Pro-Palestinian activists accuse Gove of ‘witch-hunt’ – UK politics live

The communities secretary has used his time at the Jewish community centre in North London to attack organisers.

In his speech, he said: “The organisers of the marches say that there are Jewish people on their demonstrations.

“But they are only safe if they deny what is dear to so many Jewish people – the safety of people in Israel. If they are to be accepted on these marches then they must knuckle under, accept the calls to globalise the intifada or end the Zionist entity.

“They have to obey the rules laid down by others – those march organisers. Who reserve the right to tell Jews both where they should live in the world and how they should live on our streets.

“It is a classic antisemitic trope to set the terms on which Jews will be accepted. Safe, provided they live in their ghetto. Safe, provided they don’t get above themselves. Safe, provided they don’t contemplate the use of force in self-defence.

“Until, of course,  they aren’t safe anymore.”

Organisers of the massive London marches Palestine Solidarity Campaign have slammed the Tory MP.

Director of PSC Ben Jamal tells the The Independent: “Nobody truly committed to anti-racism and to suppressing hatred is going to take any lessons from Michael Gove, a politician with an egregious track record of promoting Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.

“That he should choose to issue his speech at a moment when Israel is on trial in the world’s highest court for the crime of genocide and the day after its leader has been threatened with arrest warrants for war crimes from the ICC, is grotesque, but given his track record, unsurprising. He should be devoting his energies at the moment to ensuring his Government upholds its responsibilities under international law rather than trying to smear those who are protesting against the current genocide.

“Furthermore, his attempts to use his speech to once again push the arguments for the pernicious anti-boycott bill to become law, reveals his agenda.

“This bill contains a clause that seeks to uniquely protect Israel above all other states in the world from the peaceful, ethical tactic of divestment and boycott, even whilst it commits genocide. Mr Gove discredits himself, not the Palestinian solidarity movement.”

The Father of the House of Commons Sir Peter Bottomley has called on the government to launch NHS passports for those impacted by the infected blood scandal.

The move would protect victims from intrusive questions every time they seek medical attention.

The Conservative MP said: “It is important, I think, that those who are young in conditions should actually understand that if you see that there’s a haemophilia or a whole blood infection, that you can take for granted a lot of things which you don’t need to ask. That humanity, I think, needs to be spread.”

He also urged to help compensated victims through the process of receiving the funds because “families sometimes don’t find it easy to decide how money should be shared”.

Austria’s leader praised Britain Tuesday as a “pioneer” in outsourcing asylum proceedings to places outside Europe, citing a U.K. bill to send migrants to Rwanda as he hosted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Vienna.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative party has long taken a hard line on migration and faces a strong challenge from the far-right Freedom Party in an election expected this fall.

Calls are growing for Ken Clarke to be stripped of his peerage after he was condemned for “indefensible” actions during the infected blood scandal.

A cabinet minister has said demands to kick the former health secretary out of the House of Lords “totally understandable”.

Mel Stride also said the Tory grandee still had questions to answer over the biggest healthcare failure in UK history.

• Crackdown on people who praise terror groups or individuals.

• Those who suffer loss or damage from extreme protest movements should be able to get redress from the group who organised the action.

• Government should consider making protest organisers contribute to the policing costs of their demonstration.

• Improve the recording and reporting of harassment and intimidation directed against MPs.

• Don’t automatically suspend teachers if they are involved in blasphemy-related incidents.

The Tory minister was quizzed about how the government plans to pay millions of pounds of compensation to those impacted when he appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (21 May).

Host Susanna Reid asked him: “We are talking ten billion pounds, how will we pay for it?

“Does it mean borrowing money or do people get taxed for it?”

Richard Madeley asked: “Will you go after the pharmaceutical companies?”

Mr Stride replied: “It doesn’t need to be about that.”

John Glen has announced victims of the blood scandal will receive payments worth thousands.

He told the House of Commons: “Payments of £210,000 will be made to living infected beneficiaries, those registered with existing infected blood support schemes as well as those who register with a support scheme before the final scheme becomes operational and the estates of those who pass away between now and payments being made.

“I know that time is of the essence which is why I am also pleased to say that they will be delivered within 90 days, starting in the summer so that they can reach those who need it so urgently most.”

The payments will be rolled out before the end of 2024 and it will be exempt from income, capital gains and inheritance taxes.

Members of the Revolutionary Communist Party have hit out at the Tory MP for accusing them of antisemitism.

Speaking today, Mr Gove said: “On the extreme Left, academics such as Professor David Miller and groups such as the Socialist Workers’ Party, the Socialist Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party jostle to share platforms with Islamist groupings.

“Deploy aggressive language about ‘zionists’, support calls for intifada and praising te the resistance – a synonym for Hamas – in terms that Jewish students say cause them physical fear.”

In response to the blatant accusations, the Marxist party has labelled his remarks an “attempt to distract from the Tories’ support for genocide”.