Kishan Devani is the Deputy Chairman of London Conservatives and a London Assembly candidate on the London wide list.
Yet again the socialist, phoney ‘do-gooders’ illustrate to the world why socialism never works at all and why they are the epitome of hypocrisy. The facade of being tolerant, peace loving and social justice propagators is slowly being unveiled. This time it is the Oxford University Labour Club that displayed its true colours. Labour has always tried to present itself as a socially liberal and tolerant party. Yet the actions of this particular Labour group are absolutely abhorrent.
So what has actually occurred? The Co-Chair of the Club, Alex Chalmers, decided to take a commendable decision and resign from his position. He laid out his reasons which raised huge questions about the members of the Club and their views on Israel. However, the larger issue is the rhetoric that is being used in regards to Israel in the wider Labour party.
Let’s see the facts. The Labour Club at the University are accused of supporting Israel Apartheid week – firstly the entire notion of even having an Israel Apartheid week in 2016 Britain amazes me. This is the nation that is one of our strongest allies, a nation that is the only real functioning democracy in the middle east, a nation that has given the world modern day drip irrigation and innumerable technological advancements. What are we doing comparing it to an apartheid state?
Mr Chalmers’ accusations reveal that supporting this ridiculous ‘week’ is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ‘antisemitic’ views/language and pro Hamas language/views being expressed within the Club. This, for any one of us, peace loving, democracy loving, sane individuals is quite disturbing. It is a huge shame that such a prestigious establishment as Oxford University where tolerance, healthy debate, justice, equality are propagated and have been propagated for centuries, have had to witness such despicable behaviour.
This entire situation must be understood in the larger context of Labour party policy and outlook on such matters. I had the honour of being the Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate for Leicester East at the General Election last May. This came with the privilege of having to deal with the ‘Socialist Republic of Leicester’ and it’s inept City Council.
Believe it or not this is a Council that put through a motion to boycott ‘illegal settlement’ goods from Israel. I strongly condemned this at the time within the media and subsequently it was proved unenforceable – as they were using products that may actually have links to settlements in Israel.
Of course Leicester City Council and other Labour councils hoping to take the same route will now be distraught by the Conservative Governments recent announcement making it illegal for public bodies to boycott goods from Israel. It might be a good idea for Labour run councils across the UK to focus on local issues and deal with them, instead of wasting taxpayers money on irrelevant issues that do not affect the everyday lives of their residents.
None of this surprises me. Labour’s hypocrisy is something we should all be accustomed to. What is disturbing is such intolerance, misguided views and utterly despicable actions are being carried out under the disguise of a party that says it stands for ‘tolerance, social justice and equality’. Let us hope the Labour students wing and Labour Party leaders strongly condemn and attempt to stamp out all such behaviour in the future and continue to investigate this further, as they have pledged to do.