9 May 2021, Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Here today in this Citadel of the Mother of Parliaments, the 9th May, sandwiched as it is between VE day yesterday and tomorrow being the 81st anniversary of the accession to power of Winston Churchill we have good cause to celebrate democracy.
Benjamin Disraeli said that you should aim high because your achievements will never exceed your ambitions. My objective is to strive for the day when the noun “Jew” and the adjective “Jewish” are badges to be worn with pride and respected as much as the word Christian is in Society at large.
Interfaith activities should foster the seeking of common ground but we should never fear challenging the literature and liturgy of other religions especially where they impact negatively on perceptions of Jews.
I have been involved in the bringing of two motions to Plenary. I support engaging with the Ambassador. She has unimpeachable academic credentials, and we can learn much from each other. I have never voted against any bona fide Jewish Organization seeking to join us so long as their policies are lawful ones.
The raison d’etre of the BOD is to advocate and Jonathan Arkush successfully did just that in various European Parliaments in support of the rite of circumcision.. That is why I negotiated with the BBC for years to get our President on to QT which finally occurred in October beating the Jewish Leadership Council to the post.
To anti-Semites I say “When you stop telling lies about us, we will stop telling the truth about you”. We should give them no quarter and take no prisoners. We will expose them on campus in the workplace and in Social Media.
We are bound by our constitution to defend Israel but as good Britons we need feel no compunction about quoting the words of Balfour who said
“The Arab question will require tact, it will require judgment, it will require above all, sympathetic goodwill on the part both of Jew and Arab”
I support “Tikkun Olam” (fixing a broken world) for as Churchill said “What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?”
So you don’t have to be a leftwinger to support Palestinian Rights or a rightwinger to uphold Israeli rights nor to work for a world where all can walk together in Justice and in Peace.
I therefore respectfully request you to give me your first preference vote, so that we can, together, work to preserve the good and reform the things that need changing.