Unchartered waters

British politics has been turned on its head over the past 11 days since the first televised leaders’ debate. And Israel has cause for concern.

By RICHARD MILLET
Richard Millet 311 (photo credit: AP)
Richard Millet 311
(photo credit: AP)
With less than two weeks to go to the British general election, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is being used to manipulate the electorate in some crucial voting districts containing disproportionately high Jewish or Muslim populations.
Even before the announcement of the May 6 election, the rhetoric had been vicious. Accusations of “Jewish” political financing and Israel pulling the strings behind Britain’s electoral scenes have been hitting the headlines.
Martin Linton, a Labor MP, recently gave a talk in Parliament to the Friends of Al-Aksa and spoke of Israel’s “long tentacles” that fund British election campaigns and which are trying to buy a Conservative victory in this one. Linton said that he failed to appreciate the Nazi-era symbolism of the Jewish octopus controlling the world with its long tentacles and apologized, but he stands by his thesis of “Israelis and pro-Israelis trying to buy a Conservative victory.”
At the same meeting Gerald Kaufman, a Jewish Labor MP, spoke of Lord Ashcroft owning one part of the Conservative Party and right-wing Jewish millionaires owning the other part.
These are, of course, unfounded and defamatory accusations that paint many British Jews as being more loyal to Israel than to Britain. Labor has deselected neither Linton nor Kaufman.
Such alleged funding has not, so far, proved a good investment, however, with David Cameron, the Conservative leader, recently making reference to “occupied east Jerusalem.”
Until very recently, the third party, the Liberal Democrats, were only in the late teens in the opinion polls and their leader, Nick Clegg, was relatively unknown, but British politics has been turned on its head over the past 11 days since our first televised leaders’ debate.
Clegg’s poll ratings have now soared into the low 30s, putting his party on par with the Conservatives, who just days ago were favorites to win an outright majority, and ahead of Labor, which has governed since 1997.
The Liberal Democrats will still come way back in third place on May 6 but could increase their intake of MPs substantially, making them the kingmakers courted by Labor and the Conservatives.
This likelihood of a hung Parliament could bring with it the electoral reform that the Liberal Democrats might demand for supporting Labor. Traditional Conservative and Labor domination of British politics will end should proportional representation take over.
IRONICALLY, IT was David Cameron who challenged Gordon Brown to televised debates, but it is Clegg who has outperformed. The last of the three debates will be broadcast this Thursday.
These unchartered waters in British politics should concern Israel. Clegg has already called for a ban on the sale of arms to Israel and his party contains many vociferously anti-Israel politicians, including Sir Menzies Campbell, Sarah Teather, Chris Davies and Baroness Jenny Tonge.
A hung Parliament could result in Clegg as deputy prime minister, or another Liberal Democrat as foreign secretary, in return for their supporting either Labor or the Conservatives should neither win an outright majority on May 6. Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat shadow foreign secretary, is chairman of the Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine.
ON THE ground, the Liberal Democrats’ approach to Israel often depends on the ethnic or religious makeup of voters in a particular voting district. Take two neighboring voting districts in London.
Holborn and St. Pancras has a disproportionately high Bangladeshi community and the leaflets of the Liberal Democrat candidate scream “Stop Arming Israel.” My father received a polite, hand-delivered, letter from her that didn’t mention this, but that might be because he has a mezuza on his door.
Hampstead and Kilburn is more disproportionately Jewish and so the leaflets are more pro-Israel with pictures of the Liberal Democrat candidate’s recent visit to Israel, Hebrew writing included.
Then there is the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. MPAC’s Web site asks “is your MP a Zionist?” and then goes on to list 36 MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates that it deems “Zionist.” The main qualification is being affiliated to a Friends of Israel group of one of the three main political parties.
In 2005 Lorna Fitzsimons, now head of British Israel Communications andResearch Center, lost her seat as a Labor MP due to MPAC. The 2006Report of the All Parliamentary Committee into Anti-Semitism found thatMPAC, to help unseat Fitzsimons, distributed leaflets stating “she haddone nothing to help the Palestinians because she was a Jewish memberof the Labor Friends of Israel.”
Fitzsimons is not Jewish. Sadly, in the current campaign, death threatsagainst some “Zionist” candidates have already been reported.
With election day almost here, Jewish and Muslim voters can expecttheir sensitivities to be unashamedly manipulated right up to theballot box to propel a political candidate into Parliament, or toreduce his chances.
The writer is a London-based freelance journalist, studying for amaster’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern studies at SOAS. He blogs at  www.richardmillett.wordpress.com.