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Labour Chief Whip will meet Sir Gerald Kaufman over “Jewish money” comments

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Labour’s Chief Whip will speak to Sir Gerald Kaufman about his controversial comments about Israel and “Jewish money” after the party was urged to take action.

The veteran MP accused Israel of fabricating terror attacks as an excuse to kill Palestinians, and claimed the Conservative Party had been influenced by “Jewish money” during an event in Parliament last week.

In response to a letter from the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust (CST) and Jewish Leadership Council calling for “swift and appropriate disciplinary action,” a Labour spokesperson said: “The views as reported, do not reflect the views of The Labour Party.

“The Chief Whip has received the letter and will be meeting with Sir Gerald to discuss this and make clear the views of the Labour Party.”

It is not yet known when Chief Whip Rosie Winterton will meet Sir Gerald.

Speaking at a Palestine Return Centre event in Parliament last Tuesday, Sir Gerald was recorded by blogger David Collier saying that the British government had become more pro-Israel in recent years.

He said: “It’s Jewish money, Jewish donations to the Conservative Party – as in the general election in May – support from the Jewish Chronicle, all of those things, bias the Conservatives.”

Sir Gerald, Father of the House of Commons, then told the audience of 45 people that the Israeli government had made up the recent spate of violent attacks in order to allow it to “execute Palestinians”.

The Manchester Gorton MP said “a friend of mine who lives in East Jerusalem” had emailed him with the accusations about Israel fabricating the attacks.

Sir Gerald then read from the letter: “More than half the stabbing claims were definitely fabricated. The other half, some were true, the others there was no way to tell since they executed Palestinians and no one asked questions.”

Explaining why the communal bodies called on Labour to sanction Sir Gerald, CST director of communications Mark Gardner wrote: “British Jews will want to see a candid response from today’s Labour Party to Kaufman.

“On its own, his ‘Jewish money’ and ‘Jewish donations’ comments invite antisemitic interpretation. Coming after the words, ‘I can tell you in a way which perhaps nobody else in this room can’, the comments are begging antisemitic interpretation.”

Mr Gardner added that “as honorary Father of the House (Parliament’s most veteran MP), his actions cannot be ignored.

“Nobody is unaware of the connotations of what Kaufman said in this latest meeting. It does not get clearer than ‘Jewish money’ and ‘Jewish donations’.”

More than 1,000 people also signed grassroots group North West Friends of Israel’s petition, which calls for Labour to “take action against Gerald Kaufman for using antisemitic rhetoric”.

Eight Labour MPs have signed another letter to Mr Corbyn and the chief whip, which asks the party that "formal disciplinary proceedings be instigated against Sir Gerald Kaufman."

Parliamentarians including Tulip Siddiq, Wes Streeting and Louise Ellman attached their names to the letter, sent on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, which calls Sir Gerald's comments "unacceptable, untrue and discriminatory."

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