Livingston stands by Hitler Zionism remarks, but regrets brouhaha

Former London mayor Ken Livingston has filed a supplementary statement to his testimony on a parliamentary committee into anti-Semitism, saying he is sorry for saying Hitler supported Zionism not because he disagrees with it, but because of the hubbub it created.

“I therefore do regret raising the historical points about Nazi policy in the1930s when the specific issue of Hitler was raised by [BBC presenter] Vanessa Feltz,” he writes. “I regret it because there was an hysterical response from opponents of the Labour Party and of its current leadership, which will not have aided Labour’s campaign for the 5 May elections. I am horrified by the way my remarks have been interpreted and twisted. I cannot think of a worse insult than to be called a racist or an anti-Semite. And I am sorry if what I said has caused Jewish people, or anyone else, offence. That was not my intention.”

While he continues to defend his remark that Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s as a fact, he also highlights his belief that Israel’s policies, including what he terms “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, are not analogous to Nazi policies.

“To avoid any other misunderstanding, I do not believe that Zionism or the policies of Israeli governments are at all analogous to Nazism. Israeli governments have never had the aim of the systematic extermination of the Palestinian people, in the way Nazism sought the annihilation of the Jews,” he writes.