Lib Dems sorry over ‘Jewish lobby’ article posted by Friends of Palestine group

Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine has apologised after posting a link to an article referring to “the Jewish lobby” and suggesting that “the time is ripe to cleanse British public life of the Zionists and Jerusalemites”.

The hate-filled piece by notorious Israel-born writer Gilad Atzmon was penned in reaction to Ed Miliband’s address two weeks ago to Labour friends of Israel’s annual lunch.

Atzmon wrote that the Labour leader had “found time to socialise with the Jewish lobby” and claimed the Holocaust is “the new religion of the Jews”. He said the speech provides the “the full rationale for why no Brit should consider voting for Labour as long as it is ran by a Zionist Jew” and “serves to convince every proud Brit that the time is ripe to cleanse British public life of Zionists and Jerusalemites”.

The article and its appearance of a link to it on the Facebook page generated anger and disgust, with the Jewish Leadership Council’s Simon Johnson taking to Twitter to say: “Rarely have I encountered such vile race hate as is contained in the final paragraph. Tramples across the line of fair comment.”

A message on Lib Dem Friends of Palestine’s Facebook page yesterday said: “On 22 June, we posted a link to an article by Gilad Atzmon This has now been removed and we apologise for any offence caused.”

The Guido Fawkes blog said the party initially failed for offer their own apology over the incident but a spokesman for the Lib Dems told the Jewish News: “LDFOP has apologised on its Facebook page, and on Twitter for posting the link, which is the correct course of action.

“The article is not the view of the party in anyway. It was clearly inappropriate and offensive. We’re of course sorry if there was any offense caused.”