Keir Starmer faces demand to rebuke Labour donor Dale Vince for blaming Israel’s assaults on Gaza for anti-Semitic Bondi Beach terror assault
Keir Starmer faced calls to rebuke one of Labour’s biggest donors today after ‘morally repugnant’ comments he made about the anti-Semitic terror attack on Bondi Beach.
Green energy tycoon Dale Vince, who has given millions to Sir Keir Starmer and his party, lashed out on social media in the wake of the atrocity on the iconic Sydney beach that left 15 people dead.
He criticised Benjamin Netanyahu for a rebuke of his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and the country’s support of the creation of a Palestinian state, in which the Israeli PM said anti-Semitism was ‘a cancer (that) spreads when leaders remain silent’.
Mr Vince wrote: ‘Nothing to do with Israel committing genocide in Palestine then?
‘Netanyahu wants anti-Semitism to be a thing, it validates him – he acts to make it so.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other politicians on the Right leapt on his comments.
‘A morally repugnant statement,’ she said.
‘Will Keir Starmer condemn his big financial backer? Staying silent implies he sees nothing wrong.’
Green energy tycoon Dale Vince, who has given millions to Sir Keir Starmer and his party, lashed out on social media in the wake of the atrocity on the iconic Sydney beach that left 15 innocent people dead
He criticised Benjamin Netanyahu for a rebuke of his counterpart Anthony Albanese and Australia’s support of the the creation of a Palestinian state, in which the Israeli PM said anti-Semitism was ‘a cancer (that) spreads when leaders remain silent’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other politicians on the Right leapt on his comments
Mr Vince later moved to clarify his remarks, saying: ‘My words on this subject were not intended to excuse or legitimise terrorism, or any form of racism – what happened at Bondi beach is an atrocity.
‘My words are aimed at the intervention of Netanyahu who in my opinion overlooks the impacts of his own terrorism.
‘If anti-Semitism is rising in the world today then surely on any rational analysis, the biggest single cause of that will be the genocide in Palestine. I condemn all acts of violence and all forms of racism.’
Sir Keir today said that the attack, whose victims included rabbis and a young girl, was ‘an appalling terror attack’.
The Prime Minister told MPs at a meeting of the Liaison Committee: ‘It has impacted not just in Australia, but across the globe, and it has impacted on Jewish communities here in the United Kingdom that I know feel even more insecure today than they did before yesterday.’
He added: ‘This is clearly not an isolated incident, and these incidents are chillingly focused on some of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar.
‘And of course, we have in our minds, Heaton Park here in the United Kingdom in October, and I want to reassure our Jewish communities here in the United Kingdom that we will take every step that we can, use all of our powers to make sure they’re safe and secure as they should be in the United Kingdom.’
