Nick Clegg has finally woken up to today’s mess and apparently told Baroness Tonge that she has “a few hours” to apologise or resign. The comments that have caused Jihad Jenny trouble today were made over a week ago, but it is clear they were not a one off, nor was her willingness to share a platform with unsavoury characters. Just two days ago Tonge popped up at the Queen Mary’s University’s Palestine Solidarity Society.
Guido hears that all known Jews and critics were evicted before the start, including the man who filmed Tonge’s outburst last week, as well as Jewish Chronicle journalists. On the stage, Azzam Tamimi, a controversial activist, declared that he was ready to become a martyr for his cause. Tamimi went on to say that he wished he was in Hamas and that the banned terror group were the only “true representative of the Palestinian people.” And Jihad Jenny just sat there. Is that official LibDem policy?
And it gets worse, the reason Tonge was silent was because she agrees with loonies like Tamimi. Last year she gave an interview to Iranian state television that stated:
“It is necessary for the international community to include Hamas in the Middle East peace process, as it is the only trusted faction [in the occupied territories] in which the Palestinian could rely upon”
The LibDems weak holding statement this afternoon said:
“The Liberal Democrats are wholehearted supporters of a peaceful two-state solution to the Israel / Palestine issue.”
Not all of them it seems…