Sadiq Khan apologises to Chief Rabbi for ‘hurt caused’

Hasan, a former talk show host for the American network MSNBC, asked Khan in his interview how he felt about the criticism he received from the Jewish community when he made his ceasefire call in the early weeks of the war last October.

Sir Ephraim said at the time that his call was “irresponsible”, and was “a stepping stone to yet more Hamas brutality”.

Khan told Hasan that he was “disappointed by some of the response from Jewish leaders, Jewish friends”, and claimed that it was partly motivated by the fact that unlike others who shared the same view, such as Labour’s Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, he was a Muslim.

But, Khan went on, when Burnham spoke out, neither Sir Ephraim nor the JC commented as strongly as when he did.

“I'd ask those Jewish people to just pause and reflect on their response to me calling for a ceasefire,” Khan said. “What motivated them to come out in the way they did against the Mayor of London, and the Mayor of Greater Manchester - I'll give you a clue, he's not called ‘Ahmed Bourani’, he's called Andy Burnham, whereas I'm called Sadiq Khan."

The JC has been told that leading community figures were appalled by Khan’s remarks. “Sadiq is very strongly implying that the Chief Rabbi's criticism of him was motivated by Islamophobia”, one source said.

National political commentators have also expressed dismay. A post on X by Mail on Sunday columnist Dan Hodges read: “Sadiq Khan is going to need to withdraw his assertion the Chief Rabbi was motivated by Islamophobia when he criticised his ceasefire stance. That would not be acceptable - without substantiation - at the best of times. But given current feeling within the Jewish community it’s inexcusable.”