Dear Iain, I would encourage you to listen back to the clip before continuing to misrepresent it. It was a year ago, so perhaps you should be forgiven.
I certainly didn’t insult anyone, unless you consider the truth to be insulting? It is possible that Michael Mansfield shares such a belief - it is he who rudely left a conversation on the radio, seemingly unable to stomach being corrected on the law.
I don’t tend to engage on X, because it is not the best use of time, but I make an exception here, in light of David’s valiant efforts and since it is a medium in which you can’t cut me off - it seems like a good opportunity to set the record straight.
Your earlier guest had misled your audience when he claimed that Israel was losing its democracy. Despite the passage of time since our conversation, you can see that Israel is still a thriving democracy and is preparing itself for yet another democratic election. The only real democracy in the Middle East. True, not a high bar, but Israel's democratic practises can also put many European countries to shame. It is a pity that you did not allow me the time during the program to explain this.
As we progressed in the conversation, you gave an example which was wholly inappropriate: you suggested that you might be barred from entering due to having criticised Israel. I said that misrepresented what these two MPs had done, and you cut me off. Had you not done so, I would have told you that your example flies in the face of the fact that Israel has free press and free speech. It is a place where everybody can - and many do - criticise Israel, its Government, its Prime Minister or any other body or person. All you would have to do is turn on Israeli TV (with subtitles?) and this would be evident to you.
What was even more egregious, however, was the suggestion that the falsehoods these MPs had told immigration officials, and their campaign for BDS - a vehicle for incitement and the attempted destruction of Israel - is somehow comparable with “criticism”. Immigration turned these politicians away under a framework parallel to the one we deploy in the UK.
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@KimJohnsonMP@PSCupdates This MP is spreading lies. Seeking to demonise and isolate Jews.
Doing what generations of antisemites have done before her.
Like them - she may think herself clever now.
But her name will be remembered very differently.
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