Opinion Editorials, June 2007
June 2007 Opinion Editorial Links
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Gordon Brown appoints Israel apologist to oversee British media
By Redress Information & Analysis
28 June 2007
Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, has appointed James Purnell, a notorious Israel apologist, as secretary of state for culture media and sport. As such, he will have an oversight role over the British Broadcasting Corporation and the rest of the British media.
From 2002 to 2004 James Purnell served as chairman of Labour Friends of Israel.
James Purnell is also on record as describing critics of Israel as closet anti-Semites. In a letter published in Prospect in December 2004, he said:
.. As the (non-Jewish) chairman of
Labour Friends of Israel for the last two years, I have been shocked by the
occasional demonisation of Israel that I've encountered. Israel's government
makes mistakes. So do the leaders of the Palestinians. But some people are
trying to turn Israel into a global villain, the new pariah regime to take
the place of apartheid-era South Africa.
I find it hard to reconcile that image to the reality on the ground-Israel
is a democracy, suffering terrorist attacks, surrounded by countries that
don't recognise its existence, the victim of well-funded terrorist
organisations that preach antisemitic hate. The Palestinians deserve a
viable state, and are suffering real poverty and hardship. There is
suffering on both sides-neither can solve this problem without the other.
So when some people talk as if Israel is entirely to blame, I ask why. The
only answer I can find is that there is something deep in our cultural
memory that makes us disposed to blame Jews. That tendency was put in its
box by the Holocaust. But today it re-emerges-occasionally, but
persistently. I would call it passive, or unexamined, antisemitism.
So not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. But some is, and we should be
very wary of it.
Another appointee to the Brown cabinet is also known for his pro-Israel
bias. In October 1999, Douglas Alexander, who has been appointed by Brown as
secretary of state for international development, paid a visit
to Israel that was sponsored by Labour Friends of Israel.
http://www.redress.cc/global/redress20070628
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