LBC presenter Lewis Goodall just took UK Minister Helen Whately to school in an interview that is going viral for all the right reasons. When Whately attempted to justify the government’s push to ban pro-Palestine marches under the guise of public order, Goodall cornered her with a simple question that exposed the entire double standard: “Would you ban Tommy Robinson?”
The silence was deafening. While the government moves to criminalize peaceful protesters calling for a ceasefire, they seem perfectly comfortable with far-right, fascist rallies taking over British streets.
This is what happens when “”law and order”” is used as a weapon against justice. You cannot claim to protect British values while you’re picking and choosing who gets to have a voice based on their politics.
SHAME ON THE DOUBLE STANDARDS! DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST!
English Script:
Helen Whately: They’re not just peaceful protests, they are truly hate marches calling for the end of Israel.
Lewis Goodall: You’re saying that all the people on there are conducting hate?
Helen Whately: I think what you see, if you see those marches…
Lewis Goodall: Yeah, I’ve been, I’ve reported from them. I mean, you’re saying these marches should be banned?
Helen Whately: Yeah, so and marches in their own right are a process of radicalization being involved in them. Of course, I’m not talking about every single person, but you have to overall look at the thing that is happening here. And we have to say…
Lewis Goodall: Marches are a process of radicalisation?
Helen Whately: That is one of the things that can happen in a march, that is what is going on in our country. And we have to say this is not all right.
Lewis Goodall: Would you be happy with, say, Tommy Robinson’s marches, which included Elon Musk calling for the overthrow of our government? You’re happy for that to go ahead?
Helen Whately: I don’t believe that Tommy Robinson here is talking about wanting to get rid of Israel, and eradicate the Jewish people.
Lewis Goodall: No, but he has, no. But that multiple demonstrations not just his but including Britain First rallies, for example, we’ve seen crowds chanting things like “Allah is a pedophile”, “Muslim bombers off our streets”, signs reading Stop Islam, Ban Islam or framing Islam as inherently violent or incompatible with Britain. Lots of Muslims would see that and think that threatens me, should they be banned?
Helen Whately: So I want a tolerant society, and I want people to be able to freely protest and express their views. But what I don’t want is a situation where we start tolerating events which are basically calling for the eradication of the eradication of the Jewish population.
Lewis Goodall: They’re calling for Muslims to be left, that is, to be deported from Britain. Not everyone clearly at those marches forward for Gaza and Palestine would be racist. Clearly they wouldn’t be. But you’re saying that some of the people there are racist and are calling for a violent, appalling things. So on the basis of that logic, you would ban Tommy Robinson’s rally because some of the people, not all the people are racist and calling for appalling things, but some people are.
Helen Whately: I’ve explained my position. It feels like…
Lewis Goodall: I don’t understand it.
Helen Whately: It feels like we’re going round and round in circles, so I don’t see the benefit in going on as to one thing.
Lewis Goodall: I am just wondering what consistency is. That’s all.
Helen Whately:It is consistent and…
Lewis Goodall: Two calls for violence against two different groups. One’s bad, one’s okay.
Helen Whately: Calling for a death to, you know, a group of people that is not okay.
Lewis Goodall: Ban Islam. Ban Islam. So ban Muslims basically. How is that not really dangerous to group of people when you’re saying ban Islam, ban Muslim from this country.
Helen Whately: I’m saying calling for the death of a whole, you know, of people, of the Jewish people. That is not something…
Lewis Goodall: So ban Judaism would be okay?
Helen Whately: I just…so what we’re saying, I think, you know, going into hypotheticals, what about this? What about that? We’ve seen what’s happened.
Lewis Goodall: It happens.
Helen Whately: What we’ve seen happen in this country, is become normalized, that it is essentially okay to call for the end of Israel? And we don’t agree with that.
Lewis Goodall: Some Muslims think that a lot of Muslims think the hatred against them has become normalized. You don’t agree?
Helen Whately: I don’t support hatred against, you know, any group of people. So there’s a very specific thing that was happening. And look, we’re seeing it in the rise of this huge rise of where we started this conversation and attacks against the Jewish people.
Lewis Goodall: It’s absolutely appalling.
Helen Whately: huge rise of anti-Semitism, translating into violence, translating into people’s lives.
Lewis Goodall: We’ve also seen Mosques attacked and so on. We’ve seen hatred on the rise in every direction.
