World Jewish News

Controversial statements by Labour Party official on Balfour Declaration

“I don’t think we celebrate the Balfour declaration,” said British Labour party’s shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, regarding upcoming events to mark in London 100 years after the declaration that paved way for the creation of the State of Israel.

Sunday, Labour party Chairman Jeremy Corbyn turned down an invitation to an official dinner celebrating the Declaration, in presence of the British and Israeli Prime Ministers, giving no official reason and dispatching Thornberry to represent the party.

But even Thornberry, who is a member of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel and Friends and Palestine groups, added her own hostility to the event, telling the Middle East Eye news website site that ‘’we have to mark it because it was a turning point in the history of that area and the most important way of marking it is to recognise Palestine.’’

She added that she was concerned that Israel had “lost its way” and was heading for a “one-state reality”, incorporating Palestinian areas now occupied by Israel.

The Balfour declaration was issued on 2 November 1917 and took the form of a letter written by Arthur Balfour, the Foreign Secretary (Minister), expressing support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” to Lord Rothschild.

Thornberry’s comments follow remarks by Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, who denounced those who oppose the Balfour declaration as “extremists”.

“Those who oppose the Balfour declaration are exposing themselves for the extremists they are,” Regev told a meeting of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend a commemorative dinner in London on Thursday hosted by the current lords Balfour and Rothschild, where Thornberry will also be a guest.

British Prime Minister May, who will also attend the dinner, said the Balfour Declaration was a source of “great pride” for Great Britain, while adding that “there is more work to be done” to ensure the viability of a Palestinian state.

“We are proud of the role that we played in the creation of state of Israel and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride…. but we must also be conscious of the sensitivities that some people do have about the Balfour declaration and we recognize that there is more work to be done. We remain committed to the two state solution in relation to Israel and the Palestinians,” she said.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson also celebrated the Balfour declaration in an article published at the weekend.

He added that the declaration’s stipulation that “... nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine” had “has not been fully realised”.

Senior Palestinian political figures have campaigned for years for an apology from Britain for the Balfour Declaration.

Next Saturday, an anti-Israeli rally marking the 100th anniversary is scheduled to take place near the American Embassy in London. The demonstration is organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), in association with other boycott and anti-Israel delegitimization organizations including the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), and the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB). These organizations are known to have ties to Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the UK, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan has appealed to Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan regarding the demonstration. In a letter he rote to the two British leaders, he stressed that ‘’the activities of elements connected with the extremist terror organization Hamas at a demonstration in the heart of London must be examined. This is an event that is solely about the delegitimization of the State of Israel. We must scrutinize whether the event is consistent with the adoption of the definition of anti-Semitism in Britain”.

Erdan told Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that the rally pulls down the masks of the boycott organizations, revealing their leaders ties to radical-Islam terrorist organizations. ‘’The goal of the anti-Israel boycott organizations is to deny the State of Israel’s right to exist. The government of Israel will continue to attack these organizations and thwart their efforts,” he said.

EJP