold was Zvi Heifetz, the Israeli ambassador to London.
He said last night: "The mayor is confused once again. Ethnic cleansing was perpetrated in the concentration camps which he should know being such an expert on them. color=#6666CC[/color] :dung:
"The dozens of world leaders who attended the London meeting only two days ago [all commend Mr] Sharon, for his courageous steps to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Commenting on the row with an article in Wednesday's Guardian, Henry Grunwald of the Board of Deputies said Mr Livingstone must reverse his stance and make amends, adding: "He has let us down. He has let his office down. Oliver Finegold deserves an apology, Holocaust survivors deserve an apology, the Jewish community deserves an apology and most of all, London deserves an apology. Then we can all move on."
The Board of Deputies has triggered an investigation into Mr Livingstone's conduct by the local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies last night accused Mr Livingstone of seeking to deflect attention away from his own behaviour by attacking Israel.
2005-03-04 15:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE]"The reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of the extreme right."[/QUOTE]
What about ordinary Whites who are mugged and beaten by non-White savages?? Guess he just plain forgot about that. Oh well.
Anyway, Livingstone's comments about Ariel Sharon and Israel: Priceless. Nice shot Mr Mayor, keep it going and don't back down.
2005-03-04 16:00 | User Profile
This reminds me of the James Moran affair. These lefties think that their pro-commie credentials lend them the "juice" to criticize their Masters. Ha!
James Moran and Red Ken were good for a Pat on the Head and the Privilege of turning on and off the lights on Fridays at dusk, but once a Shabby Goy, always a Shabby Goy. When you play by the "house rules" of the synagogue, don't expect to be allowed to criticize the "masters of the house."
Maybe some Shabby Goys will wander off the plantation, ala Cynthia McKinney. Let's hope. it seems Red Ken has blown a circuit in his shabez goy chip implant.
Rob
2005-03-04 19:52 | User Profile
Hmm, a politician with backbone. :notworth: Where did this dinosaur come from?
'Wer kennt den Jude kennt den Teufel'
2005-03-04 20:25 | User Profile
People had it with the Judens and their Oi Vey Oi Vey poor me bull.
2005-03-04 21:09 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kievsky]This reminds me of the James Moran affair. These lefties think that their pro-commie credentials lend them the "juice" to criticize their Masters. Ha! [/QUOTE]
Actually, there is a considerable difference in the way leftwing anti-Zionists and rightwng anti-Zionists are treated by the establishment. ADL types may whine about leftist critics of Israel, but you don't see the sorts of alarms go off when a Livingston, a Said, or a Vidal attack Sharon as you do when a Buchanan, a Sobran, or a Francis say much the same thing. Very few leftists have lost their columns in The Nation or their academic posts for attacking Israel, the same cannot be said for rightists who made the "mistake" of doing the same.
The reason seems to be that while Jews are higher on the pecking order than colored minorities, one can "buy" respectability in the eyes of the mass media and other elite organs through being friendly to either Jews or towards negroes and hispanics. Being friendly towards one gives a commentator cover for being critical of the second. Leftists can get away with being anti-Israel because their championing of negroes gives them cover. Jared Taylor gets to appear on TV sometimes in spite of his books on negro criminality and stupidity because he invites Rabbi Schiller to his conferences. What you aren't allowed to do at all if you want any recognition at all from mainstream sources is having two strikes against you, i.e. being critical of more than one empowered and "protected" group.
2005-03-04 22:48 | User Profile
Surprisingly gutsy behavior from a mayor whose city harbors 300,000 Jews...
[SIZE=3]The Jewish Community of London[/SIZE]
[url]http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Archive/London.asp[/url]
Petr
2005-03-04 23:20 | User Profile
What you aren't allowed to do at all if you want any recognition at all from mainstream sources is having two strikes against you, i.e. being critical of more than one empowered and "protected" group. Very good point.
2005-03-05 02:33 | User Profile
What Livingstone should say....
"If one can't speak the truth and remain a friend of Britain's Jewish community, that fact speaks a good deal more about the nature of that community than it does about myself or the correctness of my views."
2005-03-05 04:52 | User Profile
[QUOTE]"The reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of the extreme right." [/QUOTE]
Here is the main difference between leftist critiques of Israel, and [I]correct [/I] critiques of Israel. Leftists bash Israel as camouflage for still more nigger-worship and a redoubled effort to turn over the keys to our civilization to outsiders who can only dismantle it, and us with it.
On the other hand, I bash Israel because it's not just our children and their children who are entitled to a white civilization and homelands - we, too, deserve our birthright restored. I'm eventually going to die in a half-umber America where alien parasites enjoy more freedoms and privileges and rights than those of us born "rightwise", to crib from Bill the Butcher - where [I]well [/I] more than half of my own kind, sobbing and apologizing to their own executioners, will expire believing they committed some awful transgression against humanity by being born white in a white country, whether here or in Europe.
I will die never again seeing the world even resembling a cultural facsimile of the world I was at least born into and grew up in - a white world that had stood for centuries and bequeathed the world a legacy of its highest-achieved measures of culture and civilization. What the f**k do I care about the discomfort of curry-stained, burka-clad outlanders when Western institutions criminalize the native-born for not voluntarily signing that birthright away before laying down and dying to make room for people who never could have accomplished the same?
Livingstone is pulling a Clinton - mouthing apologies and white guilt to mobilize London's poncy fools and cultural spirochetes into a prefab voting bloc impervious to 'moderates', let alone the BNP.
Crabbing at faraway Israeli tyrants means [U]less than nothing[/U] if your main bone of contention is that the Jews aren't dismantling white society [I]quickly enough[/I] to suit you.
2005-03-05 17:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE][B]il ragno[/B] I will die never again seeing the world even resembling a cultural facsimile of the world I was at least born into and grew up in - a white world that had stood for centuries and bequeathed the world a legacy of its highest-achieved measures of culture and civilization. What the f**k do I care about the discomfort of curry-stained, burka-clad outlanders when Western institutions criminalize the native-born for not voluntarily signing that birthright away before laying down and dying to make room for people who never could have accomplished the same?[/QUOTE]Succinctly and correctly put. There seems to be very little sadness among the American populace that this countryôs and the Westôs legacy is to be dismantled to please our new lords. I will repeat what I have often stated before on this forum that the loss of courage as a necessary virtue for the ruling class and a virtue much needed by the populace has been a catastophe.
2005-03-05 17:40 | User Profile
[I]Livingstone has refused to apologize for his comments, repeatedly emphasising his anti-racist stance and denying that his words were anti-Semitic, the Independent reported. [/I]
This reenforces the slave mentality notion that [I]anti-Semitic[/I] is something bad. Since when haven't "free men", cough, been allowed to be [I]anti[/I] anything they damn well didn't like, like the extreme Jewish supremacy of this clique of billionaires and gangsters that have a strangle hold on the West?
2005-03-05 18:21 | User Profile
March 5, 2005
THE WORLD London Mayor Assails Israeli Leader Denying bias, he calls Sharon a war criminal. Weeks before, he laid into a Jewish reporter.
By John Daniszewski and Janet Stobart, Times Staff Writers
LONDON ââ¬â Mayor Ken Livingstone sparked anger from Israel on Friday for labeling Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a war criminal less than a month after comparing a Jewish reporter for a British newspaper to a concentration camp guard.
Writing in the left-wing Guardian newspaper, Livingstone responded to criticism for the earlier remark, citing what he said was his long record of opposition to anti-Semitism. But then he launched a harsh attack on the "ethnic cleansing" policies of the Israeli government.
"Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not in office," Livingstone wrote. He also lambasted Israel's seizure of Palestinian land for settlements, military incursions into neighboring countries and denial of the right of return for Palestinians, who he said were "expelled by terror."\
The comments were reported in Israel just as the Sabbath was about to fall. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the mayor's observations were "not worthy of an Israeli response." The Haaretz newspaper said on its website that the remarks were "unlikely to ease already fraught relations between the mayor and the Jewish community in Britain."
In London, Israel's ambassador, Zvi Heifetz, said the mayor was trying to divert criticism away from his earlier remarks, which several Jewish groups said were deplorable because they trivialized the Holocaust.
"The mayor feels the need to emphasize that he's not an anti-Semite, but only anti-Israeli," Heifetz told the BBC. "We trust the public to know better and see what stands behind his strategy."
Livingstone resisted calls to apologize for his remarks last month that compared a reporter for the Evening Standard newspaper to a concentration camp guard. Prime Minister Tony Blair was among those who urged him publicly to say he was sorry.
It all began at a party Livingstone threw in honor of former Culture Secretary Chris Smith to mark the 20th anniversary of Smith's coming out as the nation's first openly gay lawmaker.
Asked by Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold how the party went, Livingstone at first refused to reply, said Finegold, who captured the exchange on tape.
At Finegold's repeated question, "Was it a good party? What does it mean for you?" Livingstone finally said, "What did you do before? Were you a German war criminal?"
Finegold replied, "No, I'm Jewish, I wasn't a German war criminal, and I'm actually quite offended by that. So how did tonight go?"
"Ah, right, well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard. You are just doing it because you are paid to, aren't you?" Livingstone said.
The mayor said later that he would not apologize for standing up to what he considered an abusive reporter. "I'm not going to apologize if I don't believe it. I don't believe I've done anything wrong," he said.
The 59-year-old Livingstone, sometimes called "Red Ken," is given to blunt and controversial statements.
He led the Greater London Council during the 1980s, becoming a nemesis of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She had the council abolished.
Livingstone broke with the Labor Party to run for mayor in 2000 as an independent and was elected handily. In spite of his reputation as a maverick, he has been a popular mayor and secured a second term last year.
As mayor, his major innovation has been introducing the congestion charge, a fee that motorists must pay to drive in central London during peak hours. The fee has curtailed traffic jams, and Livingstone wants to expand the program.
Times staff writer Laura King in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
2005-03-05 20:26 | User Profile
You and I know that there is more so called "anti-Semited" actions than the news media are telling us about (guess who controls the news) so we only hear about the "big" cases that they are unable to hide.
I am happy to see in the news, from the outside, that there is a lot more happening than the US news are telling us about.