There was an interesting debate on Radio 4 yesterday between Melanie Phillips and Tony Lerman, incoming director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, on “Muslim anti-semitism”. Lerman argued that a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment is largely due to resentment at Israeli policy towards the Palestinians. Mad Mel, needless to say, asserted that Muslims are by nature and tradition anti-semites. Because Lerman, who has a rational and liberal approach to this issue, rejects her own demented Islamophobia, Phillips now proposes that the Jewish community should withhold funding from the JPR.

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 8 January 2006

The Radio 4 debate between Lerman and Phillips can be heard (audio) here.