Democracy Now! hosts a debate between Dalyell and Eric Moonman of the Zionist Federation on whether the statements were anti-semitic.

The Australian newspaper is reporting that the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has “launched an outspoken attack against US President George W. Bush.”

“I think George Bush is the most corrupt American president since (Warren) Harding in the ’20s. He is not the legitimate president,” the Mayor said.

Livingstone made the remarks during a meeting with 200 school children at London’s City Hall, where he was answering questions about the US and British invasion of Iraq.

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Britain condemned the mayor’s remarks and warned it could deter American tourists from visiting London.

Well another British politician is also coming under fire. According to the Guardian newspaper, Tam Dalyell, Britain’s longest serving member of Parliament “faces an investigation for inciting racial hatred.”, Mr. Dalyell, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, had accused Tony Blair of being influenced by a “cabal” of Jewish ministers and officials.

Mr. Dalyell later told the Guardian, “The cabal that I referred to was in the U.S…that is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. I was thinking of [US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz, [defense adviser Richard] Perle, [Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John] Bolton, assistant secretary of state, [Douglas] Feith, [Ken] Adelman, [Elliott] Abrams and [Ari] Fleischer, [Mr Bush’s press secretary.]”

According to the Guardian, prominent British Jews like Professor Eric Moonman, President of the Zionist Federation in London, criticized Mr. Dalyell’s comments. Moonman called Dalyell’s remarks “misguided” and told the Guardian he was planning to refer Mr. Dalyell to the commission for racial equality.

Mr. Dalyell who is a fierce opponent of war denies the accusations of anti-semitism. He told the Sunday Telegraph: “I am fully aware that one is treading on cut glass on this issue, and no one wants to be accused of anti-semitism, but if it is a question of launching an assault on Syria or Iran,…then one has to be candid.” He said, “I am not going to be labeled anti-Semitic. My children worked on a kibbutz. But the time has come for candor.”

This week the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Israel’s conservative newspaper, The Jerusalem Post acknowledged that Dalyell “is the conscience of the party, the voice of its ideological soul,” known for speaking out and, when “necessary, disagreeing with his leader, loudly and publicly.” The Post’s Commentator Douglas Davis said that Mr. Dalyell “is not expressing a lone view; he is giving voice to the darkest thoughts of many others, both within and without his own party,” and he is giving “such private thoughts public respectability.”

Well today, we’re joined by Tam Dalyell, veteran British labor MP and Professor Eric Moonman, president of the Zionist Federation of London.

• Tam Dalyell, veteran British labor MP who criticized Tony Blair and President Bush of being influenced by Jewish ministers and officials.
• Eric Moonman, President of Zionist Federation of London, who is considering referring Tam Dalyell to the Commission for Racial Equality.

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