The Mail picked up on the story that Shami Chakrabarti had described Moazzam Begg as “a wonderful advocate he is for human rights and in particular for human liberty“.
This is her response:
I have always spoken against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism. I long campaigned for the release of Mr Begg and all other detainees from Guantanamo Bay. I have never spoken about Israel-Palestine. These three facts are completely consistent and I am disappointed that anyone should attempt to suggest otherwise.’
The point is not that these positions are inconsistent. It is that she is has very poor judgement. That poor judgement manifested itself in praise for a man who is an outspoken supporter of Islamist terrorists and their politics.
As I said in the original piece:
A human rights campaigner might end up on a platform with speakers who opposed human rights, in order to campaign in relation to a specific human rights issue. Although I can’t imagine it happening, it would at least theoretically be possible for such a person to support the claims of the English Defence League founder, “Tommy Robinson”, that he is the subject of a politically motivated campaign of police harassment. But I wouldn’t expect such a human rights campaigner profusely to lavish praise Tommy Robinson, or to hold him up as a figure to be admired.
From where I’m standing, the Labour Party Inquiry into Antisemitism and Everything Else Apart From Antisemitism is looking rather shambolic.
