Glad to see that Denis MacShane and the Pears Foundation have responded
http://www.pearsfoundation.org.uk/#1002/response-jewish-chronicle-articl...
Trevor Pears is Central to the Fight Against Antisemitism.
In today’s Jewish Chronicle there is a story about a meeting in 2008 in the House of Commons at which a prominent Islamist spoke. It was hosted by Paul Goodman, the former Conservative MP, and now a prominent Tory commentator. On Wednesday I was phoned by a reporter who I know and trust from the paper to ask for a quote criticising the invitation. I was on a train and I thought the invitation had been extended recently and did not refer to a 3-year old event under the patronage of a Conservative colleague who I consider to be one of the most thoughtful of MPs on these issues and a good friend of the Jewish community. The reporter fairly reported what I said and I have no quarrel with him. Unfortunately the paper also has an editorial which twists what I said into an attack on Trevor Pears. This is unacceptable. I do believe that much greater due diligence is needed before giving platforms and prominence to antisemites of any nature and I consider Hamas to be a profoundly anti-Semitic organisation as are other Islamist ideologues. But I have nothing but respect for Trevor Pears. After reading the JC I would make this statement.
“I am very sorry that a statement attributed to me after I was told that an extremist Islamist jihadist had been invited to speak in the Commons has been used as an attack on the Pears Foundation as I have nothing but the highest regard and respect for Trevor Pears and consider his support for the campaign against anti-semitism to be important and vital.
“I gave a quote to a reporter across a bad mobile exchange on the Eurostar after I was assured that a known antisemitic jihadist had spoken in the Commons. I had no idea my brief quote which made no reference to the Pears Foundation would be used to blacken the name of a man I respect as much as anyone in Britain for his commitment to Jewish causes and in particular his generous support in different ways for the common struggle against contemporary antisemitism.“
“On Wednesday night at a London University dinner I had the honour of greeting Mr Pears as a fellow Honorary Fellow of Birkbeck College and his Honorary Fellowship reflects the high esteem in which he is held after helping set up the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck College.”
“The thought that anything I said quickly and off-the-cuff to a journalist’s inquiry could in any way be used against the Pears Foundation is very distressing.
“My work exposing anti-Jewish attitudes in East European politicians has been criticised by some Jewish journalists in London who cannot bear any criticism of what Nick Clegg rightly calls the “nutters, anti-semites and homophobes” in the European Parliament with whom the British Conservative Party are linked.”
“I do not know if my being used inadvertently and unwittingly in some kind of vendetta against the Pears Foundation is linked to this. But I stress and underline that I have nothing but respect and admiration for Trevor Pears and do not wish to be linked with any criticism. I will copy this statement to relevant friends, MPs, journalists and publish it on my website.”