Chief Rabbi brands Donald Trump ‘a racist’
Ephraim Mirvis said he is 'nervous' about the election of America's new leader, who has 'deeply offended many people'
Donald Trump has been branded a “racist” by the Chief Rabbi.
Ephraim Mirvis said he was “nervous” about the US president-elect assuming power, but hoped Mr Trump would display a change of character when he moved into the White House after his inauguration in January.
“I’m nervous. I’m concerned. It is so sad to reflect on the fact that the next president of the United States is a man who, unfortunately, is a racist,” he told BBC 5 Live.
“Someone who has deeply offended many people.
“However, Trump as president, hopefully, will be a different character.”
The Chief Rabbi also called for ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone to be expelled from the Labour Party after he was suspended in April after arguing that Hitler had supported Zionism in the early 1930s.
Asked if Mr Livingstone should be thrown out of the party, rabbi Mirvis said: “I think he should.”
The Chief Rabbi called on Labour to bring in the recommendations of the controversial inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party conducted by former Liberty chief Shami Chakrabarti shortly before she was recommended for a peerage by Jeremy Corbyn.
“The Labour Party will hopefully be implementing the recommendations of the Chakrabarti report. I’ll be surprised if he (Livingstone) won’t be expelled on the basis of what they have written about what the considerations that they will be taking into mind will be,” he said.
“We are still waiting for implementation of some of the aspects of the Chakrabarti report. And we are still waiting to see genuine evidence that the Labour Party leadership is taking anti-Semitism seriously.
“Within the Labour Party currently, it is not being tackled sufficiently, and we’re waiting to see what the leadership is going to be doing, and unfortunately we’re waiting and waiting.
“This is still on the boil. It is still a very serious matter and we would like to see the issue being dealt with very effectively.”
Mr Livingstone, whose remarks are being investigated by Labour, insists that he was “simply stating historical fact” with his comments about Hitler.
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