It is "highly inappropriate" for a demonstrator who spray-painted "Free Gaza and Palestine" on a wall of the Warsaw Ghetto to speak as scheduled at a Momentum event, deputy Labour leader Tom Watson has said.
Mr Watson told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Ewa Jasiewicz should not, "on the grounds of taste and decency", speak later this month at the World Transformed event, organised by the pro-Jeremy Corbyn group within Labour.
Ms Jasiewicz and another activist, Yonatan Shapira, spray-painted “Liberate all ghettos” and “Free Gaza and Palestine” on one of the remaining walls of the Warsaw Ghetto in 2010, the Sunday Times reported.
At the time, Yad Vashem said the graffiti was “tainted with antisemitism”, while the Community Security Trust condemned it as an act of “arrogance and callousness”.
Ms Jasiewicz is scheduled to speak about the future of trade unions at Momentum’s World Transformed festival, a fringe event which runs parallel to the Labour Party conference.
Mr Watson said: “I think just on the grounds of taste and decency and particularly the context of the fact that we’re dealing with antisemitism suggests to me she’s a highly inappropriate speaker for Momentum.
“We’re not going to rebuild trust with the Jewish community in Britain very easily.”
Ms Jasiewicz defended her actions this week, arguing that the ghetto wall is a “site of creative expression”, intended to embody “the spirit of anti-fascist resistance, exemplified by the Warsaw ghetto fighters”.
Hi folks, here is a statement from myself and Yonatan Shapira in response to Andrew Gilligan's hit piece in the Sunday Times yesterday.
— Ewa Jasiewicz (@ewa_jay) September 10, 2018
We hope it clarifies some of the misrepresentation and misinformation. pic.twitter.com/PBZAR9hT2a
She added: “We believe that Never Again is not a slogan but an action, a vigilance and a solidarity with all people facing ghettoisation and oppression for collective liberation.
“There is a lot to reflect on in relation to this action and it is understandable why some people have been offended and hurt by it.
“It was never our intention to cause harm and we hope to repair the trust, in time, that has been broken with those who have been hurt by this.”
World Transformed was established in 2016, in the wake of Mr Corbyn’s election as Labour leader. It attracts both left-wing politicians and commentators, such as John McDonnell, Ken Loach and Paul Mason.
