Jonathan Freedland (Guardian Utd): Tread more carefully

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Wednesday July 27

Tread more carefully
Ken Livingstone is playing with fire when he embraces Islamists who are at odds with our progressive tradition
By Jonathan Freedland

When the London bombers struck on July 7, Ken Livingstone knew exactly what to say. Even though he was in faraway Singapore, the mayor of London delivered a short address that captured the mood perfectly. In his most memorable line, he addressed the bombers directly: "Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail."

Yet now, nearly three weeks on, Livingstone stands less as a healing figure than a divisive one, making a series of remarks that cast doubt on his own judgment and also invite a much larger question - about the relationship between British progressives and contemporary Islam.

On Channel 4 News last week, the mayor was asked about his public embrace of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has repeatedly praised suicide bombers - not, admittedly, those on London trains and buses but those in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Livingstone responded by making Qaradawi's case for him, explaining that while Israel had fighter jets and tanks, the Palestinians "only have their bodies" and no other way to "fight back".

Livingstone's own position is to condemn all suicide bombings. And he was at pains to stress that Qaradawi is against them too - when they are used in Britain or America or indeed anywhere outside the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. That was meant to be comforting, but for some reason I don't feel comforted. For one thing, it is illogical. The arguments that Qaradawi applies to Israel-Palestine could just as easily be used by al-Qaida agents and their sympathisers.

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