We, Helen Marks and Rica Bird, are the two women at the centre of the alleged antisemitic incident referred to in a recent Guardian letter (Questions raised about BBC Panorama episode on Labour and antisemitism, 17 February).
One of us is alleged to have asked Ben Westerman, a Jewish investigator from the Labour party, “Are you from Israel?” – an example, according to the Panorama programme broadcast in July 2019, of “the very antisemitism he’d been investigating”.
With Westerman’s permission, we recorded the interview, which took place in November 2016. The recording shows Rica asking Westerman which branch he was from. There was no mention of Israel.
The programme makers wrongly assert that the tape cuts off “abruptly”. The recording and a full transcript are both publicly available and clearly show that this is not true.
The programme makers continue to defend the sequence on the grounds that the Israel question may have been asked after the tape was switched off. We emphatically deny that this was the case. The tape runs for a further minute of amicable chat about procedural matters. Not only did we not ask the question – it is inconceivable that we would have done so.
We are both Jewish pensioners – a fact that Panorama failed to mention. The programme makers have at no stage offered us the opportunity to refute their false allegations against us. We trust that they will now withdraw them and apologise.
Helen Marks
Former member, Liverpool Riverside constituency Labour party
Rica Bird
Former member, Wirral South constituency Labour party
