Tim Farron has promised to continue to take a hard line against antisemitism in the Liberal Democrat Party.
The Lib Dem leader said he had taken a “muscular” approach when dealing with allegations of antisemitism against former Lib Dem peer Baroness Tonge and former MP David Ward.
Baroness Tonge, who now sits in the House of Lords as an independent, was suspended in October 2016 after years of inflammatory statements on Israel, and Mr Ward was sacked last week as a parliamentary candidate after comparing Israel with the Nazi regime.
Mr Farron said: “I believe in liberal outcomes but sometimes you have to be muscular. And that is why I dealt with Jenny Tonge the way I did and why I dealt with David Ward the way I did.
“I think the situations were incredibly sad but I also think you cannot use language in the way David Ward did and be a candidate for the Liberal Democrats."
Speaking at Westminster Synagogue on Tuesday, at a meeting attended by black and minority ethnic (BME) voters, he claimed Labour’s complacent attitude towards the loyalty of minority groups, and the Conservatives’ “lurch to the right” made his party a natural alternative for ethnic voters, including Jews.
He said: “On the right, the problems they have with antisemitism are well known. But on the centre and centre-left, the problems come from discussions – heated discussions – about Israel and Palestine that end up transgressing into areas which are utterly unacceptable.”
Mr Farron also defended politicians’ right to “call out” the Israeli government, but said it is “utterly unacceptable” to question the right of Israel to exist, and to use antisemitic language.
In 2014 Mr Farron described Israel’s actions during the Gaza conflict as “disproportionate”.
He condemned Labour’s “Ken Livingstone circus”, and claimed the Conservative Party have moved to the right, where there were long-standing problems with antisemitism.
Gavin Stollar, the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel chairman, added that his party’s “historic” unpopularity with the Jewish community is partly down to “local party organisation”.
He said: “What we will see in this election is the Lib Dems will inevitably and undoubtedly regain second place in a lot of those constituencies (with large Jewish populations). We’ll take another look after this election.”
Mr Stollar, a member of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, also suggested the “divisive language” around the Brexit debate will have a direct effect on increasing antisemitism in Britain.
