Shadow minister Andy McDonald defends adviser's 'apartheid' Israel comments
3 min read
A Labour shadow minister has defended his adviser's description of Israel as an "apartheid state", arguing that Palestinians are treated "entirely differently" to Jewish citizens in the country.
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald was asked about a tweet from his policy adviser Karl Hansen, revealed by PoliticsHome, in which he commented on an article about Bedouin nomads being ordered to pay the costs for the demolition of their own homes.
"How anyone could read this article and deny that Israel is an apartheid state is beyond me," Mr Hansen wrote underneath a link to the story.
Mr Hansen was condemned for the remark by Labour Friends of Israel.
Appearing on Sky News this morning, Mr McDonald refused to condemn the comments and said there are "two different systems" for Israelis and Palestinians.
He also appeared to compare the treatment of the Palestinians with the Nazis' extermination of European Jews during the Second World War.
"As an MP I had the privilege with the Holocaust Educational Trust to go over to Auschwitz and take over the enormity of that atrocity and that has absolutely shaped and formed my thinking and to see what such an abomination that was," Mr McDonald told the Paterson on Sunday programme.
"At the same time I've also travelled to the West Bank and seen what life is like on a daily basis for Palestinians."
Pressed on the content of Mr Hansen's tweet, he added: "I'm answering a question about the attitudes of the Israeli government towards the people in the land that they occupy and they treat them very, very differently.
"We've just seen a young person who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier at point blank range and he received a sentence of nine months imprisonment. The same family who protested against that and a young teenage girl who slapped an Israeli soldier in anger received a sentence of nine months.
"I've been to the military courts where young boys are treated by a military system of law, as against a civil system of law. Now, there are two different systems depending on whether you're Palestinian or you're a settler.
"So I've seen it first hand and I think we've got to recognise that the Israeli government treat people entirely different depending on who they are within their own land and that's the context of this discussion. Because we quite rightly hold out and make the case, the most strenuous case to oppose anti-Semitism, that cannot mean that we're beyond criticising the Israeli government for the actions it takes against people in Palestine, that's the important point."
CORBYN MURAL DEFENCE
Mr McDonald also defended Jeremy Corbyn after the row over his defending a virulently anti-Semitic mural.
The Middlesbrough MP insisted the Labour leader "hasn't got an anti-Semitic bone in his body".
He argued that Mr Corbyn had signed numerous Early Day Motions throughout his parliamentary career condemning anti-Semitism.
"I think we should publish the EDMs that Jeremy's initiated...that show beyond any doubt where the man stands on such issues, I think it is really unfortunate that we're having this debate," he said.
"It's interesting that nobody is drawing attention to his proud history of standing up against anti-Semitism for all of these decades and that is the measure of the man and I think we should look at this fairly."
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