BBC ‘insulting’ Jews by allowing Warsaw Ghetto graffiti defender to appear in Nazi series
THE BBC was accused last night of being “insulting” to Jews by selecting a Corbynista who endorsed anti-israel graffiti in the Warsaw Ghetto as an expert in a documentary on the Nazis.
Leading Jewish figures condemned Ash Sarkar’s participation in BBC2’S three-part series Rise of the Nazis.
Sir Simon Schama, the historian and broadcaster, said it was “appalling” that Ms Sarkar appears in the documentary.
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “We would ask the BBC to explain why someone who defended the desecration of a memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising has been invited on a programme about the rise of the Nazis.
“Given the outrage her comments have caused, the invitation seems both insensitive and provocative.” Actress and writer Tracy Ann Oberman wrote to the BBC to say: “I am deeply disturbed that you use a woman who endorsed the spray painting of the remaining Warsaw Ghetto wall – an open grave for our families.” Rachel Riley, the broadcaster and campaigner, said Ms Sarkar’s involvement was “upsetting and downright insulting”.
In September 2018, Ms Sarkar defended two people who sprayed “Free Gaza and Palestine, liberate all ghettos” on the wall, describing the words as “not anti-semitic. They’re anti-racist”, and sent her “solidarity” to the pair.
She defended her appearance on the series and accused her critics of being “the usual suspects”, adding: “I obviously reject wholeheartedly claims of anti-semitism, but if that’s something others want to say of me, no matter how upsetting, that’s their right.”
A BBC spokesman said: “Ash Sarkar is one of a number of public figures who feature, alongside representatives from military and legal backgrounds.
“She appears in her role as a selfdeclared communist and lecturer in political theory. Her contribution is solely to illuminate the context and perspective of Ernst Thälmann, the leader of the Communist Party of Germany from 1925 to 1933, who died in a concentration camp in 1944.”