Ken Livingstone says Israel’s creation was a ‘great catastrophe’

Ken Livingstone has been strongly criticised for saying the creation of Israel was “a great catastrophe.”

The former London Mayor is reported to have made the comments on Arabic TV station Al Ghad Al Arabi in mid-April, before he was suspended from the Party last week for claiming Hitler had ‘supported Zionism ‘.

During the clip which was translated by Memri TV, he says: The creation of the state of Israel was fundamentally wrong, because there had been a Palestinian community there for 2,000 years.” Memri are dedicated to “bridging the language gap” between Middle Eastern regions and the West’, according to the Independent.

The controversial left-winger also said that post-Holocaust Jewish refugees should have been “absorbed” by Britain and America, instead of going to Israel.

“They could all have been resettled, whereas 70 years later, the situation is still very tense, and there is potential for many more wars, potential for nuclear war.”

Board of Deputies of British Jews President Jonathan Arkush said: “It is beyond comprehension that Ken Livingstone should disgrace himself with his crank history, littered with revisionism and distortion to justify his bigotry – particularly on the eve of crucial elections.

“Before he does any more damage to his reputation or that of the Labour Party, he should leave politics, for good.”