Outrage as Harriet Harman makes Anti-Semitic joke on air

Prominent Labour MP Harriet Harman made the joke while on a right-wing BBC show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41863815

The joke was:


I just don't think this kind of "joke" israeli funny.

This kind of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable, anne frankly I am appalled that Labour, of all the political parties, is now effectively condoning the holocaust.


To make matters worse, she responded to criticism online by tweeting a page from her book which contains both the offending Holocaust quip and another about cooking a Pakistani person alive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/03/harriet-harman-criticised-recounting-antisemitic-joke-bbc-show/

Harvard applicants get rejected for saying these things in a private chat, but our politicians are allowed to broadcast them on air without punishment?

Something is very wrong.

So jokes are only offensive if the person telling them thinks they are funny...?

She broadcast an extremely offensive joke on national television. Those students posted theirs in a small private chat online.

Except she didnt repeat it as an intention to offend or because she thought it was funny. It was a factual example. Context is important, but that seems to be something you have difficulty understanding. Same as when you review evidence in court.


The students were engaging in racist and homophobic behaviour. They thought it was funny. and that was their intention.

She was probably unwise to repeat it, but then how are you meant to discuss sensitive subjects?

That's a fair point, but do we not all think it would probably have been enough for her just to say she had been privy to some terrible anti-semitic remarks without detailing what they were?

You seem to be ignoring the different contexts.


The students said this only to each other, privately, amongst a group that was clearly accustomed to offensive memes. Nobody was offended.

In contrast, Harriet Harman blurted it out on national television for all to hear.

I think she was unwise to repeat it, but tbh if you were discussing a subject then sometimes you have to talk or mention what they are, be it rape, murder paedophilia.

Im liking all the mock outrage though, especially anti semitic. TSR has almost daily anti Semitic threads a lot worse than the joke in question, but I dont see the likes of the OP objecting.

She should have warned them and then sought consent if she wanted to cover herself.

She was out of order in reference to Neil.

Only a person like the OP would fail to comprehend the differences and say she was the same as the racist homophobic student, but thats the OP for you, whichever account they are using.

I tend to agree on all of that (I don't know who the OP is or isn;t in terms of other accounts, so maybe I shall abstain on that). When I saw it I wasn't outraged or anything but I did sit there and think she was a bit daft for reeling it off on live TV.

You seem to be ignoring the different contexts.


The students said this only to each other, privately, amongst a group that was clearly accustomed to offensive memes. Nobody was offended. It was comparable to them playing Cards Against Humanity.

In contrast, Harriet Harman blurted it out on national television for all to hear.