If you’ve been following the news, you may have picked up on this story, which is ostensibly another example of former London mayor ‘Red’ Ken Livingstone doing his antisemitic thing.
Ex-London mayor Livingstone: ‘It’s not anti-Semitic to hate the Jews of Israel’
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone called allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party “lies and smears” to bring down party leader Jeremy Corbyn and that it is “not anti-Semitic to hate the Jews of Israel.”
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“It’s not anti-Semitic to hate the Jews of Israel and you can’t have a proper functioning democracy in a world in which the media, whether it’s the press or internet, can just spread lie after lie after lie,” he said at the meeting, according to the Mail.
The Daily Mail’s reporting on this is atrocious, and all those who reported it dropped the ball. Livingstone’s comments were taken completely out of context – he mentioned this as a complaint about how his comments have been distorted, as a look at video of his speech attests:
In other words, this incident actually vindicates Red Ken in his belief that the media has distorted his comments.
I am pointing this out first and foremost because I belief in truth. That is why I support Israel – the truth and morality is on our side, and I detest lies, whether they come from the other side (almost always) or us (sometimes). I don’t hesitate to call out even people on our side when they resort to lying or sloppy reporting.
But more than that: Ken Livingstone is a vile antisemite. He has said things like ”The Jews represent a small number in terms of population, yet are over represented in the government, the judiciary, and the financial system”, and “Hitler was supporting Zionism.”
By distorting his words, you give him room to claim every allegation against him has been a lie. Which he is doing.
I am not a journalist nor have ever claimed to be. I have a day job and more personal responsibilities than you could ever imagine. If I can take the time to double-check stories, why can’t actual professional journalists?
We should demand no less – especially when failure to do so gives the Jew haters of the world some wiggle room.
