The BBC has been criticised over Ashok Kumar’s appearance on Politics Live, after the Green Party activist clashed with Jewish journalist Rachel Cunliffe during a discussion about a controversial party motion on Zionism.
Dr Kumar, a professor at Birkbeck, University of London, had been invited to discuss the “Zionism is racism” motion adopted at the Greens’ conference this month.
During the programme, he argued that it was antisemitic to link Zionism — the belief in a state for Jewish people in their ancestral homeland — with the Jewish religion.
Ms Cunliffe challenged him, saying: “I am a Jewish woman being called an antiSemite by somebody who…” Dr Kumar interrupted before she could finish, while Baroness Chakrabarti was heard describing his comments as “appalling”.
Ms Cunliffe later told him: “I don’t think you would sit here and lecture somebody of any other religion or race on what counted as bigotry or racism towards them in the way that you have explicitly called me anti–Semitic.”
Dr Kumar subsequently wrote on X that the presenter, Alex Forsyth, and the other guests “looked like they were about to cry at the end”.
His appearance also renewed scrutiny of a post he made on October 7, 2023, featuring an image from the Nova festival, where 378 Israelis were killed. The caption said: “Sometimes partying on stolen land next to a concentration camp where a million people are starved has consequences.”
Alex Hearn, of Labour Against Antisemitism, said it was “staggering” that the BBC had invited Dr Kumar on air and allowed him to “launch a disgusting attack against a Jewish guest and tell her she was wrong about her identity and experiences of anti–Semitism”.
The BBC said it featured “a range of voices from across the political spectrum” on topical issues, adding that their policies were scrutinised and their views “appropriately challenged”.
Dr Kumar said he did not support Hamas and did not condone violence against civilians. He described his comment about people crying as “a figure of speech describing not specifically Ms Cunliffe, but all of the other participants appearing frustrated that they had run out of arguments against my points”.
