(Warrington South)
(Lab):...Sadly, we know that not all ethnic minorities are
as fortunate as I have been to live in such a hospitable, tolerant
environment. If all communities were as welcoming as Warrington,
there would be no need for us to have this debate. As it is, many
forms of racism and discrimination are on the rise. Disturbing,
violent trends of antisemitism and Islamophobia have become more
and more frequent. I have already mentioned the horrendous attack
on the Muslim community in New Zealand last month. A Jewish place
of worship in Pittsburgh was subject to a similar attack five
months earlier—the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in US
history. Both killers were clear in their hatred of both Jews and
Muslims. Both subscribed to the far-right “great replacement”
theory, which casts Muslims and other minorities as invaders of
western societies and a threat to white, Christian majorities. It
seems appropriate that the specific theme to mark this year’s UN
international day for the elimination of racial discrimination is
mitigating and countering rising national populism and extreme
supremacist ideologies. In the wake of those horrific far-right
attacks, I am sure that Members will agree that the theme could not
be timelier...
(Gloucester) (Con):
My hon. Friend is quite right about the speech by the hon. Member
for Warrington South (Faisal Rashid); it was particularly nice to
hear that Warrington South is so inclusive. Does my hon. Friend
agree that the difficulty with hate abuse, racial abuse and
intolerance in general is that comes not just from the far right,
as disgusting and abhorrent as that is, but from the far left and
across the spectrum? We should be against it wherever it comes
from and wherever it is directed.
(Stirling) (Con): My
hon. Friend is absolutely right. Yesterday’s lead story
in The Sunday Times was a shocking
catalogue of antisemitism inside the Labour party, which I am sure
all decent Labour Members feel is as abhorrent as my hon. Friends
and I do. The reality is that we live in a time when antisemitism
and Islamophobic behaviour are increasing...
(Solihull) (Con):...We
also have worries and concerns about antisemitism. Some in my
Jewish community have spoken to me, often confidentially, about
their fears right now about the rising tide of antisemitism. I will
not indulge in anything party political on that—I trust, I know and
I am sure that every Member of this House is absolutely horrified
by the twin pillars of evil, Islamophobia and antisemitism. We
stand with our communities on that...
(Dudley North)
(Ind):...It is terrible that a culture of extremism and
antisemitism has resulted in the Labour party’s being
investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I think
that is really shocking. In TheSunday
Times this weekend, we heard about a failure to take
proper disciplinary action against hundreds of members accused of
antisemitism—people who said things like
“‘Heil Hitler’, ‘F*** the Jews’ and ‘Jews are the problem’”.
They have not been expelled—it is absolutely shocking—even though
complaints had been received a year ago. A councillor in
Lancashire has been let back into the party after fuming about
Jewish media attacks and the Rothschild family...
...Even the Deputy Speaker—sorry, I mean the deputy leader, the
hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Tom Watson). Actually, I am
sure you are just as appalled as I am by all this, Mr Deputy
Speaker. The deputy leader of the Labour party said yesterday:
“This makes for deeply shocking and depressing reading. Labour
members and the Jewish community will not understand how, many
years on from the first concerns about anti-semitism being raised, we have not
got to grips with it.”
It is profoundly shocking to me that a political party that I
joined as a teenager to fight racism has become embroiled in a
scandal like this. It has be dealt with much more seriously. The
Labour party must respond properly to the reasonable requests
made by the Jewish community more than a year ago, and must boot
out the racists for good. As Jonathan Goldstein said this
weekend, “Enough is enough.”..
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