The Scotsman, 5 May, 2003
TAM Dalyell, the Father of the
House, may be referred to the Commission for Racial Equality
after claiming a "Jewish cabal"
operating in both the United States and Britain is driving
the governments of both countries into a war against Syria.
Eric Moonman, the president of the Zionist Federation in
London, has said he believes Mr Dalyell’s remarks constitute
a formal offence - and that he is considering a formal
complaint to the commission.
Mr Dalyell said that he now expects to be
victimised because he raised "a
whisper of criticism" about the influence which Jewish
advisers hold on Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and George
Bush, the president of the US.
The outrage was prompted by Mr Dalyell’s comments in
Vanity Fair magazine, where he
said the ideas of hardline Jewish White House advisers are
being embraced by men of equivalent stature in London.
He has named Peter Mandelson, Jack
Straw and Lord Levy as the trio which influences Mr Blair in
his foreign policy - and are ensuring that Britain follows a
"Zionist agenda" in the Middle East.
When asked to explain his comments, Mr Dalyell told The
Scotsman yesterday he was not anti-Semitic but
felt the need to lay out his fears that Zionist ministers
may make Syria the "next stop" after Iraq.
"A Jewish cabal have taken over the
government in the United States and formed an unholy
alliance with fundamentalist Christians," he said.
The members of this cabal, he said,
are Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary, Elliott
Abrams, a member of the national security council, Ari
Fleischer, the White House spokesman, and John Bolton, the
undersecretary of state.
"I was asked [by Vanity Fair] what effect this has had on
Britain and I said it has fallen on fertile ground here. I
mentioned Mandelson, Straw and Levy as being fertile ground.
They have all encouraged Blair to go through with this
terrible war."
Of the three, only Lord Levy, who
has acted as Mr Blair’s personal envoy to the Middle East,
is a practising Jew. Mr Mandelson’s father is Jewish and Mr
Straw’s great-grandfather was a German Jewish migr.
Mr Mandelson said yesterday that he was baffled by the
argument. "Apart from the fact that I am not actually
Jewish, I wear my father’s parentage with pride," he said.
"As for Tam, he is as incorrigible as ever."
Mr Dalyell said he is aware about the opposition his
remarks caused. "One is treading on cut glass on this issue
and no one wants to be accused of anti-Semitism,
but if it is a question of
launching an assault on Syria, then one has to be candid."
David Garfinkel, the editor-in-chief of the London Jewish
News, said Mr Dalyell’s remarks introduced an anti-Semetic
dimension into the debate - and would send shock waves
through the community.
"Coming a few days after the British National Party won
seats in the north of England, this is the kind of menacing
‘candour’ which the country certainly does not need" he
said. "These kind of insinuations may have been seen as
socially acceptable when Mr Dalyell was first elected in the
1960s, but it has no place in the 21st century. He has
proven today why he is long overdue for retirement."
Downing Street would only say that Mr Dalyell’s theory is
"ludicrous" and did not comment further.
Mr Dalyell, the Father of the House as the
longest-serving MP, has recently accused Mr Blair of being a
war criminal on account of his actions in Iraq.
Although he has been a consistent opponent of the British
government’s policy in the Middle East, he has not before
suggested that it is being driven by Jewish influence. Aged
69, he is expected to retire at the next general election.
He recently defended George Galloway, the Glasgow Kelvin MP,
who has denied accusations that he has been in the paid
service of Saddam Hussein.
Mr Dalyell and Mr Galloway vehemently opposed the Iraq
war and now are turning their attention to Syria - which is,
like the old Baghdad government, run by the Baathist party
of Arab nationalists.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, returned from a
tour of the Middle East yesterday to say that Washington
will be keeping a close eye on Bashar Assad, Syria’s
president.
"It is not what he says or what he said to me or what he
professes. It is what he actually does. It’s a performance
we’ll be looking at in the coming days and weeks and
months," Mr Powell said.
The theme of a Jewish cabal in the White House has been a
source of controversy in the US since the outbreak of the
war.
Mr Bush was last week accused of
"conscripting American blood to make the world safe for
Israel".
A recent survey conducted by the American Jewish
Committee shows that 59 per cent of Jews approved of the war
with Iraq while 36 percent disapprove - a division which
mirrored that of the US overall.
Mr Wolfowitz and Mr Abrams are
usually named with Douglas Feith and David Wurmser as
members of the "cabal."
All men are prominent figures of the US neo-conservative
movement.
