A Labor Member of the British Parliament denied today that she had accused Jewish fellow-members of forcing the Labor Government to take a pro-Israel stand in the Mideast conflict or that she had questioned their loyalty to Britain. But the remarks attributed to Mrs. Margaret McKay, a 58-year-old MP from Clapham, were confirmed today by the chairman of the group she addressed here on Tuesday and by others present at the meeting.
Rev. Dana Klotzle, chairman of the Interfaith Committee for Middle East Peace and Development, told JTA that Mrs. McKay said there were 62 Jewish MPs in the Labor Party delegation who were “150 percent Zionist” and that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was forced to yield to their pressure because of his slim majority of 80 in the House of Commons. Rev. Klotzle also confirmed that Mrs. McKay had asked rhetorically whether the Jewish MPs were “representing Israel or representing Britain.” He confirmed further that the Laborite had used the phrase “screaming Zionists” to refer to MPs who took Israel’s side in the June, 1967 Arab-Israel war.
At London Airport today, Mrs. McKay described the remarks attributed to her as “a low provocative lie” and “utter balderdash.” She admitted that she said there were 62 Jewish Labor MPs in Parliament (there are actually 34)but claimed she did not question their loyalty or ask whether they represented Britain or Israel. The Labor Government’s party whip, Robert Mellish, described Mrs. McKay yesterday as a “prejudiced woman” and said she would be asked to explain her alleged remarks’ when she returned to Britain after a four-week speaking tour in the U.S. He said her allegations were “grossly untrue.”
The furore over Mrs. McKay arose after the United Press reported her remarks at what was supposedly a closed meeting of the Interfaith Committee at the Church Center for the United Nations here. The meeting was attended by about 35 persons including a representative of the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism and the rabidly anti-Israel Friends of Jerusalem, an organization linked with the ultra-Orthodox Nuterei Karta.
According to a representative of another major national Jewish organization who was present as an observer but asked not to be identified, Mrs. McKay claimed that Americans were not getting a true picture of the Middle East conflict because the American press was “controlled” and the U.S. Congress had to pay attention to “Zionist pressure.” Rev. Klotzle confirmed that this statement had been made. He said the question of Britain’s attitude was raised by a member of the Friends of Jerusalem who wondered why the Labor Government had not taken a “firmer stand” toward Israel inasmuch as it enjoyed a Parliamentary majority. At that point Mrs. McKay mentioned 62 Jewish MPs and said Prime Minister Wilson “had to count heads.”
Rev. Klotzle described Mrs. McKay as a person deeply concerned with the plight of Arab refugees. He said she was invited to address the meeting at the request of one of the members of the Interfaith Committee but that he had expected her to offer practical suggestions for a solution to the refugee problem rather than to indulge in polemics. He described her as “very emotional.”
The Interfaith Committee for Middle East Peace and Development was established about two years ago by the joint staff of the Church Center for the United Nations which houses several Christian groups. According to its chairman the committee’s purposes are humanitarian and it tries to reconcile conflicting views on the Middle East dispute. A Jewish observer familiar with the group said that was correct but that the committee had become “top-heavy” with anti-Zionist elements since its founding.
(In London yesterday, Mr. Mellish said “by insinuating that there is an Israel lobby in the House of Commons which imprisons the Prime Minister, I think (Mrs. McKay) does a great disservice to her own point of view.” Mrs. McKay is a public relations consultant who has frequently championed the Arab cause in Parliament. She joined the Labor Party in 1932 and has held various positions in the trade union movement since 1928.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
