False racism accusations from British government minister



We read:

"David Miliband was facing a mounting backlash last night over his denunciation of the 'anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi' past of a key Conservative ally in Europe. A group of 27 high-profile Jewish figures yesterday warned that such a serious charge was too serious to be treated as a 'political football'.

The Foreign Secretary has made a series of attacks on Michal Kaminski, leader of Poland's Law and Justice Party. In his speech at the Labour Party conference in September he said Mr Kaminski's 'anti-Semitic, Neo-Nazi' past made him 'feel sick'.

Mr Miliband quoted Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich to support his case, but Mr Schudrich has since insisted that Mr Kaminski has 'become a strong ally of the state of Israel and on other occasions has condemned anti-Semitism'.

In a move aimed at piling the pressure on Mr Miliband, several leading Jewish figures have also called on the Foreign Secretary to retract his remarks in a public letter. The signatories included Lord Young, the former trade secretary, Flo Kaufmann, the chairman of the board of governors of the European Jewish Congress and Howard Leigh, the chairman of Westminster Synagogue.

They added: 'It has become increasingly obvious that these accusations are unfair, baseless and politically motivated. 'The Chief Rabbi of Poland has now spoken up on behalf of Mr Kaminski and has made it clear that far from being an anti-Semite, Mr Kaminski is an outspoken opponent of anti-Semitism and a friend of Israel. 'Anti-Semitism is far too grave a charge to be used as a political football. We call upon those responsible for making unsubstantiated allegations to withdraw them.'

Source

Mr Miliband is the son of a prominent Jewish Marxist