This is a cross-post from Stand For Peace
David Ward MP has published a letter on his website written by extreme New Zealand activist Leslie Bravery, which defends Ward’s comments about Jews (condemned as racist by Jewish groups and his own political party).
Previously Ward had stated: “Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza”.
In his letter to Deputy Prime Minsiter Nick Clegg , Bravery wrote, “I believe that you should be supporting David Ward and moreover, expressing your admiration for him.”
In an echo of the ‘Jews control the media’ trope, Bravery also alluded to the “mass corporate news media” muffling anti-Zionist voices.
Bravery’s organisation in New Zealand claims that the descendants of Holocaust survivors “now besiege and slaughter Palestinians in Gaza” and that Jewish groups in New Zealand demonise Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organisation that in 2006 threw its political opponents of the rooftops of tall buildings. It is hard to demonise the devil.
Bravery suggests Ward’s comments are justified by the reaction of British Jewish leaders: “If the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews does not consider Holocaust Memorial Day a most appropriate occasion for standing resolutely against human rights abuses anywhere in the world, then David Ward’s comments are timely.”
In other words: Bravery also suggests Jews everywhere are responsible for the deaths of Palestinians. Leslie Bravery is expected to pop up in this kind of debate. His letter on David Ward’s website was adapted from a posting at the deLiberation website, an openly anti-Jewish news site that supports infamous Holocaust deniers such as Gilad Atzmon. Featured writers for deLiberation include Laura Stuart.
In a piece titled ‘What Good Muslims think of Jews’, promoted by Holocaust denier Paul Eisen, Stuart wrote:
The Quran is just full of stories of how the Jews are always arguing and plotting so, to be honest, even without Palestine/Israel, Muslims are always going to be viewed as the Jews’ enemy number one.
In September, while defending Gilad Atzmon, Laura Stuart emailed another activist a video, titled What Famous Men Say About the Jews(all negative), uploaded by a user called “Aryan000005“.
Stuart has previously spoken to PSC groups, once warning the audience about “people in the Finchley area” who have dual loyalties. As you can see in the video below, at one point she complains about orthodox Jews “hiding their identity”.
Bravery seems perfectly happy to share a platform with the venomous Laura Stuart. It is extremely telling that Ward would choose Leslie Bravery for a character reference.
To sum: David Ward MP causes a furore and is censured by his party for claiming that Jews worldwide are responsible for Palestinian suffering. In spite of the criticism from anti-racism groups, he then chooses to entrench his views further by publishing a letter sourced from a website best known for its Holocaust denial and undisguised hatred for Jews.
