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)
Showing posts with label Jeremy Corbyn and Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeremy Corbyn and Israel. Show all posts

Saturday, 8 February 2020

Like Hain the Pain, Corbyn Wanted to Abolish the State of Israel

Poale Zion, since 2004 known as the Jewish Labour Movement, affiliated to the British Labour Party (founded 1900) in February 1920.

Until the Left's increasing anti-Israel stance following the June 1967 War, it represented the  reflected the consensual pro-Zionist view within the British Labour Party.

In April 1983, amid a burgeoning sentiment on the party's Left that the party should sever its connection with Poale Zion, female members of Poale Zion were prevented from attending an International Women's Day seminar at the Greater London Council (GLC)'s County Hall. (Ken Livingstone was, of course, at that time leader of the GLC)

Then, in May 1985, a band of leftist Israel-haters in the party, who had been pressing for Poale Zion to be disaffiliated from the party, submitted a formal motion to that end.

Among the sponsors of that putrid proposal was Islington MP Jeremy Corbyn and several Islington (as well as Brent) councillors, the Bennite activist Tariq Ali and the gay activist Peter Tatchell as well as a number of rabid class warriors on the benches of the House of Commons, and MEP Richard Balfe, now retired and a life peer, who joined the Conservative Party in 2002.

The first name on the list of sponsors was Tony Banks, an MP who became a life peer twenty years later but did not long live to enjoy it.

Then came, in this order:
Ron Brown MP
Harry Cohen MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Stuart Holland MP
Joan Maynard MP
Bob Clay MP
Dafydd Elis Thomas MP (Plaid Cymru; now a life peer)

The resolutions passed with ease.

Here's a screenshot, taken from the Twitter page of British international relations academic Dr James Vaughan (#Equus on the Buses).



But as Dr Vaughan has also reminded us, J.L. (Larry) Whitty, also a future life peer, who was general secretary of the Labour Party, assured Reginald Freeson MP, who was a co-chair of Poale Zion (and a moderate leftist who opposed the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon): 
"On the 'totally unconstitutional ' nature of moves in some CLPs [Constituency Labour Parties] to disaffiliate Poale Zion. you can also rest assured of my own personal concern that legitimate critiques of the policies ofthe Israeli government and their supporters should not be translated into racist and anti-semitic attacks in this country or elsewhere within a socialist and internationalist Party."
Note, especially, the resolution supporting
"the Palestinian people in their struggle for a democratic, secular state in the whole of Palestine"
For the record: there is, then, no doubt what the man who, but for Boris Johnson, may at the 2019 General Election have become Britain's prime minister, harboured in his heart for the little Jewish State.

No less than former Young Liberal firebrand, Peter (now Lord) Hain, who not so long ago also entertained hopes of leading the Labour Party and the British nation, he sought its eradication.

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

A New Year ... & Two Past Ones

Here's a touch of 2020 vision by Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirchen:


And here (via the Twitter page of University of Aberystwyth international relations academic Dr James Vaughan, a specialist in British-Israel relations) is a glimpse into how the British Labour Party began to alienate Jewish supporters in the 1980s:



 

Monday, 2 December 2019

A Month to Remember: Corbynism's Shameless Shame

On 1 December the London Jewish Chronicle reminded us of the results of a poll taken before this month's British General Election was called:
'Antisemitism on the far-left has "overtaken" antisemitism on the far-right according to new research. According to YouGov polling commissioned by Campaign Against Antisemitism and analysed by King's College London Jeremy Corbyn is the most popular leader for anti-Jewish racists. 
Sixty seven per cent of British adults who expressed strong support for Mr Corbyn hold at least one antisemitic view, while 33 per cent hold four or more antisemitic views ... [Emphasis added]
Researchers asked 2,040 people about antisemitism using a range of examples incorporated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.Questions not only included stereotypes regarding Jewish influence, money, loyalty, trustworthiness and power, but also about ideas regarding the supposedly outsized and malign influence of Israel and its supporters, and drawing comparisons of Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. 
Results showed that  20 per cent of British people hold the view that "Jews chase after money," and when the same question was asked of a sample that identified as ‘very right- wing’ this rose to 29 per cent.
Researchers found that out of those surveyed who described themselves as ‘very left-wing,’ 42 per cent believe that Israel’s supporters are damaging British democracy, and 60 per cent believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews....'
Read more here

And what a month for antisemitism last month alone has been.  Gathered by estimable University of Aberystwyth international relations academic Dr James Vaughan, and reproduced here from his tweets, here's a sample of villainous old Jezza's headlines from last month:


From the same source, and the same month, these examples of the British Left's shamelessly shameful sentiments:








From another tweeter with an eagle eye for leftist malevolence:


Moreover:


And this excrescence.

Little wonder that the admirable Anglo-Jewish actress and writer Maureen Lipman, a staunch and outspoken defender of Israel, has spoofingly reprised the role that years ago made her famous (Beattie, in a series of commercials for British Telecom), picking up the phone to tell friend Nora why after a lifetime on the Left she won't be voting Labour this time around!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fttknbIFiR4

Friday, 8 November 2019

Brits & Pieces

Under the heading "To our fellow British citizens", a heartfelt plea from the current issue of Anglo-Jewry's oldest extant newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle, edited by Stephen Pollard:


Meanwhile, a prominent rabbi,  Jonathan Romain of Maidenhead Reform Synagogue,  has written to his congregants as follows:
"I am writing to all members of the community regarding the forthcoming election. In past elections, never have I dreamt of suggesting which way one should vote. This election is different.
You may recall the ground-breaking decision of all three Jewish newspapers -- The Jewish Chronicle, The Jewish News and The Jewish Telegraph - to publish exactly the same front cover on 25th July 2018: taking a united stance to suggest that a Labour government under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn would prove “an existential threat” to British Jewry.
https://twitter.com/GillianLazarus/status/1192200467775930368
You may recall the Deputy Leader of Labour, Tom Watson saying he was “ashamed” of Labour being guilty of racism, or the fact that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are currently investigating accusations of racism against Labour, the first time they have done so against a political party since their enquiry into the British National Party.
You may recall the Labour MP of 49 years, Louise Ellman, resigning in October 2019, because, as she put it: “Labour is no longer a safe place for Jews and Corbyn is a danger to the country”.
These are just a handful of examples from the last three years that make me feel that normal political allegiances are superseded by the unprecedented situation we face.
I should stress that the problem is not the Labour Party itself, which has a long record of fighting discrimination and prejudice, but the problem is Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn-led Labour, has, at best, let anti-semitism arise within its ranks, or at worst, has encouraged it. 
This has never happened under any previous Labour leader, whether under Tony Blair on the right, Neil Kinnock in the centre or Michael Foot on the left, so the finger of responsibility really does seem to point to Jeremy Corbyn
I am therefore suggesting we should each put aside all other considerations and vote for whichever party is most likely to defeat Labour in whatever constituency we are in - even if we would never normally vote for that party.
If you, too, think that a Corbyn-led government would pose a danger to Jewish life as we know it...whether it be utterances that cause Jews to feel victimised, less secure and no longer at ease...or maybe even legislation that restricts Jewish life or relations with Israel in some way, then you may wish to vote to ensure Labour does not gain your local seat. Do not discount the power of your vote - many seats are won or lost on small majorities - while the issue of Brexit means that very different voting patterns will probably take place compared to previous elections ... so do not assume that a safe Labour seat will remain Labour, or that Labour might not win a seat that previously looked safe for another party.
Please feel free to share this with any family, friend or colleagues you think might feel the same.
Let me repeat that this is suggestion I would not normally make but for the Corbyn-factor -- and you are at liberty to disagree totally with my point of view. I appreciate, too, that you may feel that other criteria take priority when voting. You should vote as your conscience dictates ...while if you wish to discuss this with me, feel free to do so."
And Liberal rabbi Yuval Keren of Southgate Progressive Synagogue has followed suit, telling his members:
"We are less than five weeks before another early general election in the UK.
In the past I have steered clear of party politics as I saw it conflicting with my Rabbinic service to the community. However, there are times when involvement in politics is inevitable, especially when the welfare of the community is at stake. In writing to you now I have taken a great deal of courage and inspiration from my colleague and teacher Rabbi Jonathan Romain, who wrote in similar terms to his Maidenhead Reform community a week ago.
Since Jeremy Corbyn’s assumption of Labour leadership, the attitude of the party towards British Jews has changed dramatically, and the party has become riddled with antisemitism.
Ken Livingstone, a senior member of Labour and former Mayor of London claimed in 2016 that the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis. It took Labour two years to discuss his expulsion from the party. He resigned from the party before a decision was taken.
Jackie Walker, one of the founders of Momentum and a prominent member of the party, has accused Jews of financing the slave trade, and called for the abolition of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Labour members have been responsible for spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as calling Jewish members of parliament ‘Zionist infiltrators’, and blaming ‘Israeli Jews’ for the September 11 terrorist attacks. These Labour members were not suspended - let alone expelled from the party.
That "someone" is this fella, married to an Anglican vicar
Jewish Labour members of parliament were and are under immense pressure for fighting antisemitism. Luciana Berger, who was a life-long member of Labour and a Labour MP for nine years, recently resigned from the party, asserting that under Corbyn, Labour was plagued with "institutional anti-Semitism". I fully support her view.
Antisemitism in Labour is also affecting local politics. In the past there have been calls by local Constituency Labour Parties for enquiries into “improper Israeli interference into domestic politics”. More recently there was an invitation to the Jewish Voice for Labour network to conduct antisemitism training for local activists. Jewish Voice for Labour is far from representing the Jewish community, and in fact claims that allegations of antisemitism are merely a smear campaign against Labour.
These are just a few examples, a drop in the ocean of the anti-Jewish behaviour plaguing the Labour party since the change of leadership.
I would like to emphasise that there are many in Labour who do not share these values, and many who are dedicated to fighting inequality, racism and prejudice. The problem lies with Jeremy Corbyn and the present Labour leadership who tolerate and allow antisemitism to rise from within its ranks.
I would therefore like to join the call made by my colleague Rabbi Romain. If you too believe that a Corbyn-led government would be detrimental to Jewish life as we know it, you should put aside all other considerations and vote for the party that is most likely to defeat Labour in your local constituency. Do not discount the power of your single vote as in many constituencies seats are won or lost on small majorities.
Please feel free to share this with any family, friend or colleagues you think might feel the same. You are welcome to contact me ... should you, or others, wish to discuss the content of my letter.
 Here, as well, is a certain marvellous lady, of perspicacity and courage sans pareil:


Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Mick Gets His Sporran in a Twist & Labour Pains Defame Zionism

See what Humphrys means!
Like retired newsreader Peter Sissons splendidly before him (in 2011, to be precise), BBC broadcaster John Humphrys, whose final presentation of the Today program on Radio 4 was last Thursday, has (in his serialised memoirs in the Daily Mail) slammed the leftwing bias of his longtime employer, likening Corporation bigwigs to "out-of-touch Kremlin commissars". 

Although he denies that a leftwing conspiracy exists, he recalls the sombre disbelieving mood at the BBC when Brexiteers won the 2016 Referendum, and he asserts that the BBC is takes care not to offend "fashionable pressure groups – usually from the liberal Left, the spiritual home of most bosses and staff".

Humphrys' choice of final Today program interviewees has had Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign chief getting his sporran in a twist:


And some of his camp followers too:




Now, regarding this, at Labour's party conference in Brighton, Chief Mick states:


To this kind of reception from some of his followers:

 And this kind of further comment from himself:


An aside by the estimable British international politics academic Dr James Vaughan:


 Also at the conference, a vile piece of defamation headed "A Racist Endeavour":
'Thousands of Labour members were handed a shocking pamphlet openly comparing Israel to Adolf Hitler's Nazis ahead of a debate on Palestine ...
An article on the front page of the booklet by Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party official Moshe Machover stated it was a "well established fact" that "Israel is a racist state."
See Gnasher Jew's thread HERE
The same piece - which calls for the "de-Zionisation of Israel" - then makes a clear attempt to link Israel with Nazism by selectively quoting from academic sources.
.... Mr Machover writes that some of the "harshest condemnation of Israel's racism" were "recognised experts on the history of fascism and Nazism."
He then writes of what he calls a "shocking comparison with Nazism" made by Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell of statements made in Israel's Knesset by two right-wing politicians.
Continuing this theme, Mr Machover, who successfully fought expulsion for Labour over his links to the Communist Party of Great Britain, refers to a 2017 article by Professor Daniel Blatman, who wrote that the "deputy speaker Bezalel Smotrich's admirations for the biblical genocidaire Joshua bin Nun leads him to adopt the values that resemble those of the German SS."
Tel Aviv-born Mr Machover has a previous history of using academic quotes, particularly from Israel, to support his extreme anti-Zionist position.
He concludes by writing: "Uprooting colonialist racism requires a change of regime, decolonisation - which in the case of Israel means de-Zionisation."
Labour delegates debated a motion on Palestine during Tuesday afternoon's session at conference.
During the debate, one member of the pro-Corbyn Jewish Voice For Labour group was loudly cheered as she claimed she was speaking for Jews who had never experienced antisemitism.
Vanessa Stilwell, of Dulwich and West Norwood CLP, said Jeremy Corbyn was "the most anti-racist leader this party has ever had".
Referring to the situation in Gaza, the Labour activist stumbled as she attempted to detail allegations of Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Ms Stilwell is the wife of Glyn Secker - the Labour activist suspended over his 'Jews in the gutter' speech at a Palestine demo, which was exposed by the J[ewish] C[hronicle] in May.
But despite a few cries of 'Free Palestine' from the stage, the debate was largely overshadowed by the continuing divisions over the party's position on Brexit.
In her keynote speech, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, accused Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to create an "apartheid state" in Israel.
She also referred to the crisis in Gaza - but appeared to make a deliberate effort to stop too much focus on Israel/Palestine in a more general speech about Labour internationalism.'
 Let's leave tireless Corbynista-watcher Gillian Lazarus with the last word on this odious muck:


But on the Labour Jew-baiting David Collier's latest article is a must-read.

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Outside the UK Israeli Embassy, Ugly Smears, Ugly Chants from Corbynistas

"When I say Free you say Palestine ... Yes, yes BDS"

"O Jeremy Corbyn!"

On 30 March, outside the Israeli Embassy in London (with a bunch of those Shabbat-breaking "authentic Jews" the Neturei Karta lending the support of their presence) anti-Zionist ferals marking the first anniversary of the "Great March of Return", scream and cheer a succession of leftist speakers claming Netanyahu and "Apartheid Israel" and advocating the "Right of Return".

Speakers include Jewish flotilla alumnus Glyn Secker, Amos Trust director Chris Rose, and Stop the War Coalition's Lindsey German, and Joyce Hurndall.

 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMPMja0Wgp4

More odious sentiments, from, among others, a trade union representative, from a member of the truly egregious  Jewish Voice for Labour, and a pro-BDS song from a choir of elderly dames, as well as a talk by the PSC's Hugh Lanning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVzui7X-rg

And yet more vile bile, including notice of another demo planned for 11 May:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ivCgMFHM8

(MrAlexSeymour videos)

Sunday, 10 March 2019

A Z Word in Scotland ... defending Jeremy Corbyn

Gaza-born, LSE-educated economist Dr Husam Zomlot is officially described on his Twitter page as "Ambassador, Head of Palestinian Mission to the UK, former Head of PLO General Delegation to the US, Strategic Affairs Advisor to President of Palestine".  If his name seems vaguely familiar, that may be because in 2014 he clarified remarks of his that led to the accusation that he is a Holocaust denier.  Or it may be because in September last year he was expelled from the United States by the Trump administration when the Palestinian mission in that country was closed down.

Image: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
In the month following that expulsion, he became head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK. To quote a press release 
"HE Ambassador Husam Zomlot presented his credentials as head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK to The Rt Hon Alistair Burt, Minister of State for the Middle East, yesterday. Ambassador Zomlot was received by Mr. Alistair Burt at the Foreign Office.
Dr. Zomlot presented a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt, from the Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Riyad al-Maliki. Mr Alistair Burt similarly presented a letter to Dr. Zomlot in which the British government welcomed him as head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK and expressed the desire of the UK government to strengthen cooperation with Palestine and deepen the unique and historic relationship between the British and the Palestinian people.
The letter emphasised the British government’s full commitment to achieving a two-state solution through the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. The letter also stated that the UK government looked forward to a constructive relationship between the British Foreign Office and the Palestinian Mission to the UK.
For his part, Dr. Zomlot expressed the hope that the directive of President Mahmoud Abbas to upgrade the relationship between the two countries was achieved at all levels. Dr. Zomlot added that he highly appreciated the very warm and senior reception at ministerial level from the UK government and vowed to continue the work of his predecessors in advancing British-Palestinian relations, particularly at this critical juncture for both Palestine and the UK."
And this month Dr Zomlot has been wowing the Scots, by the look of things.

He was warmly welcomed to the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.

And by Eve Bolander, the Lord Provost of Glasgow:


And, as reported here, he
'was given a VIP tour of Celtic Park as he thanked Hoops fans for their incredible crowdfunding efforts three years ago.
Mr [sic]Husam Zomlot touched down in Scotland this week for the first time since taking his new role as Palestine's head of mission to the UK.
In 2016, the Scottish champions were fined £8,000 for a huge pro-Palestine fan demonstration against Israeli outfit Hapoel Beer Sheva.
But the charge was dwarfed by the £176,000 raised online for Middle East charities in a bid by fans to match what they thought would be a far harder hit.
And Mr Zomlot paid homage to the extraordinary sum raised by thanking the club and its supporters today during a trip to the stadium....
The Celtic fans' campaign was backed by Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters in 2016, who played a montage of pictures of the Green Brigade waving Palestinian flags during one of his packed out concerts.
The music icon said at the time: "Thousands of Celtic supporters turned up, they carried Palestinian flags and banners.UEFA, in its incredible imbecility decided to fine Celtic for that display of inappropriate images and banners. So the supporters banded together, great Glaswegians that they are, and said, ‘We’re not having that’. They started a fund that was called ‘match the fine’ and they distributed it to Palestinian charities. Good on you Celtic supporters, I’m an Arsenal supporter myself, but in this particular instance I’m with you all the way.”...'

While in Dundee, trades unionists breakfasted with him:




Yes, that looks suspiciciously like Dr Zomlot's old friend Corbyn, in the picture below!  He was in Dundee for the Labour Party's Scottish Conference.


 And at a fringe meeting of the party chaired by Pauline McNeill MSP, Dr Zomlot received a standing ovation after delivering a speech in which he did his best to exculpate Corbyn from the stain of antisemitism:



As reported here,
'Jeremy Corbyn does not have a "shred or ounce or iota of hate" in his heart, Palestine's chief diplomat has insisted.
Dr Husam Zomlot launched a heartfelt defence of the Labour leader as his party continues to be engulfed in rows over anti-Semitism.
Speaking at a fringe meeting during the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee, Mr Zomlot said he first met Mr Corbyn 20 years ago and described him as "dignified but modest man".
He said: "Any cause that has to do with the rights of people, with equality, with fighting racism and hatred – Jeremy Corbyn is there, under the rain, under the most severe circumstances.
"You want to tell me that person has hate in his heart? No.
"That's the person I know for a long period of time."
....
His comments came as Labour peers wrote an open letter to Mr Corbyn describing his party's handling of anti-Semitism complaints as an "embarrassing mess".
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is considering launching a formal investigation into whether Labour has "unlawfully discriminated" against Jewish people.
....
He said he sensed "some hesitation today among our friends, who worry that their support for Palestinian rights will be misconstructed".
Quoting US Senator Bernie Sanders, he said anti-Semitism "is being used to stifle debate about Israel".
But he added: "Let me be clear here: anti-Semitism is real. It is absolutely real. And like all forms of bigotry and racism, it is abhorrent.
"There is no 'but' here. There is absolutely no 'but' here. It is real and it must be fought."
He added: "There is no contradiction in fighting anti-Semitism and also fighting for the Palestinian cause. It is the same struggle."...'

Ah, but are we comparing like with like, MsMcneill?


Like Melanie Phillips, many hardly think so.
 
Meanwhile, a BDS battlecry from Scottish PSC chief Mick Napier

And across the Irish Sea ...

Tuesday, 26 February 2019

"Antisemitism is not a Jewish Problem. It is a Problem for Jews"

Two letters: ratbags versus realists regarding Corbynista antisemitism.

But first, a not irrelevant archival find by University of Aberystwyth international politics academic Dr James Vaughan, regarding Labour Party policy in not-so-far-off days of yore:


Okay, then, this letter by as-a-Jew leftists to the Guardian, 21 February:

"You report (19 February) that a number of implacably anti-Corbyn MPs have left the Labour party alleging a failed “approach to dealing with antisemitism”, with Luciana Berger criticising Labour for becoming “sickeningly institutionally racist”.

We are Jewish members and supporters of the Labour party concerned about the current rise of reactionary ideologies, including antisemitism, in Britain and elsewhere across Europe.

We note the worrying growth of populist rightwing parties, encouraging racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism. In Britain the far right is whipping up these prejudices, a threat that requires a resolute and energetic response. But instead we have seen a disproportionate focus on antisemitism on the left, which is abhorrent but relatively rare.

We believe that the Labour party under the progressive leadership of Jeremy Corbyn is a crucial ally in the fight against bigotry and reaction. His lifetime record of campaigning for equality and human rights, including consistent support for initiatives against antisemitism, is formidable. His involvement strengthens this struggle.

Labour governments introduced both the anti-racist and human rights legislation of the 20th century and the 2010 Equalities Act. A Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn will be a powerful force to fight against racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism.

It is in this context that we welcome the Labour party’s endorsement of freedom of expression on Israel and on the rights of Palestinians. Labour is correct to recognise that while prejudice against Jewish people is deplorable, criticism of Israel’s government and policies can and must be made.
We urge all who wish to see an end to bigotry and racism, and who seek a more just society, to give their support to the Labour party."

For signatories see here

A riposte in the Guardian, 25 February:


'We write in response to the letter you published on 21 February, asserting that Jeremy Corbyn was a crucial ally in the fight against bigotry and reaction and that a Labour government would be a powerful force against antisemitism.

The signatories to that letter plainly feel the need to rely on their Judaism to bolster its content. This may be because they consider it to be some protection from the view that many of your readers would otherwise take when reading their assertions, but it is essentially irrelevant. The vast majority of the UK Jewish community has made its view of Mr Corbyn clear. So too has the public in various opinion polls. He is not trusted on antisemitism, first because he has not acted against it and because his own actions are, at least, concerning. Second, because those claiming to speak about antisemitism in his name do so without reproach or disassociation.

The Labour party has, previously, been a force for good in promoting anti-racism, as the authors acknowledge. Sadly, that is no longer the case. It has never been the case, anywhere, that a party which could not root out antisemitism from its midst, tolerated those accusing Jews of manufacturing it, and lost the trust of the Jewish community, ever governed fairly, decently or competently. Antisemitism is corruption, and corruption spreads.

We also disagree with the authors’ apparent belief that the ability to criticise Israel is critical to the debate on antisemitism. The Labour party’s adoption of the IHRA definition marks its acceptance of the fact that criticism of Israel must not involve antisemitism, and that there is a wide range of acceptable criticism that does not. The discredited argument that antisemitism is invented by Jews to protect Israel is antisemitic. So is criticism of Israel outside the IHRA guidelines and definition. Both of these things should be outwith the scope of mainstream, tolerant debate.

Suggesting a permissible link between the Labour leadership’s attitude to British Jews and Israel is both wrong and shameful. There is no basis to refuse to reproach or reject the antisemites we refer to above. The leadership’s failure to do so makes Jews part of the “few”, who the Labour party expressly reject.

That Labour is so mistrusted on the issue is uncomfortable and sad. But it must be said. And in saying it, we do not speak as Jews, but as citizens of this country. Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem. It is a problem for Jews.'

For signatories see here

Monday, 25 February 2019

Danger Man Dissected

Unsurprisingly, the defection of principled men and women from the cesspool that is the Corbyn-led Labour Party continues.

Three years ago, during the furore surrounding despicable comments regarding Hitler and Zionism made by former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who quit the Labour Party in 2018,  Labour MP Ian Austin, whose Jewish adoptive father arrived in England from Czechoslovakia as a ten-year-old in 1939, made (top left) what many Twitter users consider his finest tweet.

A few days ago, disgusted by the antisemitism that lurks in Labour's ranks, resigned from the party, telling the BBC's Kirsty Wark in an interview that if he remained he would no longer be able to look his father (whose immediate family was murdered in Treblinka) and his Jewish friends in the eye.



"I was one of the first to raise concerns about antisemitism following events at the 2017 Conference in Brighton", wrote a Brighton and Hove Councillor Warren Morgan a couple of days ago, explaining his resignation from the Labour Party, which he joined in 1993.
"It was my duty as council leader, as a Labour councillor, to call out racism wherever and whenever it appeared, without fear or favour, in defence of the city's Jewish community. For that I was vilified by members locally and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn nationally.
Friends in the Jewish Labour Movement urged me not to resign my membership, as others have done, in response to the unchecked and rampant antisemitism amongst Party members, in order to fight back and clear the Party of those with racist antisemitic views. I have done so until now. The resignation of Luciana Berger from the Party is a clear sign that members of the Jewish community and those who support them have no place in Labour."

Investigative journalist Tom Bower's searing exposé of Jeremy Corbyn's problem with da Joos published last week in the Jewish Chronicle must be actingas a final straw for some Labour members, and it is only to be regretted that the revelations it contains, uncovered during Mr Bower's researches for his just-published biography of Corbyn, Dangerous Hero,were not known and publicised before Corbyn was elected party leader.

Here, by the way, is anti-Israel hard leftist John McDonnell's insolent tweet regarding the biography.



McDonnell, a handpicked member of Corbyn's team and Shadow Chancellor, no less, showed his vile hostility Jews and Israel again last week when he called for Britons who fought in the IDF to be deprived of their British citizenship.

Writes Mr Bower, the son of child refugees from Prague and Vienna respectively, iner alia:
'I am among the few living people who interviewed for TV serious Nazi war criminals....
Like those antisemitic Nazis, Mr Corbyn blames the malign power of Jews for orchestrating a global conspiracy to oppress the workers. “The power of the Israel lobby is truly phenomenal,” Mr Corbyn said in 2003 to Hamas supporters, referring to his conviction that rich Jewish bankers, especially in New York, are orchestrating Zionist influence.
Ever since Mr Corbyn was elected Labour’s leader in 2015, he has faced accusations about his antisemitism, which he has denied. However, while researching the book I came across an interview he gave in September 2015 which confirms Mr Corbyn’s antisemitism.
Unsuspecting, Mr Corbyn had settled down in front of a microphone to help a local historian compile eyewitness accounts for The Holloway Project. Mr Corbyn was asked to describe his attachment to the Holloway Road, an ugly highway running through Islington, his north London constituency. But before identifying his favourite places along that dust bowl, he described his early life and, most noteworthy, his first job in London in 1973 as an assistant researcher at the National Union of Tailor and Garment Workers.
In Mr Corbyn’s version, as the most junior employee he personally challenged the Jewish employers of his members — “scumbags” and “crooks”, as he would describe the tailors — to recover the members’ unpaid wages. Their bosses, explained Mr Corbyn, “had mysteriously gone bankrupt just before Christmas, owing their workers a lot of wages and not paying National Insurance and all this kind of thing. Scumbags actually. Crooks. My job was to try and chase these people through Companies House and so on.”
Mr Corbyn’s account is contradicted by Alec Smith, the union’s former leader and Mr Corbyn’s direct superior, now in his eighties, who I tracked down in Essex, and by the trade union’s well-catalogued records.
Pertinently, the union’s archives stored at universities in London and Manchester do not reveal any issues about “unscrupulous employers” and do not show that any member complained about being unpaid, especially before Christmas.
Mr Smith told me with certainty that Mr Corbyn “never had any contact with our members. He just sat in at meetings passing me information”. Mr Smith recalled: “The clothing industry is a tough business. If an employer went broke it was because of trading conditions — not to fiddle their employees.”
Not for the first time, Mr Corbyn had reshaped the truth to improve his self-image. He conjured the tale of a brave personal fight against exploitative Jewish employers of sweatshop labour and exposed his disdain towards those Jews seeking self-improvement to fulfil the dream of moving from the East End slums to North London’s suburbs.'
Bower, whose first wife is a source for some of his discoveries, goes on to state:
'Uneducated and uninterested in culture and anything spiritual, Mr Corbyn, as a committed communist, was unsympathetic towards a race complicated by its history of survival over 2,000 years of persecution....
[He} defined Zionism as racism and accused white Jews of acting as supremacists, oppressing coloured Arabs in what he called “Israel’s apartheid occupation” of Palestine. He condemned the Balfour Declaration... and dismissed the effect of the Holocaust to explain the Jewish people’s longing for a return to their own country after 1945 to avoid future persecution.
[He] preferred to ignore that Israel was created by the United Nations and fulfilled all the legal requirements for international recognition. Pertinently, he never complained about the simultaneous creation of Pakistan in 1948, where partition of the sub-continent had caused millions of deaths and led to the persecution of Hindus by the new Muslim state.
In Mr Corbyn’s hierarchy of oppression, the descendants of slaves were the most victimised, while Holocaust survivors were at the bottom of the list. He did not distinguish between Jews in London and Zionists in Tel Aviv. To him, they were all guilty.
An original source of Mr Corbyn’s antisemitism in the 1960s ... was Malcolm X ...
Mr Corbyn’s antisemitism simmered unseen, even after he was elected as an MP in 1983, until the Islamist attack on New York on September 11 2001. In the aftermath, he organised with fellow communists the Stop the War Coalition (SWC), ostensibly to protest against the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Corbyn’s partner in SWC was the Muslim Association of Great Britain. This group was attached to the Muslim Brotherhood. Some on the left questioned the coalition of Marxists with political Islamists but Mr Corbyn successfully argued that the alliance was forged by a mutual opposition to Zionism.
Thereafter, during protest marches through London, banners against the war would be given equal billing to the Muslim Association’s placards urging the destruction of Israel. The two, said the Muslim organisers, were linked: Zionists were planning the imminent invasion of Iraq. Mr Corbyn agreed.
Thereafter, Mr Corbyn frequently associated with Muslim extremists who advocated in antisemitic language Israel’s destruction. Speaking on the same platforms with the extremists, he appeared to share his hosts’ refusal to distinguish between anti-Zionism and antisemitism...' 
Be sure to read the entire article dissecting Danger Man's antisemitism.  It pulls no punches.

The fact that in his biography of Corbyn Bower by an unfortunate slip refers to "Cat Stevens" when he means "Cat Smith" the female Labour MP, does not validate the disdainful dismissive review of the book undertaken by reviewer Stephen Bush (political editor of the New Statesman) in the Guardian, where the issue of antisemitism is not mentioned by Mr Bush.

More (out of numerous other) examples of Corbynista slime:




MP Chris Williamson:


As others have asked, recalling this, has Williamson no mirror?




There seems to be a great deal of "rich man antisemitism" at the base of Corbynista Jew-hatred, the perception of Jews as plutocrats, the manifestly unfounded belief that all Jews are wealthy.  Still, Corbyn continues to have his as-a-Jew toadies,  They surface every so aften in the correspondence colums of the Guardian ... as well as of the Islington Tribune.

Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Antisemitism, the "Splitters", & a Commons Debate

Following news that seven Labour MPs (and now an eighth, Joan Ryan, who in a devastating indictment of Corbyn has made his failure to deal with antisemitism in the party central to herdefection) have left the party and formed their own Independent Group, "the oldest hatred" rears its ugly Medusa's head.

No surprise to Labour Against Antisemitism, aware as it is of the loathsome sentiments engendered in the party under Corbyn:


See, for instance, the comments that greet this report. (Bonus: a chance to see Gorgeous George!)

Gorgeous George again:


 Young Labour shows its true colours:


Conservative candidate Robert Largan deploring vile comments encouraged by this MP's malice:



And then there's this (hat tip: Jonathan Hoffman in a  Facebook post).  Tim Llewellyn, of course, used to be a BBC correspondent.


And on Twitter via an extreme anti-Israel activist, this:


Interesting tweets regarding the latest developments in Labour ranks from international relations academic Dr James Vaughan:




The Times of London (19 February):




And (hat tip: Jonathan Hoffman) at the instigation of Mrs May's government, in order to embarrass Corbyn, the House of Commons (20 February) will debate [update: has debated] the topic "Antisemitism in modern Society"!

Meanwhile, it's perhaps no surprise to learn that notorious antisemite Alison Chabloz is a keen Corbynista.

Good news from Oz: notorious antisemite and general fruitcake David Icke has been denied entry into the country.