Ken Livingstone, who has vowed to turn the city into a ‘beacon’ of Islam and slammed ‘rich’ Jews, is now neck and neck in race to be mayorIs London about to elect a mayor who has been accused of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism?
Until last week, former mayor Ken Livingstone was trailing the incumbent Boris Johnson in opinion polls by as much as six points. But now, only days before the election on Thursday, May 3, the two are neck-and-neck, separated by just two percentage points, according to pollster YouGov.
If Livingstone, who was mayor between 2000-2008, is returned to office, it will be greeted with concern by much of the Jewish community, which makes up around 200,000 of Greater London’s population of 8.2 million. Livingstone, who belongs to the left-wing Labour party, has clashed with them repeatedly. Even some of the most avid Jewish Labourites have come out publicly this time to explain why they cannot vote for him.
Livingstone’s attitude to Jews and other minorities has been a factor for the wider electorate as well. On March 1, Jewish Labour supporters attended a private meeting with Livingstone in order to explore ways in which he could reconnect with his alienated Jewish voters. Livingstone responded that they would not vote for him anyway, as the Jewish community is “rich.” Six of the attendees wrote a letter expressing concern to British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband (who is himself halachically Jewish), which was later leaked, garnering national attention.
“Whereas before, Ken’s views tended to be dealt with in the Jewish press, with limited circulation, this time the [general] media picked it up,” says Mike Freer, the Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, heavily Jewish areas. “He has been trying to set off one community against another. Even the Islamic community has noticed that he is revelling in being rude and divisive. If you pick on one community one week, it’s only a matter of time until you pick on another.”...
...Livingstone built his career upon identity politics, strongly promoting minorities such as the gay and Muslim communities. In this election campaign, for example, he has promised to make London a “beacon” for the words of the prophet Muhammed (though he ignited a political storm this February when he remarked that the Conservative party was “riddled” with homosexuals).
Speaking last month at the North London Central Mosque, which was formerly the base of the radical Muslim preacher and terrorist recruiter Abu Hamza, Livingstone vowed to “educate the mass of Londoners” in Islam. “That will help to cement our city as a beacon that demonstrates the meaning of the words of the Prophet… I want to spend the next four years making sure that every non-Muslim in London knows and understands [the prophet's] words and message.”...
And there have been persistent concerns over his association with radical Islamists, in particular his decision as mayor to host Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, a radical Egyptian cleric who has supported suicide bombings in Israel, and his decision to present shows on Press TV, the global English-language television channel controlled by the Iranian government. He is an impassioned supporter of the Palestinians, excusing Palestinian suicide attacks, accusing Israel of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians and, during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, of the “slaughter and systematic murder of innocent Arabs.” He has said more than once that he considered former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon a war criminal who belonged in jail.
Until recently, Livingstone was considered to have little chance of being returned to the mayoralty. Although he had some successes as mayor, in particular the introduction of the congestion charge — a fee on cars entering central London, intended to reduce traffic — he lost to Johnson in 2008 as the Labour government lurched towards the end of its final term in a series of scandals. Many Labourites opposed him becoming their candidate for mayor this year, considering him a relic of the “loony left” and unappealing to voters.
full article for those with their heads in the sand like certain mods on PPF
http://www.timesofisrael.com/candidate-kens-attitude-to-jews-may-be-key-in-battle-to-run-london/
EG
