Tonge accuses CST of displaying ‘a perpetual victim mentality’
The controversial former Lib Dem peer said the security group is failing to help 'real decent Jewish people'
Justin Cohen is the News Editor at the Jewish News
Jenny Tonge has accused the Community Security Trust of displaying “a perpetual victim mentality” and of failing to help “real decent Jewish people” in an extraordinary rant to the organisation on the day it reported anti-Semitic incidents at an all-time high.
The former Lib Dem peer again sought to partially blame Israel for the rise reported by the CST in its report on 2016 – the first time that the total number of cases exceeded 1,000 since records began two decades ago.
Each MP and peer was sent a copy of the report this morning, eliciting many supportive responses.
But Tonge wrote back saying: “Do you NEVER consider that the actions of the Israeli government are contributing towards this rise?
Sadly, many people do not distinguish between Jewish people and Mr Netanyahu and his colleagues. If the Board of Deputies and the CST spoke up against the abuse if (sic) human rights, flagrant disregard of international law and the Geneva Conventions they would do much to improve the situation here.
“The perpetual victim mentality of your organization is counter productive and does not help real decent Jewish people.”
The extraordinary rant came only a few months after she wrote to the Guardian, following the publication of the Home Affairs Select Committee report on anti-Semitism, insisting it should have investigated the “causes of antisemitism too”.
She wrote at the time: “It is difficult to believe that a 75 percent increase in antisemitism it reports have been committed by people who simply hate Jewish people for no reason. It is surely the case these incidents are reflecting the disgust amongst the general public of the way the government of Israel treats Palestinians and manipulates the USA and ourselves to take no action.”
She was later suspended by the Lib Dems after hosting a meeting at the House of Lords in which one audience member blamed Jews for the Holocaust and Israel was compared to Islamic State.
Last weekend, J-TV released an interview with the peer in which she acknowledged she had been “over the top” in previous remarks that “the pro-Israeli lobby has its grips on the Western world, its financial grips”.
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