Exclusive: Clegg talks to TJ

By TJ Reporter - Thursday 27th December 2007


Nick Clegg outlines his plans for the community in his first interview with a Jewish newspaper as leader of the Liberal Democrats.

"The Jewish community is of tremendous importance to modern Britain. I am determined as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats to use 2008 to reach out to every community and family in Britain, and make my party a gathering point for everyone who wants a different kind of politics in our country.

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If we are to create a society in which everyone has a fair chance in life, we need to focus on education, above all. Faith schools have an important role to play in that, and I am keen that they become engines of integration, not of segregation. I would like to see faith schools working together, so you get a network of different schools and faiths. That way children will grow up in an environment where they are aware of the plurality of faiths and views around them.

By breaking down barriers between communities, we can finally tackle the scourge of racial hatred, including anti-Semitism. I’ve held discussions with the Community Security Trust, an excellent organisation I wish wasn’t necessary. I’m shocked by the amount the Jewish community has to spend on protecting schools and synagogues. It is deeply depressing that the increase in antisemitic violence has been almost exactly parallel to that suffered by our Muslim communities. Politicians must be utterly uncompromising in countering racial hatred.

I hope 2008 will be a year when real progress is made in the Middle East peace process. The split between the Hamas rulers in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has to be resolved. There are indications that there is some movement in Hamas towards recognition of Israel. Both the Israeli government and other powers, particularly the Quartet, need to strike the very delicate balance of being tough on violence and extremism, but at the same time doing everything possible to foster change within those movements.
Securing peace in the Middle East is a huge and enduring challenge, but one we must do all we can to surmount, for the good of the Palestinian and Israeli people and the world as a whole.

To succeed, it is vital that rigid stereotypes are avoided. That is why I have always opposed blanket judgementalism like the call for a boycott of Israel universities – in the same way that a rigid characterisation of opinion in the Palestinian community serves no useful purpose. The plurality and vibrancy of democratic debate in Israel is often overlooked in the way the conflict is characterised by outsiders in the international community. Mutual understanding can only ever take root if debate on all sides is encouraged not repressed."

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