Baroness Tonge rejects CAA criticism, bizarrely claiming we secretly oppose organ transplants

In a letter to The Independent, Baroness Tonge has bizarrely claimed that Campaign Against Antisemitism criticised her speech last Thursday to the House of Lords because she says we are opposed to organ donation, and that she is perfectly entitled to call on British Jews to “travel more widely and hear the opinions of Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world, as I do in my international development work”.

In response, CAA Chairman Gideon Falter wrote: “In yesterday’s Independent, Baroness Tonge claims that we have criticised her because she thinks we are opposed to organ donation, which is nonsense. As she well knows, we object to her fuelling of the antisemitic blood libel that Israelis secretly harvest organs. It is a modern incarnation of a medieval lie which was used to incite massacres of Jews in England in the 12th and 13th Centuries. We also criticised Baroness Tonge’s attempt to hold British Jews collectively responsible for perceived injustices committed by Israel. The real scandal is not that Baroness Tonge — whose past comments forced her to resign her party’s whip in disgrace — said these things, but that she remains in the House of Lords and the Liberal Democrat Party, which disgraces itself with every day that she remains a member.”

If you feel that it is time for the Liberal Democrats to expel Baroness Tonge from their Party, then write to Tim Farron at [email protected]. You may also wish to make a formal complaint to the Party using this simple online form: http://www.libdems.org.uk/making_a_complaint. In answer to e-mails and letters from CAA and our supporters, the Liberal Democrats have said that they can only initiate disciplinary proceedings against Baroness Tonge if formal complaints are made on their website.