Poland's Chief Rabbi nails the smears against Michal Kamiński once and for all
3.45pm update: David Cameron himself has now echoed William Hague's previous call on David Miliband to withdraw his accusations and apologise to Michael Kamiński:
"What the Polish Chief Rabbi said today was very very clear. He said that this man, this Leader of this mainstream Polish party is not anti-Semitic. And I think now David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, does need to think again and does need to withdraw very serious accusations he's made and does need to apologise. Bandying around accusations of anti-Semitism as a British Foreign Secretary about a mainstream party in Europe I think is quite wrong and David Miliband needs to recognise that, as I'm sure he now will.
"We have taken a very clear view about the job of EU President. We don't think that the role of President is right for Europe. We think Europe is meant to be about an association of member states not a country called Europe. So we don't support the idea of a President, and we don't support Tony Blair having that role, I think it looks as if that has receded. In terms of other jobs let's see if this treaty is implemented, let's see if these jobs are created, let's see if these candidates want to put themselves forward. But clearly in the case of David Miliband he needs to clear up this difficulty he's got himself into today when he's got the Chief Rabbi of Poland directly contradicting him and saying that this leader of a mainstream party is not anti-Semitic. David Miliband badly needs to set the record straight."
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It is a surreal state of affairs when the Chief Rabbi of Poland finds himself embroiled in a British domestic political row.
Yet that is what has happened because of the continued smears against the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament, Michal Kamiński, coming from a succession of senior Labour figures, from David Miliband downwards.
It has been claimed that Mr Kamiński and his party are variously extremists, homophobes and anti-Semites.
When I met him at the Conservative Party conference, he rebutted these claims, yet the smears have continued. William Hague has already demanded an apology from David Miliband for the slurs and he did so again yesterday on the Today programme.
This morning, the Polish Chief Rabbi, Michael Shudrich, nailed these smears as false once and for all in an interview on the Today programme. You can listen to it for yourself here.
He made clear:
- Michal Kaminski is a strong ally of the state of Israel;
- He has condemned anti-Semitism;
- His Law and Justice Party is a "mainstream party" which no-one in Poland would consider as a "fringe right party".
The nonsense from the pro-European Left simply has to stop. As David Cameron rightly said at his press conference on Tuesday, those making the attacks are waging "a totally politically-driven campaign" because they don't like the fact that the Conservatives are now part of a group that doesn't go along with everything Europe does.
And when it comes to looking at European allies, Daniel Hamilton has written must-read posts here and here about those with whom the Labour Party sits in Brussels.
Jonathan Isaby
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