I congratulate Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan’s comment that he wears “Badge of Shame” because of anti-Semitism, eccentricity, anti-egalitarianism prevailing in Labour Party. Sadiq, to his credit, further attacked Labour leadership for taking softly softly approach against Labour activists.
Sadiq also subtly hinted that party should have taken tougher stance, as he himself suffered hate crime and how humiliating, moral sipping this could be. “If it means senior members, including Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee has to be retrained about what anti-Semitism means, then so be it.”
He was speaking at hustings organized by London Jewish Forum in Finchley, staunch Jewish area where his words would travel far and wide, making most impact. Various labour leaders commented on Mr Khan’s speech and events that preceded it, including Labour leader JC. But reading at comments, excuses and explanations pinned in-between lines, I was not convinced of the sincerity of statements mostly by pseudo protégés. They looked stereo-typed damage limitation exercise for public consumption.
While it is legitimate to defend Palestinians who suffer draconian hardships, it is equally true that Jewish community will never revert to violence in the West against Muslims; in sharp contrast Jewish lives are lost due to no fault of their own. Middle East has always been fire-brand conflict zone that should not affect our lives here, as Kashmir should not be a thorn between Indian, Muslim relations in UK.
Bhupendra M. Gandhi
By email
