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| London mayor cleared of anti-Semitism
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LONDON (EJP)--- London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been cleared of charges of anti-Semitism over remarks he made last March about two British Jewish property developers, the Rueben brothers, when he told them they “should go back to where they came from and see if they would fair better with the ayatollahs”.
The mayor’s remarks were made at a press conference on a 4 billion pounds (5,8 billion euros) Olympic village project in East London, for the 2012 Olympic Games, in which the brothers are involved.
Livingstone said that the brothers were the “main impediment” to the completion of the project.
The brothers, David and Simon, have been residents of the UK for over 40 years.
They were born in India to Iraqi Jewish parents. On being informed that they were not connected to Iran, the mayor said: “I would offer a complete apology to the people of Iran to the suggestion that they may be linked in any way to the Reuben brothers. I wasn’t meaning to be offensive to the people of Iran.”
Comments inexcusable
A report on the incident was presented at a meeting of the Greater London Authority Standards Committee last week.
The report concluded that Livingstone’s comments could not have been anti-Semitic as he did not know that they were Jewish and stated that the mayor’s comments were “reasonable under the circumstances”.
Peter Keith-Lucas, a GLA investigator, said, “Livingstone’s intentions were to act robustly in his dispute with the Reubens. I conclude that this was a proper purpose and that Livingstone’s criticisms were proportionate to this purpose.”
“Livingstone's remarks cannot have been anti-Semitic in the sense of being directed towards the Reuben brothers on account of their being Jewish, as Livingstone did not at the time believe them to be Jewish,” the report said.
Jon Benjamin, chief executive officer of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “The mayor’s comments were inexcusable, it’s remarkable that anyone can accept the suggestion that he did not know that they were Jewish, but even if that is true, it is still unacceptable to tell someone who immigrated to this country 40 or more years ago that they should go back to where they came from.”
The dispute was resolved last week after an Australian developer purchased the Reubens brother’s share in the Olympic city project for a reported 140 million pounds (203 million euros).
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