UK parliament urged to condemn ‘hatemonger’
A British member of parliament has urged fellow MPs to condemn a BBC presenter who stands accused of anti-Arab racism.
Lynne Jones’s Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons calls on parliament to debate Robert Kilroy-Silk’s “inflammatory” comments in a Sunday tabloid.
The BBC daytime presenter caused outrage among Arab and Muslim groups, as well as politicians, when he accused Arabs of murdering “more than 3000 civilians on September 11”.
The EDM says “this House deplores the racist comments directed at Arab people… branding over 200 million ordinary individuals as ‘suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors'”.
It also calls upon “the BBC to consider Mr Kilroy-Silk’s position within the corporation”.
Counter-motion
|
“This House deplores the racist comments directed at Arab people… branding over 200 million ordinary individuals as ‘suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors'”. Advertisement Lynne Jones’s EDM
|
An EDM allows backbench MPs to express their opinions on a subject and to canvass support for their views.
So far only 22 MPs out of more than 650 have signed Jones’s EDM, although there is still time for more to sign.
Shortly after Ms Jones presented her motion, right-wing Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell tabled a counter-motion in support of Kilroy-Silk.
Rosindell’s EDM states “this house deeply resents the gross and disproportiate over-reaction of the BCC in suspending transmission of the Kilroy programme”.
It adds it “regrets the climate of political correctness which pervades the BCC, urges the government to defend and maintain the rights to free speech… and calls upon the BBC to reinstate the Kilroy programme without delay”.
Prosecution
However, up to now only one person has signed the EDM – Rosindell himself.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has written to Britain’s Attorney General to urge him to “vigorously pursue” a prosecution against the presenter.
In its letter the IHRC refers to a pledge by Lord Goldsmith to the Board of Deputies of British Jews to pursue anti-Semitic incitement where there is sufficient evidence.
The IHRC adds: “We trust that any future assurances… will address not only anti-Semitism, but anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia and any other form of xenophobia”.
|
“This house deeply resents the gross and disproportiate over-reaction of the BCC in suspending transmission of the Kilroy programme… ( and it) regrets the climate of political correctness which pervades the BCC” Andrew Rosindell’s EDM Advertisement
|
The BBC suspended Kilroy-Silk’s television show after he sparked outrage in a Sunday Express article.
Arab civilisation
The former Labour MP said Arabs “should go down on their knees and thank God for the munificence of the United States”.
He wrote: “The Arab world has not exactly earned our respect, has it? Most of them chant support for Saddam, an evil dictator who has gassed hundreds of thousands of their fellow Arabs.”
He also claimed Arabs expected to be adored “for the way they murdered more than 3000 civilians on September 11 and then danced in the hot, dusty streets to celebrate the murders”.
In other comments, Kilroy-Silk accused the Arab world of contributing nothing to the world’s welfare except oil, which he claimed was “discovered, produced and paid for by the West”.