Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
As Jewish and non-Jewish members and supporters of the Labour party, we reject the call for the expulsion of Ken Livingstone (Letters, 7 April). Those who call for a new disciplinary hearing simply because they didn’t like the conclusions of the previous one demonstrate contempt for democracy and due process.
A year ago Livingstone, responding to a question from Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London, said: “Let’s remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism.” There is nothing whatsoever antisemitic about this. Francis Nicosia, the Raul Hilberg professor of Holocaust studies at Vermont University, wrote in his book Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany (p79) that: “Throughout the 1930s, as part of the regime’s determination to force Jews to leave Germany, there was almost unanimous support in German government and Nazi party circles for promoting Zionism among German Jews.”
Is telling the truth also antisemitic? Support for Zionism can go hand in hand with antisemitism. What the campaign against Livingstone is really about is his longstanding support for the Palestinians and his opposition to Zionism and the policies of the Israeli state. Those who hope to throw Livingstone overboard today are preparing the way for Jeremy Corbyn’s removal tomorrow.
Miriam Margolyes Lambeth & Vauxhall constituency labour party
Oliver Gaggs Cambridge CLP
Rita Gaggs Cambridge CLP
Professor Richard Seaford Exeter CLP
Professor emeritus Moshé Machover Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
Philip Wagstaff On behalf of South West Norfolk CLP executive
Professor Bill Bowring School of Law, Birkbeck College
Professor emeritus Jonathan Rosenhead Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Professor Haim Bresheeth School of Oriental and African Studies
Dr Tanzil Chowdhury School of Law, University of Manchester
Professor emeritus Wade Mansell Thanet North CLP
Professor Chris Knight Streatham CLP
Tony Greenstein Brighton Kemptown CLP
Jackie Walker South Thanet CLP
And 533 others
Full list of signatories at http://freespeechonisrael.org.uk/letter-guardian-reject-call-expulsion-ken-livingstone/#more-3000
