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Ward has faced intense criticism since accusing ’the Jews’ of inflicting daily atrocities on Palestinians.
A Liberal Democrat MP facing disciplinary action over comments about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians that he made ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day has said that he will defend his actions in front of his party’s chief whip.
David Ward sparked a backlash after posting an item on his website about honouring those who were persecuted and killed during the Holocaust but also accusing "the Jews" of "inflicting atrocities on Palestinians … on a daily basis".
Despite coming in for intense criticism on social media and elsewhere, the MP stood by his comments and said later that that he would set out his case if he faced disciplinary action.
"I shall try to explain my position. No doubt the chief whip will explain why he feels what I have done is wrong," he added.
The original comments relate to a post on Ward’s website about his signing of a book of commitment which was placed in the House of Commons by the Holocaust Educational Trust to give MPs the chance to honour those who suffered and died.
The post contained a comment from the MP : "Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza."
Responding to the controversy, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said : "I am deeply saddened that at this sombre time, when we remember those who were murdered by the Nazis, Mr Ward has deliberately abused the memory of the Holocaust causing deep pain and offence - these comments are sickening and unacceptable and have no place in British politics."
Ward came in for particularly heavy criticism on Twitter. He was accused of "casual antisemitism" by Rachel Wenstone, the NUS vice president for students in higher education, and of "racism" by Ian Austin, the Labour MP.
A Liberal Democrat spokesman said : "This is a matter we take extremely seriously. The Liberal Democrats deeply regret and condemn the statement issued by David Ward and his use of language which is unacceptable."
Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution will be marking Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, although events have been taking place ahead of the weekend.
Ward updated his website after the controversy gathered pace, adding the comment : "For my entire political career I have fought prejudice. I have just returned from Bradford’s Holocaust memorial event where people across cultures and faiths joined together to say ’We bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and will never forget its lessons.’"
In an interview with Sky News, when was asked if he stood by his words, Ward said it was "just a statement of fact".
Asked if he accepted that he was accusing Jews, rather than the Israeli state, of inflicting persection on the Palestinians, he replied : "I’m accusing the Jews who did it, so if you’re a Jew and you did not do it I’m not accusing you. I’m saying that those Jews who did that and continue to do it have not learned those lessons. If you are a Jew and you do not do those things and have never done those things then I am of course not criticising you."
(Ben Quinn, The guardian, Friday 25 January 2013)
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