From 21 May 2024Key events21 May 2024Gove claims BDS campaign against Israel antisemitic21 May 2024Minister says Ken Clarke has questions to answer, as infected blood campaigners say he should lose peerage over scandal21 May 2024Austrian chancellor says Rwanda-style policies needed to deal with EU’s illegal migration problem after meeting with Sunak21 May 2024Minister claims it’s ‘not inconceivable’ that officials or politicians could face prosecution over infected blood scandalFilters BETAKey events (4)Michael Gove (4)21 May 202405.47 EDTGove claims BDS campaign against Israel antisemitic
In his speech Michael Gove is now addressing what he calls “the BDS campaign” – the boycott, divestment, sanctions campaign aimed at Israel. He says he sees it as “explicitly antisemitic”. He says the ideologue behind it does not accept the right for Israel to exist.
Gove says it is legitimate, and sometimes necessary, to criticise the actions of the state of Israel.
But he says Israel is being singled out in a way that does not happen to other countries.
There are new BDS campaigns directed against Bashar Assad’s Syrian regime guilty of killing more Muslims in living memory than any other.
There are no student encampments, urging university administrators to cut all ties with China given what is happening in Xinjiang or Hong Kong, or what happened in Tibet.
I know of no efforts to organise marches in their thousands to demand immediate action to stop the persecution of the Rohingya or Korean people by Myanmar’s government.
I may have missed it, but agitation to end the war in Sudan or in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Mali, or Ethiopia, does not seem to energise our campuses.
And nor is there any suggestion, other than with Israel, that the errors or even crimes of a country’s leaders should necessitate the end of that country’s independent existence.
View image in fullscreenMichael Gove giving his speech on antisemitism this morning Photograph: GuardianShare21 May 202405.38 EDT
Factor 8, one of the organisations campaigning on behalf of people affected by the infected blood scandal, has said Ken Clarke should have his peerage removed.
Strip Lord Ken Clarke of his peerage now.
Infected Blood Inquiry findings are clear. He Lied, We Died.
— Factor 8 (@Factor8Campaign) May 21, 2024
People like Ken Clarke do not belong in @UKHouseofLords pic.twitter.com/qzRoRAI2IZ
— Factor 8 (@Factor8Campaign) May 21, 2024
Share21 May 202405.33 EDT
Michael Gove starts his speech by describing the 7 October Hamas attack as the largest pogrom against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
But, soon after the attack, a remarkable thing happened. People started questioning whether the attack had happened, he says.
He quotes a Jewish peer saying in the weeks after the attack that he was more worried about the safety of his daughter in London than he was about the safety of his son, who was serving with the Israel Defence Forces.
Every day there are…
2024-05-21 04:33:55
Post from www.theguardian.com
