Muslim Labour Official To Colleague: "You're Too White And Jewish" To Hold Office

Oh relax. I'm sure he meant "colonialist and Zionist." Disingenuous nudge-wink euphemisms are so confusing sometimes:
The Labour Party has become embroiled in a race row after a prospective female councillor was allegedly told she was 'too white and Jewish' to be selected. Elaina Cohen claims that Labour councillor Mahmood Hussain said he would not support her application for an inner-city ward because 'my Muslim members don't want you because you are Jewish'. Mrs Cohen, 50, has made an official complaint about the alleged remarks made by Mr Hussain, a Muslim and former lord mayor of Birmingham. She said: 'I am shocked and upset that a member of the Labour Party in this day and age could even think something like that, let alone say it... I felt particularly aggrieved because I have worked across all sections of the community, particularly with the Muslim section, and have been on official visits to Pakistan.'
She's shocked that her rational outreach - which no doubt involved myriad apologies for imagined slights - failed to sway irrational anti-Semites. And to think, some people suggest that self-abasement in the interest of multicultural dialogue is a suboptimal strategy. Anyway, it's difficult to understand how an environment like this could develop in Britain:
Jewish groups condemned what they felt was a British university's lenient response this week to a member of staff who made use of an anti-Semitic image on the social networking site Facebook. Andrew Collingwood, a supply manager in the Biology department at the University of York in northern England, posted a caricature of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wearing a witch's hat and holding a wand with the Star of David... Collingwood is also a university council member and a harassment adviser to students, as well as an active member of the fringe group Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The university has defended the action, saying the school "adheres strongly to the principle of freedom of speech" and that it responds only in cases in which the rights of individuals or groups are violated.
And this in a country where "as an empirical matter, radical Islam seems more closely correlated to violence than are fundamentalist strains in other religions" will get you rung up on hate speech charges. But as long as your vicious anti-Jewish vulgarity is limited to Israeli Jews, then it's not anti-Semitic at all. Although I'm not sure that explains the "too white and Jewish" thing.
Could be worse I guess. She could've been Christian.
References:
* Labour Party embroiled in race row after candidate told she was 'too white and Jewish' to be selected [Daily Mail]
* Jewish groups: Leniency for UK alleged anti-Semitic university employee unacceptable [JPost]
* Christians are becoming social pariahs in Britain, claims Jeremy Vine [Telegraph]
Previously:
* AP: British Diplomat Who Screamed For Israel To Be Wiped Out Was "Criticizing Israel's Conduct" (Plus: British Anti-Semitism Now Kind Of An Everyday Thing)
* UK Church Groups: New Educational Code Forces Schools To "Promote Islam"
* British Officials Paying Thousands Of Pounds To Attend UK Lecture By Hezbollah Mouthpiece








