Legislator Mike Gapes, the vice chairman of Labor Friends of Israel, gets the Web site's lowest possible rating, minus 5. No Friend of the Muslims. Gapes is running for re-election in Ilford South, where he won by a large margin in the last election in 1997. He does not think voters in his heavily Muslim district would be affected by Votesmart. On the other side of the political spectrum, Conservative Party candidate Daniel Finkelstein agrees with Gapes.
Nobody seems remotely aware of their existence.
Finkelstein is campaigning against a strongly pro-Israel incumbent, Gareth Thomas. Votesmart identifies the district as one where the Muslim vote could be crucial - but the site does not endorse either candidate. Finkelstein insists the Web site would not change candidates' views. It is nonsense. He points out that LFI, which takes legislators to the Middle East, made a point of arranging meetings with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and legislator Hanan Ashrawi, as well as with Israeli politicians.