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- Saudi princess: What I'd change about my country by Staff writers, BBC
Paul Flynn MP's repetition of antisemitic garbage is dangerous and needs to be addressed
John Mann MP tells of his horror in learning of Paul Flynn’s repetition of untrammelled, antisemitic garbage in Parliament
In 2009 when Sir Oliver Miles, Her Majesty’s former Ambassador to Libya, questioned the propriety of having Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert sit on the Iraq war inquiry panel because of their Jewish heritage and ‘Zionism’, he questioned the loyalty of British Jews and their suitability for public service.
This accusation of dual loyalty sits well amongst anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but of course is more complicated to explain than a base curse.
Sadly, little minds on the internet shared the story and it took root. Perhaps it was this that inspired Stuart Littlewood to suggest in the Palestine Chronicle online that “Many will feel it is intolerable for a Christian country like Britain to be represented by a Jew”.
His reference was to British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould, a former scribe of Robin cook and seasoned diplomat. This insidious remark is as offensive to me as would be the suggestion that avowed catholic, Francis Campbell could not have represented Britain to the Holy See – a job he did with distinction.
It was to my horror, that I read Paul Flynn’s repetition of this untrammelled garbage in Parliament.
Click here to write to Paul Flynn MP or Tweet at him by clicking here
According to Flynn, Matthew Gould is “unique in some ways in the role he is performing” and should be replaced by “someone with roots in the UK”. The idea that people should be judged fit for office by their race or religion is disgusting and racist. That Paul Flynn tried to laugh the matter off by referring to his Jewish friends and love for Israel fundamentally misses the point.
I am pleased he has now apologised, it was the right thing to do and he should have done so earlier.
John Mann MP is the Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism. He Tweets at @JohnMannMP
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Still no sign of the non-apology on Flynn's blog. Happy to leave up the Counterpunch sourced conspiracy theories but not to accept he was being a bigoted old anti-semite.
dramatic comparison there on one hand you have hard working, successful people who deserve respect ... and on the other - a labour mp
The email Paul Flynn link in the middle of this article produces an invalid email address.
Editor's note: All apologies. It's fixed now.Given the persecution suffered by the Ewok tribe, one would have thought Flynn would be more sympathetic.
How is this difficult from non-whites who complain that white policemen can't represent predominantly ethnic-minority areas? Do you attack them?
Vile and insidious stuff from Flynn. Gould has achieved so much for this country in Iran, USA, Pakistan and the Philippines.
I'm not sure the reason for his MBE was ever published, so I won't mention it here. Suffice to say it would warm the heart of every right-minded Briton.
I disagree. Gould's meetings with Fox and Werrity and various Israeli hard liners make him unsuitable as our representative in that country. It's not his religion that is at question, but his sympathies. If we are to be taken seriously as 'honest brokers' in the region, we need to be independent of either side. And Mann's just a bandwagon-jumping opportunist in the tradition of his party.
My ancestry is part-Jewish and I'm also one of Paul Flynn's constituents, yet although I'm Newport born and bred all of a sudden my local MP has decided that I'm partly a foreigner who doesn't belong here. Just how long in Mr Flynn's opinion does a community have to live in Britain to have roots here? Jewish people have been in Britain since the 1650s. If Mr Flynn believes that some 350 odd years is not long enough to have roots in Britain then just how many of his constituents does he class as 'foreigners'? Such narrow minded and idiotic bigotry might make even Fuehrer Griffin blush!
Of course, Britain always sent members of the Communist Party as ambassadors to the Soviet Union, China etc.
Thank your for the email address of Paul Flynn, but why would anyone want to communicate with such an odious side show freak as Paul Flynn? No offence intended to side show freaks, of course.
Don't talk to me about divided loyalties. All your officials and politicians may take an oath to your Monarch but their loyalty is to my Empire.
Could I just point out that Flynn did not make an apology - he merely regretted what had happened, as if it had nothing to do with him. Indeed, I don't think he actually understands yet what he has done.
I seriously doubt whether he would have said anything of a similar manner regarding a civil servant or diplomat who was black, Muslim or Asian, but he finds it perfectly ok to question the trustworthiness of someone who is Jewish.
Can he really not understand that he is calling into question, not simply Gould's loyalty but that of every Jew not just in the UK but everywhere. Can no Jew be trusted to represent their own country because of divided loyalties?
But with a name like Flynn and so presumably with Irish ancestry, he sees no problem in him representing a UK constituency - no divided loyalties there then.
And this man is one of our legislators?
Katie.
I think that Jews have been in England a lot longer than just 350 years. I seem to remember from a history lesson (years ago!, I sincerely hope I'm not remembering the plot to some bloody film!!!) that England kicked-out all the Jews after they had provided the ransom to pay for the release of our King (to pay an Austria King/Prince after the King was captured returning from the crusades, that must date it 1200-1300s?) and then didn't fancy the idea of paying them back.
I wonder how history would've changed if a Jew had been prime minister in the late 1930's instead of the wimp Chamberlain.
Gee, an anti Semitic English governemnt Minister. After the tragic malicious persecution of Jews during the Palestine Mandate by the British Government* and the ancient history of treatment of the Jews by the British Government/monarchy...
I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you...
*The Rape of Palestine, William B Ziff 1938
I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with loud-mouth, deficit dinosaur, Labour rent-a-gob, John Mann.
It's refreshing to see a member of the Labour party take such a firm stance against anti-Semitism, as it would be an understatement to say that this has not always been the case.
Paul Flynn has form on this sort of thing. An established apologist for the Hamas Islamofascists.