In late-September 2017, during the Labour Party conference, Loach was interviewed by the BBC's Jo Coburn. Loach said he had "been going to Labour party meetings for over 50 years", as well as those of trade unions and others. "I have never, in that whole time, heard a single anti-Semitic word or racist word", but added "I’m not saying it doesn’t exist in society". He was asked about a conference fringe event at which Miko Peled suggested people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust had happened. Loach responded: "I think history is for all of us to discuss. The founding of the state of Israel, for Example, based on ethnic cleansing, is there for us all to discuss, so don't try and subvert that by false stories of antisemitism," prompting an accusation of Holocaust denial to be made against him. Following the publication of articles by Jonathan Freedland and Howard Jacobson which were critical of him, he rejected such an assertion.