I was invited to speak at a meeting organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on the situation on East Jerusalem taking place this evening. East Jerusalem is becoming increasingly separated from the remainder of the occupied Palestinian territory – physically, politically, socially and culturally. Palestinian residents in the city are facing eviction, house demolitions and forced displacement. It is important that we raise awareness of these issues in the UK and the wider international community.
Two weeks ago allegations of anti-Semitism were made against Raed Salah, who I was told was one of the other people PSC had invited to speak at this meeting. To my knowledge I have never met Mr Salah. I have no truck for anti-Semitism and I made it clear that I would not be willing to share a platform with such a person if these allegations were true.
The organisers of the meeting put these allegations to Raed Salah. He denied the statements that had been attributed to him and asked lawyers to begin legal action against those spreading the allegations. I am not aware of any evidence being produced to back up the allegations.
The Home Secretary has now ordered for Raed Salah to be detained and he was arrested by the UK Border Police late last night. However, it is not yet clear on what grounds he has been detained. It is not even clear whether the Home Office has confirmed that Raed Salah was banned from entering the country in the first place.
The Home Secretary must urgently clarify this situation. It is important that everyone should be aware of what is fact and what is conjecture. Guilt should be on the basis of evidence and conviction, not by innuendo, allegation or association.
