Suspended former London Mayor Ken Livingstone claims that Hitler supported Zionism and has offered a ‘free meal’ to anyone who can prove him wrong.
He insists that the comments that resulted in his suspension from the Labour party were not anti-Semitic.
Politics Home reports:
The former Mayor of London has insisted he was making a valid historical observation and was not in any way being anti-Semitic.
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He has also accused “embittered old Blairites” of deliberately stoking controversy to try to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the party.
In the original interview with BBC Radio London, Mr Livingstone defended Labour MP Naz Shah after she shared an online image suggesting Israelis should be “relocated” to the US.
He described the post as “over-the-top”, before moving on to his claims about the Nazi regime.
“Let’s remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism – this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews,” he said.
Today Mr Livingstone challenged his critics to prove him wrong about the remarks.
“Not a single newspaper, or radio, or TV programme has produced any evidence in the last two weeks that what I said was wrong,” he told TalkRadio.
“I’ll offer a free meal out for anyone who can prove what I said was wrong.”
He took another swipe at his “Blairite” enemies, suggesting he “could sue them and make a lot of money” over claims from the likes of John Mann that he is a “Nazi apologist”.
BBC News YouTube video:
