Miliband tells Hendon: ‘Different views on Israel are not just pro or anti’
EDMILIBANDhastoldvotersinoneof London’s most Jewishly populated constituencies that he is a “friend of Israel” .
The Labour leader faced questions over his support for the country when he attended a pre-election questionand-answer session with 250 residents in Hendon on Monday.
One Jewish woman in the audience told Mr Miliband that she was reluctant to vote Labour as a result of Mr Miliband’s criticism of Israel’s military operation in Gaza last summer.
Mr Miliband responded: “The reason I spoke out on Gaza is not because I don’t believe in Israel’s right to defend itself — but we have to make a judgment about whether the action Israel took was proportionate.
“I honestly don’t believe t h a t t h e action Israel t o o k , a n d the deaths o f p e o p l e o n b o t h sides, actu-
Ed Miliband ally helped resolve the situation.”
He added: “There are different views of the community on this. But where the community is united, is that criticism of the Israeli government, of what it did, is just, in a totally different category to whether we question Israel’s right to exist. We should have zero tolerance to those who do question Israel’s right to exist. “We cannot put ourselves in a position where different views in the community are either ‘anti-Israel’ or ‘proIsrael’ — I just don’t buy that.”
Mr Miliband also pledged to fight antisemitism and stressed the importance of monitoring potential terrorists. “We need strong communities at home. When people go to foreign conflicts like Syria and Iraq we’ve got to keep our eye on what’s happening to them. We’ve got to keep a r e a l l y c l o s e watch on those people.”