10 OPINION
14 OCTOBER 2021
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OPINION
The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper
Conservative Party Conference OPINION PIECE BY LORD ERIC PICKLES After two years absence, the Conservative Party returned to Manchester. For many representatives (Tories never use the term delegates), the 2019 Conference will have the last big event, with many people, before the Covid-19 lockdown. It was almost as if the entire conference had left on an extended fire drill, returning to the same friends and the same conversation. The General Election victory over Corbyn almost forgotten, swamped by the enormity of the pandemic. The theme running through the week was “Levelling Up,” removing regional disparities and offering the ambitious a chance for a good life without having to pull up sticks and move to London or the South East. Oh, if it was so simple. The real test as to whether Boris succeeds or not will be tackling inequality within regions and not between regions. Manchester is a prosperous city with financial services,
thriving retail, booming leisure facilities, a tradition of culture and a reputation for innovation. Yet a brisk walk from the Conference, there are pockets of deprivation that never use any of these opportunities. For them, Manchester might as well be the other side of the Moon rather than a few miles down the road. There were signs that the government understands this. The announcement of additional tutors is a small but important step. On Tuesday, there were two clear conference stars: Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. I escorted the Israeli Ambassador around the conference exhibition. At times it felt like I was
accompanying Mick Jagger. Lots of people wanted to talk to her or share a selfie. She spent most of her time at medical and social stands. This is perhaps recognition of how important Israel’s partnership with the UK was in the research and rollout of vaccines during the pandemic. The last decade has seen closer cooperation between the two countries on medical innovation. The NHS could hardly function without Israeli patented medicine. Ambassador Hotovely was a big success at the Conservative Friends of Israel reception making a barnstorming speech. The CFI reception is the biggest one at the conference, always oversubscribed. Its success
The CFI reception is the biggest one at the conference, always oversubscribed. Its success is grounded on being an “open mike” for cabinet members and senior tories.
is grounded on being an “open mike” for cabinet members and senior tories. Liz Truss was the principal guest. Her speech was covered in this paper last week so I won’t review it in detail. She looked to expand a in Trade Deal three areas: trade; technology; security. The Foreign Secretary said “there was no closer friend and ally to Britain than Israel. Within days of these positive words, they would be tested at the United Nations Human Rights Council and found not to be wanting. The Council sought to introduce a resolution commending the work of the Durban Conference, that notorious Jew hating festival. Some of the wording had been watered down in the hope of attracting unanimity. The UK had boycotted the recent commemoration of the original conference, and on the basis that there is no such thing as Antisemitism Lite, called for a vote and voted against the resolution. The UK was joined by Australia and many of our European Allies United Kingdom Special Envoy for postHolocaust issues, Chair, ACOBA, and CoChair, UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.
How has it come to this? OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN In a particularly unpleasant turn of events an Irish author this week picked on the Jews by refusing to publish her latest book in Hebrew. Citing her concerns over Israel this author has stated openly that she has been taking her lead from the BDS movement. Simply put she is being guided by a philosophy which seeks the destruction of the State of Israel and denies self-determination to the Jews. How this turns out over the next few days and weeks remains to be seen. The concern though is how did we get to this position? How is it that a mainstream author can feel that they can calmly and deliberately discriminate against Jews without any fear of retribution? The answer is multi-faceted. Firstly and most significantly, Jews are not the subject of overt discrimination in the UK. As a consequence there is a feeling of security which is not present with certain other minority groups. Or rather, that was the position until Jeremy Corbyn took charge of the Labour Party. In a few short years he changed the political landscape so that attacking Jews became standard practice for certain members of the party and
indeed other left wing or progressive parts of society. Now he has gone, too many of the Jewish Community believe that the problem has not gone away. The author in question is not British but Irish, though has a large following in the UK who it appears have to date been unconcerned about her publishing decision. It has been said often that many of the actions against Jews would not be tolerated by other minorities. That then leads to the second part of the answer which is we are not making enough of a
fuss. Once the Labour leadership changed many breathed a sigh of relief and thought it would be business as usual, i.e. a return to pre-Corbyn days. Sadly, as has been mentioned in this column previously that is not the case. This blatant act of discrimination needs to be called out for what it is – antisemitic. We should be considering the legality of this author’s decision, does it meet the standard of a hate crime, or there is a civil remedy? Thirdly (though I am sure there are
Some dialogue with these groups as to what they do or don’t find acceptable might be a worthwhile exercise in trying to bring some objectivity to the issue of antisemitism so that likes of this author might think even once before running down the discriminatory road that leads to Jew-hate. THEJEWISHWEEKLY.COM
other reasons for this free and open discrimination) the evil that is BDS has not been exposed for what it is, fundamental anti-Semitism. It is not clear whether the author in question believes the lies peddled by the BDS propaganda or just doesn’t care. What is clear though is that level of anti-Semitism in Ireland is at an appalling level and it perhaps comes as no surprise that against that background this particular Irish author feels comfortable in taking the decision she has. It is time to adopt a new standard for attacks on Jews. Instead of trying to work out if these are antisemitic or not, why not imagine the attacks are against another minority group, such Hindus or Sikhs. Some dialogue with these groups as to what they do or don’t find acceptable might be a worthwhile exercise in trying to bring some objectivity to the issue of antisemitism so that the likes of this author might think even once before running down the discriminatory road that leads to Jew-hate. Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel.
