Tories wrongly accuse Welsh Government of funding an organisation accused of anti-Semitism
The Welsh Conservatives have wrongly claimed the Welsh Government funded an organisation accused of anti-Semitism in a scathing online attack.
An article on the Welsh Conservatives home page contained a string of inaccuracies, including that the government funded an organisation accused of anti-Semitism to teach about racism in Welsh schools.
The article entitled “Welsh Conservative on NUS involvement in the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan” accused the Education Minister, Jeremy Miles of meeting with the former President of the NUS who was sacked following a tweet which referenced a historic massacre of Jews.
The Welsh Government later confirmed it had funded NUS Wales as part of their Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan and not NUS UK which sets its own separate policies.
Accusation
Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Minister, Laura Anne Jones MS accused Labour Ministers of “engaging with and funding an organisation plagued by anti-Semitism as part of their Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.”
She added: “The Labour Government have proven time and time again that they are willing to let organisations that have no business being involved in areas of our education system to have central roles in it.
Laura Anne Jones further accused the government of “engaging with tarnished organisations to discuss anti-racism strategies” – even though the Welsh Government did not fund NUS UK.
James Evans MS, who is a Member of the Children, Young People and Education Committee was responsible for questioning the involvement of the Welsh Government and NUS UK.
He said: “Despite the clear indications of anti-Semitism at the top of the NUS, with this scandal being just another in a long list, the NUS clearly can do no wrong in the eyes of Labour.
“I cannot believe that the Labour Government have not unequivocally condemned the NUS, and that they insist on engaging with an organisation with such a terrible record.
“What kind of message does this send to Jewish students across the country?”
‘NUS Wales is independent from NUS in England’
In response to the allegations a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Shaima Dallali was the president of NUS UK. NUS Wales is independent from NUS in England, and sets its own separate policies.
“The Education Minister has never met with a president of NUS UK. He has met with presidents of NUS Wales. The funding and involvement in the action plan is also NUS Wales, not NUS UK.
“NUS UK as they are not involved in the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, nor have they received funding.”
A footnote owning up to the mistake, was added shortly after the release of the Welsh Conservative article which said: “Despite the Welsh Government saying ‘NUS’ in their Written Question response and online, they said afterwards the meetings with the Labour Education Minister, were with NUS Wales.”
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This should come as no surprise, since the words, “the truth”, and “the Tory’s” became incompatible the moment Boris Johnson was elected as Tory leader, several years ago.
Well, we all knew this kind of thing would happen sooner or later didn’t we? …after all, it worked on Jeremy Corbyn …and no matter what you thought of the man or his policies* the claims of antisemitism that were levelled at him and Labour under him have been found to be flimsy at best. The BBC has had to make some truly astonishing admissions in regard to its now infamous 2019 Panorama episode dealing with that subject. …So we knew that sooner or later that the Tory’s dogs in Cymru would try and do the same to the Labour… Read more »
While at the same time, brushing under the carpet the Islamophobia that was exposed in the investigation into the Tory party, and never been held to account by friends in the press or media.
Er far from being ‘infamous’ the courts have supported claims made in the programme you bring up. Journalist John Ware, who presented the episode of panorama in question, has won 3 court cases against people who defamed him following its broadcast.
There is often confusion about the term antisemitism. For example, recently made Sir, Chris Bryant refers to criticism of the Israeli state as antisemitism by proxy. Clearly, the Labour Friends of Israel member has not seen the UN definition of antisemitism which highlights that criticism of the Israeli state is NOT antisemitic
What if, what if RT Davies is the best of them? Yikes!
If Andrew RT Davies is the best the Tories can offer shows you that the Tory genepool is a dry inbred wasteland.
Johnson was anti semitic. The English tories are rife with racism and bigotry and always have had hate in their nasty agenda
Again the antagonistic Welsh Conservatives led by buffoon Andrew RT Davies open their vacuous big mouths by making false allegations of anti-Semitism. A word of warning to all. These clowns should never be given the keys to power in Wales. If ever allowed would like cancer destroy Welsh society from the inside out.
As far as I can see on a quick search, there is an NUS Wales, an NUS Scotland BUT NO NUS England, only an NUS UK. Now I’m not suggesting that NUS UK is guilty of anti semitism but if there is evidence of divergence on any matter between these bodies, it shows clearly that there cannot be conflation of the terms UK and England. Laura Anne Jones, despite appearing to be a victim of this confusion, must issue a statement of correction and an apology. She, as a member of our Senedd, should be fully aware of the differences… Read more »
A touch ironic that they suggest that “time and time again … they are willing to let organisations that have no business being involved in areas of our education system to have central roles in it.” Funny how the Tories have piratized our publicly funded education service for companies that have no busioness being involved in education. The trouble is that to be a Tory you must have no moral compass.
Why is there never any discussion about groups like Conservative Friends of Israel, where 80% of tory mp’s are members and how members get taken to Israel on an all expenses paid knees up, and how Israel influences UK government decisions, how articles in the UK media are closed down or altered if they’re not to the liking of pro Israeli groups, How about UKLFI who complain about Palestine flags being flown at football matches. Oh! And we can’t even mention Israel lobby group because that would be anti-Semitic,
spot on and it also applies to Labour Friends of Israel as well.
Exactly there’s plenty of evidence of Israeli interference in the Labour party, but none of the main stream media or even the Labour party itself appear to be interested in shining a light on it.