When Jews Attack 198 – Victim – Ken Livingstone – Attackers – Jewish Labour Supporters

A group of Jewish Labour supporters wrote to Ed Miliband to register their concerns after a tense meeting earlier this month, claiming they were finding it “harder and harder to consider voting for Ken”.

The letter, obtained by the Jewish Chronicle, also accused Mr Livingstone of “pejorative” and “highly offensive” language by using the words Zionist, Jewish and Israeli interchangeably.

Mr Livingstone, who is alleged to have made the remarks at a private meting with Jewish voters on March 1st, is eight points behind Boris Johnson in the latest polls for the London mayoral election, which takes place on May 3.

The letter reportedly says: “Ken toward the end of the meeting stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich we simply wouldn’t vote for him.”

Jewish Labour voters feel alienated by Mr Livingstone because of his perceived alignment with radical Islamic politics and his apparent reluctance to “accept Jews as an ethnicity and a people”.

“We are concerned that this is more about infantile, far-left politics, being seen to take a stance against whatever the anti-establishment or anti-imperialism cause of the moment is,” the letter said.

“Boiled down, it’s hard to interpret this in any other way than Ken basically having no sympathy for those that he perceives as bourgeois.”

In 2005, while London mayor, Mr Livingstone was heavily criticised for comparing a Jewish reporter to a German concentration camp guard, but escaped punishment because a court ruled he had not been acting in an official capacity when he made the comment.

A spokesperson for Ken Livingstone said:”This was a private meeting based on Chatham House rule, as part of Ken’s dialogue with the London Jewish community and it is our intention to respect the private nature of the meeting and continue to engage in a positive way with Jewish Londoners.

“Jewish Londoners are an important part of the fabric of London and Ken’s campaign will be seeking the votes of all Jewish voters from all backgrounds, incomes and parts of London.”

A spokesman for Ed Miliband was unable to confirm whether he had received the letter.