Israel Matzav

Dual loyalty accusations in the UK

A Labor party MP has accused British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould (pictured) of having divided loyalties because Gould has declared himself to be a Zionist.

Challenged by the JC to clarify his comments about Matthew Gould, who took up the post last year, Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, said ambassadors to Israel had not previously been Jewish "to avoid the accusation that they have gone native".

Britain needed, he said, "someone with roots in the UK [who] can't be accused of having Jewish loyalty".

The Foreign Office and MPs from across the political spectrum sprang to Mr Gould's defence and condemned the remarks.

And who is influencing Mr. Flynn? I'm so glad you asked.

He said doubts had been raised about Mr Gould's loyalty by two of his constituents, Pippa Bartolotti and Joyce Giblin, who had been held in prison in Israel after taking part in the "flytilla" demonstration against the Gaza blockade in July.

"When they were briefly imprisoned in Israel, they met the ambassador, and they strongly believe… that he was serving the interest of the Israeli government, and not the interests of two British citizens," he told the committee.

Ms Bartolotti is the deputy leader of the Green Party in Wales and stood against Mr Flynn at the last election.

Flynn's response was some of my best friends are Jewish to claim to be a 'lifelong friend of Israel and Jewish causes.' Right....

I wonder if Mr. Flynn would be willing to serve as ambassador to Ireland. Just sayin'....

Labels: British anti-Semitism, dual loyalty, Matthew Gould

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:33 PM