Tom Watson says Momentum should drop speaker who vandalised Warsaw ghetto
2 min read
A political activist accused of vandalising the Warsaw ghetto should be dropped as a speaker at a Momentum festival "on the grounds of taste and decency", Tom Watson has said.
Labour's deputy leader said Ewa Jasiewicz was a "highly inappropriate" choice of guest at The World Transformed event, which is running alongside the Labour party conference in Liverpool later this month.
Ms Jasiewicz and another woman spray-painted "Liberate all ghettos" and "Free Gaza and Palestine" on one of the few remaining walls of the Warsaw ghetto - where an estimated 92,000 Jews died in the Second World War - in 2010.
She will speak from the main platform at the Momentum festival, where Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell will also appear.
Appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain this morning, Tom Watson said: "I think just on the grounds of taste and decency and particularly the context of the fact that we’re dealing with anti-Semitism suggests to me she’s a highly inappropriate speaker for Momentum."
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Watson said Labour had been too slow to deal with the anti-Semitism row which has dogged the party.
He said: "We’re not going to rebuild trust with the Jewish community in Britain very easily.
“Not for the first time I will say I wish we had dealt with it sooner rather than later. Because we didn’t deal it with it early, it’s going to be harder for us to rebuild trust with people like Lord Sugar and other friends of mine."
PoliticsHome revealed on Monday that Mr Watson had given up his speaking slot on the main stage at Labour's conference and will instead speak at fringe events.
Momentum has been approached for a comment.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: "It's a matter for Momentum who it invites to its own conferences and events. It's not a matter for Jeremy. Jeremy is clearly of the view that monument commemorating great crimes should be treated with respect."
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