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| Jewish MP pelted with eggs at war memorial |
| 2005-04-11 |
| via DhimmiWatch The campaign for what promises to be one of the most bitterly contested parliamentary seats got off to an explosive start yesterday when the MP Oona King was pelted with eggs and vegetables as she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead. Miss King, 37, the black Jewish Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, was attacked as she joined mourners to commemorate 60 years since the Hughes Mansions Disaster, when 134 people, almost all Jewish, were killed by the last V2 missile to land on London. The eggs missed her, but one hit a war veteran, Louis Lewis, 89, in the chest and an onion struck Richard Brett, a bugler from the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade who sounded the Last Post at the ceremony. Miss King, who enraged many of her Muslim constituents when she openly supported the war in Iraq, told the crowd that the attack was one of the "saddest" things she had ever witnessed. Clearly angry, she said: "I think they were aimed at me but the sheer ignorance never mind the lack of respect is shocking. They have no idea where their freedom came from and who gave it to them. "They don't know they are lucky to be here. That is truly one of the saddest things that I have ever seen. There were people who helped save this country, having eggs pelted at them at a time when they are remembering those they had lost. It is disgusting." The incident demonstrated how high feelings are running in the east London constituency, which has 55,000 Bangladeshi Muslims, more than half its electorate, most of whom bitterly opposed the war in Iraq. Such is the resentment that George Galloway, one of the leading anti-war MPs, has targeted the seat for himself and his newly formed Respect party. Even though he has no connections to the constituency - his former seat is 400 miles away in Glasgow - he hopes that personal animosity towards Miss King will help him overturn her 10,000 majority. Yesterday's display of hatred proved he may be on to something. Even a police van called in to make sure the ceremony remained peaceful was pelted with eggs. The incident also showed the changing face of the East End. Back in 1945 when the bomb struck, the area was predominantly Jewish. But since the war most of those have moved out, and been replaced by Muslims. Yesterday's mourners, many who had lost friends and family in the attack, wholeheartedly supported the MP. Unfortunately for her most of them now lived in the suburbs. One of the few who remains, Irene Rosenthal, 80, a grandmother, who lives in the East End with her husband Leslie, 79, a taxi driver, said: "She is lovely. I will be voting for Oona. I don't like George Galloway. He knows nothing about the area." But many of the Muslims, especially the young men, now living in Hughes Mansions resented her presence. Ibn Alkhattab, 21, said: "It will be all about the war. There is enormous anger. No one will vote for her." His friend added: "She represented these people and then voted for the war. We all hate her. She comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people and then they come to our back yards. "It is out of order. What do they expect?" Later Miss King, the daughter of the black American civil rights activist, Preston King, who was brought up in north London, and Mr Galloway, a factory worker's son from Dundee, traded insults at a constituency event organised by BBC London 94.9FM at a local arts centre. Both candidates, who were vocally supported by large sections of the audience, took every opportunity to attack their opponents. Miss King, who said she would not trust her opponent to "deliver a pizza" far less effective policies, attacked him for his close association to Saddam Hussein and in particular when he flew out to visit the dictator. "When I come across someone who is guilty of genocide I do not get on a plane and grovel at his feet," she said to whoops of delight from her supporters. He hit back when asked how he felt about challenging one of just two black women MPs in government. "Oona King voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years," he replied. "Many of them had much darker skins than her." |
| Posted by:ed |
| #18 Liberalhawk, are you represented by Jim Mor |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-04-11 9:51:36 PM |
| #17 My point, LH, was that you should be more careful about who you voice admiration for. She may have the right stand on Iraq, but that hardly makes her an admirable figure. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-04-11 9:04:32 PM |
| #16 vote en bloc, deport en bloc? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-04-11 7:54:53 PM |
| #15 Muslims only make up ca. 3% of the national vote, but they tend to vote en bloc which makes them more important a constituency than most others. The Jewish vote has become relatively insignificant, and is regarded by the Left as expendable, at best. Additionally, Muslim political aactivists are known to be highly successful criminal voting factors. Labour's efforts to increase postal voting have been seized upon by corrupt local Labour representatives to promote Muslim politicians running for Labour. The Labour/Muslim alliance is a mutually beneficial symbiosis. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-04-11 7:41:42 PM |
| #14 Labour have allied themselves with the Muslim block vote - because they are more numerous I'm making a distinction between "allied" for tactical political advantage and a deep, fundamental shift that puts the new group at teh very center of the party's power base and long-term strategic direction. At 10% of the electorate, a minority group like the muslims are a swing group that affects close races at the margin. The parties will shade their policy platforms accordingly but not necessarily add the minority group's hot-button issues to the top of the list of party priorities. At 20%+, they become a core constituency that isn't merely appeased at election time. At that point their priorities become the party's enduring core priorities. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-11 7:35:37 PM |
| #13 Oona King is an anachronism. Labour have allied themselves with the Muslim block vote - becoese they are more numerous. Jews are no longer wlecome in the party. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-04-11 7:26:17 PM |
| #12 Yes but they don't owe their very political careers to jew-baiting. That would represent a huge leap downward, and will take some time to achieve. All depends on the demographics. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-11 7:22:25 PM |
| #11 thibaud - what makes you think it will take that long? A lot of them already do. Not that they have a problem with it. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-04-11 6:27:01 PM |
| #10 Galloway's a bellwether. We can expect more and more leftists to find electoral gold in pandering to young jihad-supporting muslim voters. Within a generation I predict that most left-leaning political elites in Europe will owe their office to stridently anti-jewish politics. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-11 5:18:50 PM |
| #9 according to the BBC, Bethnal Green and Bow, King's constituency, is 39% muslim. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-04-11 4:48:35 PM |
| #8 among many things on Israel with which I DO NOT agree, Ms King says the following: "Israel, too, has certain rights. The right to live with secure borders, and without the threat of terrorist attack. " How many of her constituents agree with that? Does George Galloway agree with that? RC, I am represented in Congress by someone whose stated position on Israel is similar to Ms King's. I voted Republican for Congress for the first time in my life recently for that reason. But my congressman represents the Virginia suburbs of Washington, not the East End of London. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-04-11 4:12:14 PM |
| #7 RC 1. thats NOT the labour party line on Israel. 2. It sounds like shes desperately trying to hang on in a batty constituency. Still by supporting Iraqi liberation she has gone further than is politically good for her. She thinks Arik is a war criminal, but at least shes not willing to say all US and UK policy in the region is part of conspiracy of neocon "likudniks" as even the good Dr. Cole, so beloved of much of the liberal blogosphere in the US, seems to think. As the bible says of noah, he was righteous IN HIS generation. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-04-11 4:05:14 PM |
| #6 I especially liked the how Galloway played the race card. Ms. King, as a black Jewish woman Labourite who supports the war, must have given many a severe case of cognitive dissonance. The cure for that obviously is to egg an 89 year old WWII veteran. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-04-11 4:03:57 PM |
| #5 Anyone but George Galloway. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-11 3:52:57 PM |
| #4 (That's from the first comment at dhimmiwatch.) |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-04-11 12:38:27 PM |
#3 LH -- she's apparently very much in the mainstream of the Labour party:I agree that this is an outrage, but take a look at Oona King's web site at www.oonaking.com and read her comments about Israel. She considers Ariel Sharon a war criminal, calls for an economic boycott of Israel and in general parrot's the traditional dhimmi line that blames Israel for all the ills of the Middle East. Still think she's all that admirable? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-04-11 12:37:27 PM |
| #2 Miss King, 37, the black Jewish Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, This sounds like a person I could admire very much. Go Oona!! |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2005-04-11 12:02:18 PM |
| #1 His friend added: "She represented these people and then voted for the war. We all hate her. She comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people and then they come to our back yards. "It is out of order. What do they expect?" If "his" people are being killed, there's no one stopping him from finding his way to Iraq to help them out.....and losing his life in the process. The UK would be better off as a result. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-11 10:55:36 AM |