Elan Carr: Global Anti-Semitism, The View From The United States

EVENT TRANSCRIPT: Elan Carr: Global Anti-Semitism, The View From The United States

DATE: 1:00 pm-2:00 pm, 24 October 2019

VENUE: Committee Room 11, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA United Kingdom

SPEAKERSElan Carr

EVENT CHAIR: John Howell MP

 

John Howell MP: Okay ladies and gentlemen let’s make a start, I apologies that we are a few minutes late in starting but there was a cabinet member in here and, you know you get quite nervous about chucking cabinet members out. Now, you would’ve noticed that I’m wearing a a yarmulke, and im doing so in tribute to my Jewish family and to all members of the Jewish community who have suffered Anti-Semitism. In addition to being an MP here, I’m also a member of the council of Europe, which is a non-EU body that we remain as members of, and looked after amongst other things human rights in Europe. And I can tell you that there I am constantly defending the Jewish communities of attacking Anti-Semitism whether whatever guise it comes up in, there, and I think that has been a great thing that I have been involved with  as have other members of the conservative delegation, to the council of Europe. And I went recently to Lisbon with the council of Europe and I decided to stay on for the week. I had never been to Lisbon before. And one of us there I went out to dinner in the evening and I sat next to a building where there a whole lot of people extremely well dressed turning up. So, the building was totally unmarked, and so I asked the person who ran the restaurant what is this building? And she said it’s a synagogue, and I looked hard at the people who were turning up, and outside were a whole group of armed people that the local Jewish community had employed in order to keep them safe. And this I in a country where there are virtually no Anti-Semitism. What sort of world have we created where communities live in fear because of the rampant damage Anti-Semitism that there is, and that we have to put up with. So, I hope that Elan is going to tell us how the American government is handling this, how they are handling the whole business of Anti-Semitism, and particularly I hope you will leave some messages at how we can help in that process, and I am very much looking forward to what you have to say. Just before you get up to speak though, I need to invite Jonny Gould, it’s a great pleasure to invite Jonny Gould, from Our Soldiers speak, who has brought Elan over and he wants to say a few words about that.

Jonny Gould: Thank you John, my name is John Gould I am the UK liaison for our soldiers speak, it’s a pleasure to be here in the palace of Westminster today. Just a little bit of background on Our Soldiers Speak, an organisation that was founded following the Lebanon war in 2006. The second Lebanon war, and it is dedicated to high level policy briefings on the state of Israel from the perspective of security, strategy, diplomacy, politics, media, cyber, high tech and more, adding a bit of value there ladies and gentlemen. OSS is the sole organisation globally through which the IDF, the Israel Defence Forces, the Israel National Police, the Israel ministry of justice dispatch uniforms, senior rank members, of their organisations to campuses around the world, through the English speaking world as well to US military academies. The OSS is not an advocacy organisation, but it promotes dialogue about an understanding and promoting Israel’s strategic position within the Middle East and the international community. Three key initiatives OSS campus, that’s the vehicle through which the IDF and the police dispatch senior officers to campuses. OSS elite, which convenes policy and strategy briefings from members of the US senate and the US congress by senior rank members of the IDF and police and it does the same for legislators in policy influence throughout the Western world as well. And finally, OSS Israel, because plain and simply, we recognise that Israel is its own finest ambassador of the Israel law and policy tour briefs select graduate and doctoral students committed to creating public service to Israel. For an academically rich immersion into the law and policy considerations of the country, delegates join us from more than ten different countries right across the world every year. Ensuring a truly global set of people and the Israel strategy and policy tour is specifically tailored for cadets in US military academies and it allows everyone to analyse the state of Israel in a fashion that will inform future officers about Israel and its place among the nations. Its relationship also with the USA in a matter that will escort participants throughout their military careers and beyond. And a unique follow up opportunity as well for tour graduates in an ongoing engagement with the state of Israel. Thank you very much for listening.

John Howell: Thank you very much Jonathan. Well now, Elan, it’s you turn, Elan is the special envoy to monitor and combat Anti-Semitism and it is with great pleasure that I invite you to address us.

Elan Carr: Thank you so much. Well MP Howell thank you so much for hosting us, thank you to the henry Jackson society, thank you to OSS, Our Soldiers Speak. Two amazing organisations that are doing incredible work, and, er, who have great moral clarity in everything they do. We very much appreciate your moral leadership on the urgent issues of our day. I want to thank all of you for on my account having braved the rain which I understand is rare here in London, and thank you for making it out nonetheless. It’s a full house and I am very grateful and I appreciate it. It is a special privilege and an honour for me to make what is now my second visit to address an audience here in parliament in these august halls that provide no question throughout history. That have provided the inspiration for every democracy, and for every deliberative body in every democracy and including my own congress and to come here today to the mothership where it all started is a special honour and a special privilege. Thank you for having me, thank you for opening your chambers to us and it really is a pleasure and an honour.

I am privileged to bring you greetings from the president of the United States, and from secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, my boss, which is part of this administration our champions of the US-UK alliance and will be champions of the US-UK alliance. Please know that as your parliament engages in vexing and difficult questions please note the United States of America has your back. Vice president pence recently made a very strong statement to that effect and that has not changed, we stand with you and we have the back of our friends here in Britain. In addition to being champions of the US-UK relationship, president trump and vice president pence and secretary Pompeo and everyone in the administration have distinguished themselves as being committed in unprecedented fashion to the fight against Anti-Semitism, to the protection of the Jewish People throughout the world and to support the state of Israel. Even by the elevated standards of the most Philo-Semitic country in the world, the United States even by those elevated standards. This administration is simply unprecedented and it is my great privilege to serve as part of that team. 9 months ago the president and secretary of state appointed to serve as America’s leading diplomat in the fight against Anti-Semitism, to advise the administration on US policy, and to direct US policy on the issue.

And I take this role at a time of shocking, shocking developments in this arena throughout the world, Anti-Semitism on the rise everywhere, regardless of geography, regardless of context, regardless of country. We see Anti-Semitism on the rise here in Europe, in Europe, where we are approaching the seventy-first anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Hitler once infamously said, in the close among his last days that in two-hundred years the world will forget about all of this and go back to killing Jews. And we see now that we perhaps over-estimated the extent to which this ancient hatred can be kept at bay, less than seventy-five years, and Jews are being attacked on the streets of Europe. There have been murders on the streets of Europe, Jewish property vandalised, certainly in Western Europe and in Eastern Europe. We see in my own country Jews murdered in synagogues because they are Jewish. The internet throughout the world and in every language boiling over with Anti-Semitic hatred, the UN continues to be the UN. In the Middle East we see allied countries, I’m not talking about Iran. Countries allied with the United States and the United Kingdom who’s textbooks could’ve come from Germany in the 1930s, indoctrinating Jew hatred in children, and then of course we have the elites in Europe and the United States expressing what is often known as the new Anti-Semitism in so an unvarnished and an unapologetic way. The campuses here and in my country becoming, in many cases, cesspools of Anti-Semitic activity, and we have to ask what is going on, and more importantly, what can we do about it. So let me tell you what we’re doing about it. At the direction of the president, I and my administration simultaneously confront all three sources of Anti-Semitism and it’s critical to remember our three disparate sources of Anti-Semitism none of which may be ignored. One is the Anti-Semitism of the ethnic supremacist far-right, the other is the Anti-Semitism of the Israel hating radical left, and the other is the Anti-Semitism of the militant Islam. For right, far-left and militant Islam. Just think about it. Three groups that should hate each other more than they hate anything else on earth, and yet they find themselves strangely united by their hatred of the Jewish people. And united I would argue by one other thing as well, and that is the fundamental incompatibility of their values with everything on which the United States, the United Kingdom and so many other countries were built. Freedom and democracy, godliness, mankind’s inexorable march towards a better world and a more just humanity. All of this at odds in a deep way with the visions of the far-right, far-left, and radical Islam. My very first trip as envoy, in fact I was on a plan in Dallas airport taxing when secretary Pompeo announced my appointment, so when I say my first trip, my very first trip. My first trip was to eastern and central Europe where I confronted the so-called problem of the far-right. We see in eastern and central Europe organisations and groups and political parties, not in government. Very important to point out, not in government, but groups that engage in rhetoric that we thought Europe had long since graduated from. We see them having torch lit marches at night. Red banners with stark black symbol on them, eerily reminiscent, intentionally reminiscent, of Nazis and Nazi parties, in fact neo-Nazi parties. There are groups that are not in government and not part of coalitions, however, they hold sway, some of the have seats in Parliament and some of them aren’t being condemned and marginalised to the extent that they need to be. That was my very first trip. I also spoke at the funeral of Laurie Kay, (speaking in Hebrew) who was murdered in a synagogue, (speaking in Hebrew) because she was a Jew. Six months to the day that eleven Jews were murdered in Pittsburgh’s tree of life synagogue and this in the United States. Where Jews ae safer than they are anywhere else. Even in the United States. This coming Sunday I’m going to visit the synagogue in (Speaking in Hebrew) this Sunday will be the one year anniversary of the murders in Pittsburgh, and I look forward to standing with the Jewish community in (speaking in Hebrew) and in expressing the u qualified support of the United States. For the safety of the Jewish people and for the fight against Anti-Semitism. So, we are confronting vigorously the problem and the venom of the far-right.

Let me tell you about militant Islam. Next month I will be travelling to the Gulf where I will be having candid conversations with our allies. My conversation will simply be that isn’t it time, isn’t it time to move on from the ancient ossified hatreds that we see all throughout the Arab world. If these countries are serious about the Iranian threat why is it that some of these countries are doing Iran’s work for Iran. The chief trafficker of Anti-Semitism is the Islamic republic of Iran and for Iran it is a tool of political control. Just as Nazi anti-Semitism , imported in the Arab world through the grand mufti of Jerusalem (Hosseini) was a tool of Nazi political control. I’ll be telling tabs that this is a foreign import and any Arab country that traffics in Anti-Semitism is doing the work of the Mullahs of Iran. Who’s efforts are to control the Arab world. This is by the way what I said in Al-Jazeera and the interview was in Arabic, more importantly, Al-Jazeera in Arabic is a very different network. I said that very thing, why would any Arab country do the work of Iran, I think we have more opportunity to move the needle n this problem in the Middle East today than ever before. And moving the needle on Anti-Semitism in the Arab world would be a game changer because what happens in the Middle East does not stay in the middle east. The ideologies that are preached in schools, (speaking in Arabic), in mosques, in the Middle East in the Muslim world directly affect the European street and the US college campus. And so if we go to the source, and if we can change the dynamic there at the source, it could change the world. It won’t be easy, it’ll be slow going, there’s already, movement and there’s already progress, the Bahrainis are incredibly courageous, the Moroccans are incredibly courageous, the mother countries need work and I’m going to be doing that work starting next month.

Now let me tell you about the third category, this is the Anti-Semitism of the radical left. I want to spend some time talking about this because unlike the Anti-Semitism of the ethnic supremacist right or of radical militant Islam. On this third source of Anti-Semitism, we see widespread confusion. Suddenly those people who are very clear and who understand the threat from Neo-Nazis ad from Islamic terrorists suddenly begin to hand-wring unequivocally when it comes to the Anti-Semitism that is clothed in the fig leaf of Israel hatred and that’s what this is, it’s a fig leaf. It disguises itself as a criticism of a country or in the expression of legitimate power policy disputes, which can be, by the way, be expressed legitimately towards any country in the world. Anyone can disagree with the policies of any country but that’s not what this is about, and if we do not address this this source of Anti-Semitism, if we’re not clear about the danger that this represents. We will be leaving one third of the tumour untreated, and tumours don’t go away by themselves, and so this is incredibly important. It is critical that all of us understand what this so-called new Anti-Semitism is, and I’m here to tell you that there is nothing new about this so-called new Anti-Semitism. In fact every single classic manifestation of Anti-Semitism is duplicated precisely with this so-called new Anti-Semitism. Let’s go down the list. Blood libels, it’s as old as Anti-Semitism itself, blood libels of one kind or another including the most notorious one the Jews [inaudible] with the blood of Christian children and medieval calumny, blood libels then, blood libels now. This time directed at the Jew not the community, but the Jew among the countries. The state of Israel as a genocidal regime, an apartheid regime, even that Israel as I have heard seen and written and published, infects Palestinian children with viruses, no different, blood libels then blood libels now. How about the rhetoric, same rhetoric, a Jewish leader in Europe recently was called a dirty Zionist, as though the substitution of a word. My confuses as to what is really being said, my own grandfather in Iraq was arrested one morning and my mother was a young girl, she remembers he had shaving cream on his face there was s knock at the door, he was dragged away, paraded through the streets and then thrown in prison. You see after the holocaust it no longer became acceptable to throw Jews in prison without at least some semblance or due process. And so he had a trial, through the trial he was accused of being a Zionist, what does that mean? He has no connections to the fledgling state of Israel, so what that meant is according to the charge he was distributing Zionist material as a rally in Baghdad. Let’s put aside for a moment the question of whether that should be a crime anyway, but that is what he was accused of. The only problem was is that he wasn’t in Baghdad that day, and when his case was called he said to the judge, your honour there must be some mistake, I was in Basra that day working with the British. Great anglophile my grandfather by the way, spoke perfect British English, was very proud of that, and he was proud to call himself a subject of the crown. He said I was working is Basra port with British officers and I could bring witnesses to prove he wasn’t in Baghdad that day. The judge said Zionist, you’re challenging accusations against you, two extra years in prison for you. That’s not about being Zionist, the rhetoric Zionist means Jew, and dirty Zionist means dirty Jew. Same rhetoric then, same rhetoric now. Nothing new. How about isolation delegitimisation is as old as Anti-Semitism itself the Jew in the community is the outsider, different, not legitimate, threatening our ethnic purity or our religious beliefs, undermining our society. So to the Jew among the countries, its legitimacy questioned. Its existence said to be a racist endeavour, delegitimisation then, delegitimisation now, nothing new.

Also the same are economic boycotts, economic boycotts aren’t new. We’ve all seen the pictures of brown shirts in front of shops in Germany [inaudible] well wat is the BDS movement if not that? Don’t buy from the Jew, and I want to publicly thank, as I’ve done on television, the German Bundestag, for having the courage to vote the BDS as Anti-Semitism, and not only did they vote the BDS as Anti-Semitism, but they said it is reminiscent of the Juden boycotts of the 1930s. And they ought to know, boycotts then, boycotts now. You know what else is the same? The same obsessive compulsive nature of this hatred. Just as throughout history Anti-Semitism was an all-consuming force, ferocious, insane obsessive hatred, so too is the new Anti-Semitism. A student at a premier university, one of the best in the world, gave me an answer sheet [inaudible] math class, says you know the derivative of so and so and such and such, and then it says another day in the occupied territory Zionist forces murdering children, then it goes back to math. The kid who gave this to me with a voice reflecting other exhaustion said in math class I can’t even escape this, that’s right, even in math. That’s right, even in math. Because like the old Anti-Semitism, the so-called new Anti-Semitism is just as insane in the target if its hatred, just as obsessive, just as focused.

And lastly, lastly, and this is a very important point. What is similar between the new and the old Anti-Semitism, in fact, what has always been an integral feature of Anti-Semitism throughout the ages, is blaming the Jew for the Anti-Semitism. Do you know even Kristallnacht was blamed on something a Jew did, and by the way not fictional, no blood and (speaking in Hebrew) this time, an actual event, Kristallnacht, was blamed as a reaction to the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish kid Herschel Grynszpan. But just because the Nazis claimed that’s why Kristallnacht happened, are we so gullible as to believe it? Are we confused on this point? Or do we understand clearly and unequivocally that Kristallnacht was part of Nazi Germany’s strategy of eradicating the Jewish people. Well so to should we confuse, should we be confused on new Anti-Semites, blame their vitriol and venom and their Anti-Semitic actions on something Israel does fictionally or actually. A building project here, a military operation there, something Prime Minister Netanyahu said, something Prime Minister Netanyahu didn’t say, should’ve said. Are we so gullible as to believe that that’s why there’s Anti-Semitism, because of the victim? Because of the target? And yet people do this all the time. They fall for it. Well it’s just criticism, it’s not just criticism, and it’s not just BB, before BB, it was just as ferocious. Labour prime ministers (speaking in Hebrew) Prime ministers and it’ll just be as ferocious after. Because this has nothing to do with what is Israel does or what Israel says, it has everything to do with hat Israel is. Just like the old Anti-Semitism. Let me tell you about the effects of this, because unlike the Anti-Semitism of the far-right and militant Islam, in western societies this new Anti-Semitism has somehow come into widespread acceptance. You call yourself an Anti-Semite they’ll run out of town, you call yourself Anti-Zionist they’ll give you tenure, it might even elect you something. A recent survey of university students shows that Jewish university students in the United States a less supportive of Israel today than they have ever been. More inclined to identify with Israel’s enemies more than ever. And the crisis, it is a crisis, that’s what it’s called, the crisis in the evangelical Christian community in the United States is that were losing our young people to Israel. A pastor just said to me, I wasn’t even speaking on this particular issue, pastor raised his hand and said I have to interrupt you, I want to tell you what is going on in our community. We raise our kids to be pro-Israel as a matter of faith, for us its theology, and then we send them to university, and they come back changed.

I recently spoke at a (speaking in Hebrew) rally in Los Angeles, and an evangelical Christian kid ran up to me after and said I loved your speech I’m here to volunteer. I love Israel. I said tell me something, is it true, is it true  that what I hearing I that young evangelicals are less supportive of Israel. He said oh its all around us, of course it is true. I said Matthew why is that? You know what he said to me? Because we also go to college, we also hear it, all the time. It’s a twenty-four-seven indoctrination against the Jewish people and the state of Israel and, yes, even in math class. Now if Jews and evangelicals being turned, What does that mean for everyone else? Those just aren’t two random communities, Jews and evangelicals that’s the base. That is the base of Philo-Semitism and Pro-Israel support, and lest anyone think that the effects might be short-lived, or limited to that other world, the world of the campus, not our world.

Let me tell you about the most chilling meeting I’ve had in the last nine months of my work, that meeting was with one of your MPs. An MP who walked out of the Labour party because this MP said I will not sit at the same table with Anti-Semites. I met with this MP in Washington DC and this mp said to me this disaster that we have in England all started in the campuses. We did nothing because they were only students, and then it moved in to the labour party but we did nothing because it was only the far-left fringe and today they won, we lost, and I longer have a political party that I can call home. I am quoting the MP by the way, not my words. The MPs words. I want you to know my [inaudible] on that, what a clarion warning for the UK, the United States, and for every decent loving country in the world. I was by a student at Oxford that the price of being Jewish at Oxford university, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, the price of being a Jewish student and going unmolested as a Jewish student is to divorce oneself completely from Israel. The J-Soc apparently does no touch the subject of Israel, does not talk about Zionism, and therefore they’re okay. They can exist as Jewish students, but would anyone say that is it okay to exact a price from a Jew. That they cannot wear a Kippah ever, or can’t keep Kosher, or can’t keep Shabbat. The fact that many Jews don’t keep Kosher, or don’t keep Shabbat is entirely irrelevant. That price, exacting that price, is Anti-Semitism, clear and simple. So to is exacting the price that a Jew divorces himself or herself from a core a feature of Jewish identity and that’s what Zionism is. Zionism didn’t start in 1948, Zionism didn’t spring out of the first Zionist congress, Zionism was born in (speaking in Hebrew) when god says to Abraham go forth to a land that I will show you. Zionism reached its consummation in the exodus when Moses led the Jewish people to the Promised Land and Zionism found one of its clearest expressions on the banks of the rivers of Babylon. When the Jewish exiles wept if I forget the o Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. That’s what Zionism is. It’s not a political movement, it’s a core feature of Jewish identity. Like Shabbat, like kashrut, like Jewish history, like (speaking in Hebrew) all of it is part of Jewish identity. And no Jew, no Jew, may be forced to make that choice.

I want to leave you with some good news, there is some, I’m often asked, I’m often asked what has been my biggest surprise on this job. I’m going to tell you what my biggest surprise is, my biggest surprise is to discover happily the number of leaders, the number of decent people in the world who genuinely get it. Who are champions of this cause, not only allies, but champions of this cause. Some of them are Jewish the vast majority are not. These are leaders at all levels, some are prime ministers, some are minsters, many parliamentarians, mayors, Anti-Semitism coordinators and what they understand to be the case is that Anti-Semitism isn’t only about Jews, and the fight against Anti-Semitism isn’t only about protecting Jews. At every opportunity and every time he talks about it, president Trump calls Anti-Semitism a vile poison. He always refers to the vile poison of Anti-Semitism. He did that at the state of the union address, he just did that two weeks ago at (speaking in Hebrew) with Jewish leaders in the United States. It is a vile poison because Anti-Semitism is history’s greatest barometer of human suffering, and every society that has [inaudible] this poison has rotted to its core and produced human misery at a level that defies description. That lesson doesn’t need to be taught here in Europe. That’s what anti-Semitism is and these great champions of this cause get it, and they with passion and moral clarity, stand up and speak and say what kind of country do we want our kids to inherit? What kind of continent, what kind of Europe, what kind of world? Because nothing less than that is at stake here. Were talking about the future of our children and grandchildren, non-Jewish children and grandchildren, who risk inheriting a world that is broken, and violent, and evil. Because where there is Anti-Semitism there is violence and injustice and evil for everybody and these leaders are incredible advocates. I have the great honour and privilege of calling great leaders like John Man and Eric pickles, my colleagues, my partners and my friends. Also Katerina [inaudible] the Anti-Semitism coordinator for the EU. Felix Klein of Germany, Gail [inaudible] deputy foreign minister for Bulgaria and the list goes on and on and on. Incredible, incredible people, who are champions of this cause, if we didn’t have friends like that I’d be worried. But I’m not, I’m actually optimistic, I’m optimistic that can make real gains in this ancient fight against this ancient evil. As I walked here to parliament, and I did walk a little bit. I passed the statue of Churchill right across the street and I had to think about the stark contrast between Churchill and the enemy he faced and defeated in Europe, an enemy of notorious historical evil and an enemy that made Anti-Semitism a core feature of its ideology and its military campaign. How did Churchill defeat Hitler? This was not only a great national leader and great military leader. But Winston Churchill was also famous for his Philo-Semitism, a leader that loved the Jewish people, and that believed that Jews had a right to self-determination in the Jewish ancient homeland. That’s the legacy, that’s the legacy of this great country, and that’s the legacy of these great halls. And so now the United Kingdom has a choice, a real choice, and I’m not talking about Brexit, what kind of future do we want, what kind of vision do we have, what kind of honour do we want to bring to Churchill? Or what kind of dishonour might we allow? I’m optimistic also, that good Brits will march on the right path to a future of justice and decency and godliness so that we, all of us, can bequeath to our children the better world that they deserve, thank you so much.

John Howell MP: Well now I have, I’m going to take my right as chairman to ask the first question.

Elan Carr: Sure

John Howell MP: It goes back to your trip to the middle east, and we have seen an enormous hatred emerge in the Middle East for practical reasons of Iran, is that having affect on their relationship with Israel, and does that begin to trickle down across the rest of the world into stemming the tide of Anti-Semitism?

Elan Carr: Yes, it does, and I think, I am actually very excited about the (speaking in Hebrew) we’re seeing with Israel. Even Saudi Arabia is, has been more Israel friendly than we have ever seen, you know, the Saudis are less inclined to even criticise Israel’s military operations, and there’s no question as to why that is, I mean they understand the existential threat to their kingdom and their future is not Israel, its Iran. Israel was always a rhetorical foil, again it was a tool of political control. Anti-Semitism always has been and always is, and so Arab countries that use the Anti-Semitism in the form of Israel hatred as a tool of political control, the way to keep their extremists at bay, are starting to see that there isn’t profit in this anymore. I’m gonna be asking them to consummate the path that their now on and really make critical changes, for me, I’ll tell you, one of our top priorities is, is, children. Because if you teach children to hate Jews, well first of all morally that’s, child abuse, that’s unmasked child abuse that’s what that is. And so, it’s morally offensive, but also, it’s so difficult to undo that damage, and so when, when children are being, you know, being inculcated wit Jew hated, which is happening in Saudi Arabia, their textbooks are appalling there. You know, that is really an urgent problem. You know there’s a reason why migrant communities in Europe are reflecting deep Anti-Semitism, you know, there are many of them who have been raised that way. Now that can change, you know, I don’t think it’s hopeless, you can re-educate people, you can integrate communities, you can build bridges, and I absolutely believe in all of that. But, it’s much harder to do that after they are raised to hate Jews. It’s much easier to cut that off at the source and that’s what I look forward to working on.

 John Howell MP: Thank you very much, now, gentlemen there.

 Audience member 1: Hi, Roger Walters, you raised two questions in the beginning, first one you didn’t actually answer, and that was, what is going on? Now, can I ask you what is going on, is that the Anti-Semitism of the Islamists is funded by the Muslim Brotherhood. They only have one function in life, and that is Anti-Semitic, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Israel, so the government of the United States, government of Britain, the UN have nowhere near the amount of time or money to fight that in my opinion. This is the reason it’s risen in the last few years, it’s mainly because of the Muslim Brotherhood. So if you could, on the second one quick [inaudible] does Turning point USA, are they having an influence on the US campuses?

John Howell MP: Before you answer that, I’m going to take three questions in a row so we can get as many people in as possible. Gentleman at the back there.

Audience member 2: [Inaudible] since Ukraine is making the headlines in the US [inaudible] Anti-Semitism is highly prevalent in Ukraine especially since far-right movements, especially [inaudible] fought in eastern Ukraine against Russian militants. So my impression is now, the new leader Volodymyr Zelensky [inaudible] part of the Jewish community, especially the oligarchs [inaudible] my question is how does this affect Ukraine-US relations and how will this decrease the Anti-Semitism sentiments in Europe.

Elan Carr: Tell me your name I didn’t catch it.

Audience member 2: Andrei [Inaudible]

John Howell MP: Good, and we’ll take one more question in this group, this lady.

Audience member 3: [Inaudible] I come from Italy, but I live in London. Are you planning to come to Italy at all because the two source of Anti-Semitism you were talking about the far-left and right are commonplace in my country now. And unfortunately I do not think your optimistic [inaudible] that are pro-Israel [inaudible] I hope I am wrong bit I really would love, your big diplomatic pressure into our chamber of parliament where now we have the chairman of the chamber totally pro-BDS movement. We have the league which is a totally Anti-Semite party which was in the government until yesterday and probably will be again so. I mean, I would like to invite you to Italy but [inaudible] are you planning at all to come to Italy?

John Howell MP: Sounds as if you’ve got a nice trip to Italy lined up there.

Elan Carr: Yes, so, yes absolutely. So, I’ll start in reverse order. Italy, yes a lot of problems, Italy is not the only with a lot of problems, but certainly,  there are real concerning developments in Italy. Yes I do, I am planning on going to Italy, I don’t have a date for that, but there’s no question that that is high on the list. Another country that has openly adopted BDS is Chile. And there are countries in Latin America that are, that are, you know. It’s a global issue, but yes, Italy, its very troublesome. By the way closer to here, Ireland, that fact that a BDS bill could pass, in the Irish republic is incredibly, incredibly worrisome and, you know, we’ve made very clear

Audience member 3: [inaudible]

Elan Carr: Yeah, yeah. Well we’ve made very clear to Ireland that er, that, you know, we hope that currently the bill has not been implemented because the government hasn’t provide the, er, what we call a score. You know, the financial impacts, and we certainly hope that bill isn’t implemented, we think it would be a disaster if it is. It would force US companies to make, a very, very difficult choice, and I think ultimately it would be devastating for Ireland’s economy, and so we hope that isn’t implemented. But I do hope to come to Italy, soon, next year. With regard to Ukraine, you said Andrei that Anti-Semitism is increasing in Ukraine; I actually don’t believe that that’s the case. There have been…

Audience member 2: [Inaudible]

John Howell MP: Hang on hang on, let him answer the question

Elan Carr: Yeah, yeah. No no its okay he’s not, he wanted to focus the answer which I appreciate. There are, there is a far-right movement, and the far-right movement is disturbing, by the way, I’m not, you know, there is a disturbing far-right movement that that is very much, neo-Nazi like in its flavour. They’re glorifying some of their, , you know militia leaders you know. Bandera, and other militia leaders of the past that committed atrocities against Jews and against poles. During the holocaust and during world war two, but, but even far-right and, for which by the way I make no apologies, no excises and don’t defend, but even the far right isn’t really focused on Jews. There might be an Anti-Semite or two among them but ideologically they are far more focused on Russia than they are on Jews, and I will tell you that as the Ukrainian election was occurring. I was following this very closely, including by getting classified briefings from our intelligence services in the United States. And what is fsr more surprising than, than Volodymyr Zelensky’s election, a Jewish man’s election to be president of Ukraine, is thr fact that is Jewishness never came up. Not once did hi Jewishness come up in the election, and I again, I was following this getting classified briefings. I, I was waiting for it to come up, I was sure it would come up. You know, have you have a Jewish challenger to the incumbent priest up by 30 points in the polls. I mean, you know, that would come up almost I every country, his Jewishness and in such a case, it never came up. And now you have a Jewish president in Ukraine, and a Jewish prime minister in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians like to point out there’s only one other country in the word where you have a Jewish president and a Jewish prime minister, and so, its, its quite extraordinary circumstances. So, so Anti-Semitism isn’t really a problem. There were instances of Anti-Semitic vandalism in Ukraine and its pretty clear that, that there are, these are, were, groups organised by Russia, to destabilise Ukraine. And, and so I’m actually optimistic. There are issues in Ukraine, we have to watch it carefully, focus on it, but I’m actually quite excited about developments there.

Roger, I think that was you name, so, your two questions, first is about the Muslim Brotherhood. That is one of the key, catalysts for increasing Anti-Semitism in the world. It’s not the only, source, , like I said Iran is probably the chief source, but the Muslim Brotherhood is as well, and yes it is an enormous problem. It is a problem like I said that isn’t just confined to the middle east. Those doctrines, those ideologies that are spread throughout the Middle East directly affect the European street, the US college campuses. They’re preached in mosques, you know mosques here and mosques in the United States, you know, derive ideological, you know, ideological sustenance from ideologies that are preached in the Middle East. And so it’s absolutely focused, its critical, you know, you also have rising, movements in the world on the far-right and the far-left having nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood that are Anti-Semitic, and that is a reason for the increase. You also have a bizarre red-green alliance that you’re seeing where the far-left is, not only defending but actually allied with and encouraging militant Muslim activities. So there are a number of reasons for why this is happening today and why we are seeing this increase now. But the message and the moral of the story is we have to focus on all of it. We can’t focus on only one of the problems, one source of the problem. And we can’t allow Anti-Semitism to be weaponised neither by conservatives, nor liberals, I don’t mean conservatives, capital C the party. I’m talking about people to the right on the political spectrum people to the left you can’t allow them you know. You say it’s all about, it’s all the other side, it’s my side, it’s all the other side. We have to be fair, we have to call it out when we see it, we have to fight all of it. We can’t allow it to be become a political weapon, because to do that, would be to divide our communities, Jewish and non-Jewish. But I mean to divide our communities as opposed to form a united strong shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm alliance against Anti-Semitism, and it’s that kind of alliance and that kind of unity that we need to fight this. Turning Point, you asked about Turning Point, they are, they’re a partisan organisation so I don’t want to comment too much. I’m a government official, I will say that Turning Pont is becoming very large, they’re very well led and and yes they’ve been very influential on college campuses. But the dominant zeitgeist on most college campuses today is, is, radially left and , and certainly has a strong flavour of Anti-Semitism.

John Howell: Now, were going to have to be very quick with the questions so, so very short questions.

Audience member 4: [inaudible]

John Howell MP: No no, no, just a minute, just a minute, just wait.

Audience member 4: [Inaudible] pew research that is into [inaudible] and the liberal academics roll out the usual stuff like about how it will be okay and immigrants [inaudible] Muslim immigration, could you say anything about the use of [inaudible]

John Howell MP: Okay, sorry to hurry you but we are going to run out of time.

Audience member 4: [Inaudible] they never see Jews as victims because Jews are capitalists [inaudible]

John Howell MP: Okay, may we leave that there, gentleman at the back there. Very Quick.

Audience member 5: My question is about the protection of Jews in the United States. In England, our communities only less than 5% of the Jewish community [inaudible] were spending in well excess of twenty million pounds a year from the Jewish community and the government to physically protect Jews. What is the United States going to do to protect the Jews in their states?

John Howell MP: Okay, and this lady, a very quick question.

Audience member 6: Russia has a [inaudible] its relationship with Israel, [inaudible]

Elan Carr: Okay, I’ll be very quick, on Russia very quickly, Russia has a very good relationship with Israel. Russia also and a very good relationship with its Jewish community. President Putin is, probably the most Jewish friendly leader Russia has ever had in its history recently, you know, I would say tolerant, I mean I don’t know that, he’s, you know, you know not president Trump, but he’s certainly friendly to the Jewish community and friendly to the state pf Israel. At the same time, Russia is fomenting Anti-Semitic activity outside of Russia, not really because of Jews. But because it destabilises these other countries in the area and that’s a problem. So you know look Russia is a complicated place but certainly president Putin has been better than anybody else on this issue. Let me be clear on this issue than anyone else previously. Regarding the pew research yes I mean look we have to be honest and I think European countries have to do a much better job of integrating their immigrant communities. If you’re going to let them in you got to integrate them, there’s no to choices, if you’re gonna have them here you’ve got to integrate them and I think countries need to do a much better job with that. And then, lastly with regard to the protection of Jews, when you say twenty million ponds you’re talking about CST I assume and all the work CST is doing. You know the government gives a grant to CST of about 9 million pounds I believe and so the British government has been very generous in supplementing CST’s budget. So to the United States, both federally and to states provide grants for the protection of Jewish community assets. The department of homeland security federally, has grants for that, and state by state, no not all states, that’s a state by state issue. But many states have specifically passed supplemental budget items to provide grants for the protection of Jewish communities, especially in the states like New York and California which have very high Jewish populations.

John Howell MP: Thank you very much, I’m afraid that were going to have to leave it there. I have a feeling that we could’ve gone on all afternoon with the questions. You all had such very good questions and Elan thank you very much for answering the questions and for a wonderful speech.

Elan Carr: And thank you to our hosts, I really appreciate it.

HJS



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