Labour protests ‘are threatening dementia cure’
LEFT-wing protests against Israel could harm the international search to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, former Cabinet minister Sir Eric Pickles has warned.
The Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (Birax) is leading the way in stem cell research to create new medicines to treat Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
But Sir Eric, the Conservative Friends of Israel chairman, said an aggressive campaign against Israeli universities and academics, pushed by far-Left activists including Labour party members, could threaten that progress.
A group of British academics called for a boycott of all Israeli institutions over its policies towards Palestine.
Birax was set up by the British Council to link up with Israeli academics with the support of billionaire businessman Nathan Kirsh.
Sir Eric said: “These divisive Leftwing boycotts not only fuel antiSemitism but seriously risk the progress being made to find cures for terminal illnesses.
Devastating
“Joint research projects between British and Israeli scientists are leading the world in the development of drugs to combat devastating diseases that threaten millions of people’s lives. Such co-operation should be championed, not impeded by spiteful and politically motivated hard-Left campaigns.”
Highlighting its pioneering research, Professor Chris Mason, co-chairman of the Birax Research Call, said: “Bringing together world-leading scientists from Israel and the UK will accelerate cures and transformative therapies for a number of serious conditions that impact the lives of millions of patients and their carers.”
The organisation held a major conference in Oxford in April which was attended by 250 British academics and researchers despite calls at the time for a boycott.
Sir Eric’s intervention comes after months of allegations about antiSemitism in Labour amid claims that its far-Left leader Jeremy Corbyn has been slow to tackle the problem.
A report was drawn up into the problem in Labour by former Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, who was accused of producing a “whitewash” when she concluded that “the Labour party is not overrun by antiSemitism”.
Questions have since been asked about why Mr Corbyn subsequently recommended Ms Chakrabarti as a member of the Lords, although she and the party have denied it was linked to her report.
The Labour leader has also been criticised for sharing a platform with terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which want to destroy the state of Israel, describing them as his “friends”.