CFI Parliamentary Chairman in the House of Lords, The Rt. Hon. the Lords Pickles and CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE have condemned Baroness Tonge “callous inflammatory” response to the antisemitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
In a joint statement, the Lords said: “We utterly condemn the shocking assertion by Baroness Tonge that the murder of Jews in Pittsburgh is the fault of the Israeli Government. This callous inflammatory posting, on social media, is in clear violation of the IHRA definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government. For a Member of the House of Lords to publish such hateful thoughts brings Parliament into disrepute”.
On Monday, Lord Polak asked a Private Notice Question in the House of Lords on what action the UK Government “are taking to protect and reassure the Jewish Community here in the United Kingdom” following the attack. He underlined that “it is action that is now required”, stating that antisemitism “should be seen as a grave threat to British values, to British decency, and to all that we hold dear”.
Lord Pickles asked whether the Minister would join him “along with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in condemning the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, in suggesting that the murders in Pittsburgh were caused by the actions of the Israeli Government?”, adding that the “suggestion will clearly cause great pain in Pittsburgh, and falls foul of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism”.
Lord Leigh highlighted grave concerns about antisemitism in Britain’s Jewish community, and emphasised that “this level of antisemitism, and that found in a recent tweet from a Member of this House, must be addressed now before we find a similar situation to that in Pittsburgh arising in the United Kingdom”. Read the full exchanges here.
