Livingstone doubles down on ‘Hitler backed Zionism’ claim

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone doubles down on his claim that Hitler supported Zionism, a comment that led to his suspension from the Labour party.

Speaking at an anti-Semitism inquiry by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, an unapologetic Livingstone maintains he is historically correct in his claim about Hitler, and says hundreds have stopped him on the street to tell him he’s correct.

“If I had said that Hitler was a Zionist, I would apologize for that, because it’s rubbish,” Livingstone tells the committee. “What I said was… that when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy was that the Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism. He wanted all the half-million German Jews out. At that stage, his view was to move them out by the autumn of 1933. He negotiated a deal with a German Zionist organization that did lead to 66,000 German Jews being moved to what is now Israel.”

Labour MP Chuka Umunna tears into Livingstone, telling him that “by needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way, you’ve not only betrayed our Labour values, but you betrayed your legacy as mayor.”

Chuka slams Ken, calling him: "a pinup for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against" pic.twitter.com/e03D5STmRM

— Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) June 14, 2016