Extracts from the Jewish Chronicle Labour leadership hustings on July 20th
Andy Burnham: Recognition:
“In the parliamentary vote on recognition I voted for it, but I don’t
think it was handled well. I don’t think it should have been a whipped
vote and also I think that the motion lacked balance.”
Two-state solution: “It has gone backwards in recent times.
It can’t be the case that we as politicians just mouth our support for
the two-state solution without actually willing the means. I don’t
consider myself a friend of the current Israeli government. [Netanyahu’s
comments before the last Israeli election about Arabs ‘swarming to the
polls’] were provocative, derogatory and highly offensive.”
Boycott: “We should be absolutely clear about being opposed
to [talk of a boycott]. It would show a kind of spitefulness that would
be completely and utterly unjustified when we are talking about a
democracy that has a long tradition of supporting minorities and civil
rights.”
Visits: [He recalled previous visits with both Labour
Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine] “I think we need to
reach out and show we are listening to people in the [Jewish] community.
The first foreign visit I would do would be to Israel.”
Balfour declaration: “Schools have been required by law to
teach about British values. As part of this centenary [of the Balfour
Declaration in 2017], we would want a whole series of events in every
school in the country to say how British values did shape a modern
democracy in the region. We should be very proud of that. It’s very
important that there are no ifs, no buts and no exceptions.”
Terrorism: “I don’t believe that you can sit down as leader
of the Labour Party with organisations that support terror. No MP in my
Labour Party would do that. I think there would have to be sanctions
against someone who did that.”
Yvette Cooper: “It
is hugely important that we never allow any dispute about decisions of
the Israel government to become hostility to the Israeli state or the
Israeli people. Anytime the peace process goes awry it can be the cause
of rising anti-semitism in Britain. When that happened last summer, we
were not fast enough to condemn it."
Boycott: “We should be very clear about opposing a boycott. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. It’s counter-productive.”
Jeremy Corbyn:
Recognition: “I supported the recognition of the state of
Palestine. There has to be a dialogue about the siege of Gaza, the
settlement policy over the West Bank, about human rights and the
treatment of Palestinian children and child prisoners. I’ve been on nine
visits to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.”
Boycott: “There are investigations going on into war crimes
on both sides. Is it right that we should be supplying arms in this
situation? Is it right that we are importing goods produced from illegal
settlements across the West Bank? Wouldn’t a stronger message be that a
process of some economic measures might be helpful? That doesn’t mean
there wouldn’t be intellectual relationships. I’m not in favour of
preventing academic arrangements. What I am in favour of is economic
issues, particularly supplying arms and the importation of goods from
settlements.”
Liz Kendall:
Recognition: “I came under a lot of pressure to support the
vote in the House of Commons, not least from my own constituency, but I
did abstain because I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. The way
we achieve peace is through negotiation, not through passing
resolutions in the House of Commons or the United Nations. I don’t
believe we would have done that in government.”
Boycott: “I would want to fight [a boycott] with every fibre of my body.”
