Liberals

[Malcolm McLean]

You've got to be very careful basing opinions on newspaper reports,
because they often go for the good story, omitting the complicating
details.

However what seems to have happened is that a pro-Palestinian paper
(see what I mean about newspaper reports) repeated some silly
propaganda about Israeli doctors harvesting organs from Haitian quake
victims. A Liberal peer, Baroness Tonge, had some association with
this paper. When challenged to repudiate the allegations, she refused
to do so, instead suggesting that the Israeli government mount an
enquiry.

Thus are liberals trapped. Either the allegations are credible or they
are not. But if Tonge disassociates herself from them, then that
causes difficulties with her Palestinian friends. if she supports
them, then she's an anti-Semite. So she tries an evasive tactic 'let
Israel mount an enquiry', which sounds reasonable on the surface, but
is in fact more insidious than coming out in favour of the story
outright.

Personally I think we need to treat the whole business of
transplanting human organs with far more caution than is currently
being shown. Almost every religious leader regardless of creed or
denomination has come out in favour of the practice, despite the fact
that it treads very close to some deeply-held beliefs about the
dignity of the human body. I'm also concerned about a mentaility that
dictates that medical necessity overrides everything (including sound
economic management). But that's not quite the issue here.

Some Palestinians are not very nice. If you are friend to the
Palestians, you have to decide whether you stand with these people or
not. It is possible to be a critical friend, but only if the friend
will still have you. Sometimes ypu have to choose between voicing
criticism or losing the friendship.. Which seems to be the situation
Baroness Tonge has found herself in. Now if the Liberal party puts
loyalty to the Baroness above repudiating a vicious lie, then it
doesn't deserve the support of British Jews. It doesn't matter that
the direct motive is probably not anti-Semitism, but management of a
political image. It's very fashionable to be involved in the Israel-
Palestine issue, to write position papers, go on marches, make papier-
mache walls. In the absence of any clear policy on the economy, and
environmental issues cutting too close to home (hands up everyone who
has a car), Palestine is one subject the left wing trendies can unite
around. At Leeds, it was the one active political issue on the
university campus. The rewards of being associated with it are very
high. That will be the calculation that the Liberals are making.