Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday 22 September 2013

"Dear Bishop Christopher": Stephen Sizer Bags A Big 'Un

Reverend Stephen Sizer, who's the subject of an official complaint from the Board of Deputies of British Jews to his ecclesiastic superior, the Bishop of Guildford, and has for some time been busily soliciting testimonials, has posted on his blog a letter from ex-MP and Cabinet minister Clare Short. 

Beginning her endorsement of the Anglican vicar with  "Dear Bishop Christopher," a form of address common to all the testimonials,  Ms Short, who's described on Wikipedia as an atheist and has described herself as "an ethnic [i.e. lapsed of Irish descent] Catholic" continues:
"I have read with great sadness the complaint which came to you through the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Stephen’s response.  I am afraid there is a pattern across many sectors of society of mobilising such complaints against people who criticise Israeli policy. ...
I have met Stephen at a variety of meetings and conferences and have read his most important work on Christian Zionism.  I hope that you have read it.  This movement is very powerful in the US and is I think gaining ground in the UK.  It is a complete distortion of the teachings of Christianity and is used to justify persecution, oppression and grave breaches of international law inflicted on the Palestinian people, including the Palestinian Christians who have been practising their religion in the Holy Land since Jesus moved amongst the places in which they live. ...
Stephen is not in the least way anti Semitic.  This is a disgraceful and completely false allegation and those who have made it should be held to account for their wickedness. ..."
Ms Short, who as an MP  represented the constituency of Birmingham Ladywood, where Muslims of Pakistani background form a not insignificant part of the electorate, is of course renowned for her sure and certain judgments of men and affairs.

To quote Wikipedia:
'Short has condemned Israel as being guilty of "bloody, brutal and systematic annexation of land, destruction of homes and the deliberate creation of an apartheid system." She has also stated that "the EU and Britain are colluding in this operation and the building of a new apartheid regime" because they give Israel privileged trade access. Short has expressed support for a boycott of Israel, stating at the 2007 United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace that "The boycott worked for South Africa, it is time to do it again". She also told the conference that Israel is "much worse than the original apartheid state" and that Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming".
Regarding the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Short stated that "Israel is out of control and our Government and the US is giving them a green light to continue" and that "Britain clearly now just backs President (George W.) Bush in whatever he does, in automatically backing Israel in breaching international law, in disproportionate attacks on Lebanon and attacks on Gaza"....'
 Reported The Guardian in 2011:
'Former international development secretary Clare Short accepted £1,580 worth of flights, hotel accommodation, food and travel expenses from al-Manar television in Lebanon in 2008. Al-Manar is described by the US government as "the media arm of the Hezbollah terrorist network", and was classed as a specially designated terrorist entity by the US in 2006.
Short said her trip had been registered with Commons authorities and that the visit allowed her to see how reconstruction in southern Lebanon was proceeding after the country's conflict with Israel in 2006.
"I did an interview for the TV programme and was free to express my views without censure, and I also met with senior Hezbollah officials," she said. "I do not accept US advice on who I should speak to. UK diplomats also talk with Hezbollah. I have also met with Hamas leaders on a number of occasions as well as Fatah leaders, and the Syrian and Lebanese governments."'
Ms Short seen in this video uploaded by Sizer  busily traducing Israel by making comparisons between it and Apartheid South Africa, famously campaigned (unsuccesfully) against the notorious "Page Three" in The Sun newspaper on the grounds that the daily dose of a topless model displayed there demeaned women.  So it's no surprise that she hosted at the House of Commons in 2006 representatives of an impeccably feminist organisation, the Islamic supremacist Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

Wrote gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell in an open letter to her:

"I read with alarm that you are facilitating a meeting of the misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic Muslim fundamentalist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, at the House of Commons today, Wednesday 1 March, in Committee Room 17.
If this is true, I am very surprised. Perhaps you are not aware of the true nature of this group and its anti-democratic, anti-humanitarian goals, as enshrined in its constitution?
Please allow me to illuminate you concerning my own personal experiences with Hizb ut-Tahrir:
During the early to mid-1990s, Hizb ut-Tahrir distributed leaflets explicitly inciting the murder of homosexuals. Their members subjected me to repeated death threats because I spoke out in defence of gay and women Muslims who were being abused by members of their organisation.
Since this thuggery was exposed, Hizb ut-Tahrir has sought to project a less extreme public image. But I have no doubt that many of its members continue to hold, in private, violent homophobic and misogynistic views.
Hizb ut-Tahrir still endorses Sharia law, which stipulates the death penalty for gay and lesbian Muslims, apostates and unchaste women...."
The meeting was described in detail by Migsug on Harry's Place:
'On Wednesday at 5 pm, Clare Short hosted Hizb ut-Tahrir for a meeting in the Houses of Parliament. The meeting was supposed to give Parliamentarians an opportunity to quiz Hizb ut-Tahrir before the attempt by the Prime Minister to have the organization proscribed.  The meeting began rather tellingly with Clare Short refusing impolitely the request by the Jewish Chronicle to take photos of herself with either of the two representatives of HuT[Emphasis added here and below] At the meeting were around a dozen parliamentarians from both houses, including some heavyweight figures such as Lord Lawson and Lord Avebury. ...
 The two representatives of HuT, Imran Waheed and Jamal Harwood (a white, middle-class ‘city accountant’ – poor sod) sat facing their would-be interrogators. Imran Waheed dressed in a sharp suit with an open collar and proceeded to give a well-rehearsed autobiographical outline of his life that made Richard Curtis seem like a working-class rebel. Waheed went to the top grammar school in the country (where, rather surprisingly he found HuT), after university he joined the NHS to become a psychiatrist....
....The polite manner in which Waheed delivered his propaganda meant criticisms from our democratic representatives had to be delivered respectfully and with equal grace – it was only just, but deeply depressing. Often parliamentarians would interject to refute HuT’s lies (such as they wanted a peaceful co-existence with Israeli Jews under a Caliphate: not war), but Clare Short would consistently interject telling parliamentarians they ‘shouldn’t interupt’. One MP, Ian Austin, got visibly agitated by Short’s kid-gloves approach. Short’s body language was outwardly warm towards Imran Waheed and her outburst at the beginning against the Jewish Chronicle was matched by another startling observation that, ‘many orthodox Jews are against the Israeli state’. This rattled the increasingly vocal audience with an angry refutation from Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Falkner....
....HuT avoided, prevaricated and soundbited their way out of some difficult issues, such as anti-Semitism. Lord Avebury did manage to force them to admit their ‘false choice’ over Israel – that is, Israel being given the choice whether it would join the Caliphate before force was used. Clare Short didn’t bat an eyelid at the threat to a sovereign state, instead continuing to use her position as Chair to allow the HuTistas to explain their position in ever-increasing length (thus reducing the time for MPs and Peers’ questions).
As HuT proselytized in the comfort of the Palace of Westminster – their liberties secured - I became increasingly irate. After passing Ian Austin MP a copy of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Constitution with a pen-starred Article 184 (‘[with] belligerent states, like Israel, a state of war must be taken’), Clare Short barked, ‘Young man, I think the MPs can manage without your help.’ Soon afterwards I was warned I would be asked to leave; MPs looked at Short like she had left leave of her senses.
At the end, I handed out copies of the HuT constitution to the parliamentarians. A dour looking HuT member (again suited) walked over to me and in a not-very polite tone asked me my name and if he could have a copy. I obliged (and gave him my name – well, they are peaceful after-all).'
 See also my posts here and here 

5 comments:

  1. In the wider scope there's maybe 190,000 Jews left in Britain. Of them, if history is any guide, and unless they are expelled by force, about half of them will stay no matter how bad things get. So 95,000 Jews. For that small a number they should consider their options and work long term to emigrating. Eventually Malmo will be London and everyone knows it. And when that happens, and as many of those 95,000 have fled, then so what? Leave England to its Medieval Cali-fate (but before they do, I hope they finally decide to de-nuclearize their missile subs). In this century England will be perceived as South Africa or Rhodesia were in the last century and liberal opinion will substitute Islam for 'the black people' in that argument.

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  2. I'd like to know where Trudy gets her figures from. The last "census" of UK Jews showed something over 300,000 (see both the Board of Deputies and the official UK Census.

    That suggests that from there, her figures are skewed, to say the least and the rest of her argument becomes suspect.

    I'd be much more interested in a reasoned response to the threats posed to UK democracy by Islamism and Jihadist thought, given that the highest figure I've seen for those who are Moslem in the UK is 4.8% of the total population (and I'd want to query the accuracy of that figure). In turn, provided that the wider population supported them, we know that a significant (at least half and probably more) proportion of this group have no desire to pursue the imposition of Sharia law on themselves, let alone the rest of the population.

    This makes the proportion of the population desiring this end very small. Just noisy.

    So why don't UK politicians get some backbone and seek out the genuinely moderate and liberal Moslem groups and talk to them?

    Answers on a postcard, please. Or at least no more than one side of A4.

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    1. according to the Jewish Virtual Library the 2012 figures for the UK are
      291,000 which is 2.1% of world Jewry.

      According to he Pew report your figures for Muslims in the UK is pretty near the mark.

      Come here and pose that remark too Brian

      "So why don't UK politicians get some backbone and seek out the genuinely moderate and liberal Moslem groups and talk to them?"

      I'm not happy with a new "Migrant policy" passed last week by our NSW Board of Deputies. I missed it as I was counting votes from an election we'd just had

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    2. Because while it may be all sorts of comforting sound and fury to say otherwise, reality doesn't bare it out. Ok so the survey I looked at has slightly different numbers. Fine. Nonetheless half of 300 is 150 and if the last 3500 years of Jewish history is any guide at all, no matter how bad things get about half, give or take will never leave. Some will even return. Did you know Jews actually returned TO Poland in June 1941 after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa because these Jews felt themselves more "Polish" than anything else and wanted to return to their country after the Nazis kicked out the Soviet Army? Be that as it may - there's no explaining it.

      But it's not a simple matter of which policies you enact. It's a matter of what the populace actually wants to occur. There's no law in Malmo Sweden that Jews should specifically be persecuted. All one needs is a blithe tolerance to it coupled with a polity that's either terrified of Islam or quietly supportive of it.

      By the by the British census of 1990 recorded 340,000 Jews. Seems that the trend is pretty dramatically irreversible

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  3. So very true Trudy. The last time I was 'home' , in my beloved East End of London, for which I have such strong affection and memories, I was horrified. Don't think I can call it home any more. That was in 1986. I vowed never to go there again on a visit, as just about all traces of Jewish life had vanished, in what was the heartland of Jewish England.

    It was such a warm vibrant place filled with people like my grandparents from the old Soviet bloc countries. They sought refuge in the East End and in New York, to escape the torture and persecution of their county of origin.

    This video shows what it has become. Most likely worst by now. The documentary is a few years old .It was removed from YouTube I found it elsewhere a while back now. I feel ill watching it

    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=56f_1323966751




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