'MENACING CANDOUR'

 

Jews call for MPs scalp
following influence exposure

 

Dalyell may face race hatred inquiry
The Guardian, London   Monday, May 5, 2003

By NICHOLAS WATT, Political Correspondent

LONDON—Tam Dalyell, the veteran Labor MP and opponent of countless wars, faces an investigation for inciting racial hatred after he accused Tony Blair of being unduly influenced by Jewish ministers and officials.

As leading British Jews criticized Mr. Dalyell for his "misguided" remarks, a former Labor MP said he would refer the father of the Commons to the Commission for Racial Equality.

Professor Eric Moonman, president of the Zionist Federation, who was a Labor MP from 1966 to 1979, said he was seeking advice on whether there was a case for referral. "I believe there is," he said.

"I will be distressed to do it because of a relationship with a man I admire enormously," Prof. Moonman said. "But he made the statements and he knew what he was doing."

The row started when Mr. Dalyell, who for 20 years has opposed every war involving British soldiers, told  Vanity Fair magazine that Mr. Blair relied too much on Jewish figures in Britain and the U.S.

Mr. Dalyell named the former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and the prime minister's Middle East envoy, Lord Levy.

Mr. Dalyell said: "I am worried about my country being led up the garden path on a Likudnik, [Ariel] Sharon agenda", adding that "Straw, Mandelson and Co." were leading "a tremendous drive to sort out the Middle East."

Mr. Dalyell's critics took exception after it was claimed that he felt Mr. Blair was influenced by a "cabal" of Jewish advisers. But Mr. Dalyell said he used the word cabal only in reference to the Bush administration, not Downing Street.

"The cabal that I referred to was in the U.S.," he said. "That is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. I was thinking of [Paul] Wolfowitz, [deputy defence secretary], [Richard] Perle, [Douglas] Feith, [Ken] Adelman, [Elliott] Abrams and [Ari] Fleischer, [Mr. Bush's press secretary.] Those people drive this policy."

But Jewish figures were furious. David Garfinkel, the editor-in-chief of the  London Jewish News, said: "Coming a few days after the BNP won council seats in the north of England this is the kind of menacing candor which the country certainly does not need."

Ministers were also aghast. One said: "Quite apart from how offensive his remarks are, Tam is wrong. Tony and Jack have faced strong criticism in Israel because of their pressure for the road map to be published."