British Brogues and Bluster

In London on 25 January, at a demonstration by Inminds supporting the American-Iranian Teheran-based Press TV journalist Marzieh Hashemi (born Melanie Franklin), who was held in a US prison on a visit to her homeland, a Brummie (?)-accented call for Muslims to emulate Da Lobby or "be picked off one by one":

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq_Tkxpw0gw

North of the Border Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign chief Mick Napier inveighs on Facebook against India

and poses a question to which I'm sure 99 "Zionists" (of all creeds and none) out of 100 could give an immediate accurate answer

and is met with Muslim activist Ibrahim (born Brian) Hewitt with enthusiam:

That so-called "Trojan horse" wily old Mick refers to is the Stand Up to Racism organisation, whose conference just held in Glasgow:

leaving the Zionist entity's foes unhappy:

As for the Glasgow Friends of Israel, they're unfazed:

Among their subsequent tweets:

For Jennie Formby's remarks see here

Incidentally, among SUTR events coming soon:

 and (nice poster boy!)

Corbynistas Step Up Their War on Da Joos (updated)

As reported here:

At its annual conference, this year in Liverpool,

'The British Labour Party has decided to support a freeze on arms sales to Israel, a first in the country's history.

As the proposal was put forward, hundreds of pro-Palestinian Labour delegates stood and waved their flags inside the conference hall in Liverpool, chanting "Free Palestine!" and turning the hall into a sea of Palestinian flags.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) had handed out more than a thousand flags to delegates.

"We have witnessed extraordinary scenes of solidarity today and the Labour Party has done the right thing by recognising the longstanding injustice of Israel's violation of Palestinian rights," said PSC chair High [sic; i.e. Hugh] Lanning.

"This is an important step forward in building solidarity with Palestinians within Labour and we hope the leadership will listen to the will of the party on this issue."

.... The motion - moved by Harlow Constituency Labour Party (CLP) and seconded by Wolverhampton South West CLP - is the first on Palestine to be heard at the party's conference in many years."

Here's the spiteful motion:

And here's how delegate Hilary Wise (a former editor of Palestine News) spoke in its favour (watch the video here):

 Another speech

 Voila! A celebratory 45 seconds from Iran's PressTV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2fv3B8Eo2Q

Mark Regev (hat tip: Ian):

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNKlm1TPjLA

Earlier:

See Corbyn slither and slide re the above in an interview with Jon Snow here (topic begins at 4:45):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtqLiNE5fcs

Meanwhile, here's Pat Condell on Jew-hatred (hat tip: Ian).

Corbynista Antisemitism: Ray's beams of light

Antisemitic trash spruiked on Facebook today by Tony Gratrex

Although I've always considered him to the political left of myself, I've a soft spot for British blogger Ray Cook.

Despite probably considering me to the political right of himself, Ray, who's Jewish,  was the person who, in 2010, suggested that I start a blog of my own, and persuaded my hesitant self to do so.

Ray's is a calm, rational voice in the pro-Israel blogosphere, and on the subject of Corbynista antisemitism he is all the more effective because of that.  His literary skills are evident in the following sardonic commentary, posted to Facebook last week, and reproduced here with his permission

The accompanying images have been gathered by me, and those from the 'secret' Facebook group known as 'Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party Forum' come from the collection of Gillian Lazarus, who explains, inter alia:

Well, with friends like Gratrex Sizer should be an expert!

 '.... There is an almost obsessive antagonism to Israel and to Jews, making an exception for Jews who actively denounce Israel; Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and the late Hajo Meyer being much cited. 

These views do not usually get challenged by other members. 

They are permitted by the administrators. Calling the Talmud Satanic is not reasoned criticism of Israel. 

The administrators post articles and videos, usually from Mint Press, Russia Today, Palestinian news channels, Evolve, Mondoweiss and Skwawkbox which are universally hostile to Israel.

Within a short space of time, these posts attract comments denigrating Jews in general.

 If anyone disagrees, they are abused by other members of the group.

 On the few occasions when I have posted something questioning the totally negative coverage of Israel, my comments were deleted by administrators.

The Al-Jazeera film ‘the Lobby’ is posted most days as an educational resource.

The literacy of forum members is diverse. I find it hard to imagine that Tories and Zionists would infiltrate these forums and employ so many different levels of orthographic competence.

It is argued every day on the forums that Israel is murderous, sadistic, criminal and internationally puissant. The videos are not usually clear and one cannot see what is happening in them, so a member will insert a tagline, explaining that the video depicts some monstrous behaviour inflicted on Palestinians by Israelis. I’m not saying that this never happens but that, in the videos shown, anything could be happening. It is like looking at an abstract painting.  The explanatory text next to it tells you that the painting shows the artist’s inner turmoil when choosing between a tuna baguette and an avocado wrap. Without the text, one would not know....'

 Over to Ray Cook: 

'It seems the more we Jews complain about antisemitism the more people reveal their distaste for Jews and make every excuse to pooh-pooh, dismiss, ridicule and trash our fears.

If you are Muslim, gay, black, trans, disabled, the same people are tripping over themselves to stand with you to signal their virtue. All the more reason to cherish those who are not Jews yet stand with us in these troubled times.

Geoffrey Robertson, for the Palestine Return Centre!Click here

Of course, we must understand that were it not for the existence of Israel there would be no antisemitism. It's Israel's existence that is the problem because it has to compete for virtue with one of the groups so beloved by the not-antisemitic, anti-Zionists. Anyone who can claim to be a) a victim b) oppressed c) not white d) not colonialist e) not European f) all of the above but with a propensity for murder and/or religious/political fanaticism, misogyny, homophobia or Holocaust denial is embraced and welcomed to the fold of the International Socialist Solidarity Movement. But not ISIS - ooh no. They are too clearly worse even than the Zios - therefore they must be covert Zios!! So you mustn't like them, but it is also ok to explain their existence as a reaction to the imperialism of the West which was/is financed by Jews. Nothing to do with religion.

A reference to Margaret Hodge, MP

You cannot be an antisemite, anyway, because not all Semites are Jews. The word was coined to include the ancient Egyptians and Hittites, of course

To qualify as a full member of the Righteous against Zion you must also understand Jews better than Jews themselves. You understand their thinking and their psychosis. You understand their motivation. You are far better placed to define who is a Jew than Jews. Judaism is purely a religion, not a people or a nation. What do we know, eh?

And, if it happens, you can claim to be a Jew, even if you don't practise Judaism and, therefore, are not a Jew by your own definition, you are, however über-qualified to pontificate about Judaism, Zionism and Jewish history, even if you have not the slimmest connection to the Jewish community. And not only that, If you can claim to be an anti-Zionist Jew you are guaranteed a place in the pantheon of the Virtuous.

You have to support murder or, preferably, genocide to get full approval as a victim. Do not subscribe any moral agency to those you support - they are immune and have no responsibility for their actions. This is why Maoris, Aboriginals, Native Americans, Tibetans, Crimeans, Rohingya, Kurds are not on the radar. But above all, don't defend Israel - at all. Physically, in writing, politically.

You have to regularly compare Israel to Nazis and claim they are committing genocide against the 'Palestinians'. This reinforces your Group credentials. It's purely a coincidence that this is deliberately offensive to all Jews. These lies are necessary because facts are fluid when it comes to class war.

It has nothing to do with Jews. It's that terrible idea - Zionism - that is the problem. Zionism, the movement which became necessary due to unhinged, illogical hatred against Jews so that they sought to find peace and self-determination away from antisemites, is now used as an excuse to attempt to deprive them of the refuge which they made Jews need in the first place. After all, we were so safe in Europe, weren't we? We were so safe in the Arab world, weren't we?

So we should just shut up, leave the Middle East, stop being successful, stop being too clever for our own good, stop slaughtering animals, stop circumcision, stop wearing funny clothes, stop being too white and, well, stop being Jewish, I guess; then we'll be safe. Sounds like a good deal to me. Any takers?

Disclaimer: this post does not contain any irony because, as a British Zionist, I cannot fathom its intellectual nuances.'

 Futhermore:

'My response to a Times comment on an article about Corbyn's leading the party into a nightmare of its own making.

The comment in question ran as follows:

 "A balanced article, but with a flaw. It is rather dodgy about Hayo Meijer. It says that Meyer “likened the Israeli government to the Nazis” without further comment. The meeting where this picture was taking is one in the sequence of international meetings organised by IJAN (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network). IJAN condemns the misuse of the Holocaust by the Israeli government to abstain the Palestinian population of its legal rights. Meyer always started his lectures by explicit pointing out that you can’t compare the fate of the Palestinians with the ‘endlösung’. A lot of Jews who survived the concentration camps have later declared that the period before the ‘kristallnacht’ was the most severe, because of the enormous uncertainty about what was going to happen. After the ‘kristallnacht’ everything was clear. The issue is loss of identity. Secular Jews saw themselves not as Jew, but as German. Suddenly this identity was taken away from them. Soon after that they even lost their human identity and they were classifies as ‘untermensch’. This process of dehumanisation was Hago Meijer’s subject. A famous quote of him is: “before you can dehumanise someone else, you first have to dehumanise yourself”. And it is exactly this process of dehumanising the Palestinians of which he was afraid would damage the Jewish community on the long term."

My response:

"The idea Israel 'dehumanises' Palestinians is at best an exaggeration, at worst a libel. The opposite is definitely true, in fact; you only have to pay close attention to the filth spewed out by the PA media and Hamas and the brainwashing of children to see it is the Jewish Israelis who are dehumanised and this aids the ease with which Palestinians can be persuaded to stab, run over, blow up and shoot Jews.

Whereas it is true that restrictions on movement, being at the mercy of soldiers etc. has a demoralising effect, the response is not a desperate push for negotiation about borders and settlements, but a murderous rampage.

Prior to the First Intifada there was no security fence, no checkpoints and free movement. That Intifada came after agreement on final borders and other issues was so close that Arafat had to do something to change the status quo or he would have to agree to a state. Since then, at least 3 more offers have been rejected because no offer would ever be enough for those who dehumanise Jews daily and seek their destruction.

The idea that the State of Israel uses the Holocaust to justify its 'treatment' of Palestinians is pure antisemitic hate. 20% of the population of Israel is Arab Muslim and they have the highest standard of living and the most freedom of any Arabs anywhere (and yes, there is prejudice and, yes, there are problems, but these can be politically resolved over time). The only reason the Arabs of the territories don't have the same freedom is because they refuse to accept the existence of a Jewish State and are brainwashed into believing such historically illiterate lies that the Israelis only arrived after '48 and that they are all Europeans or Khazars and they have no connection to the land etc. etc. and it's all the result of the Holocaust (Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, for example under the Muslim Ottoman Turks). A Holocaust many of them, including Abbas, either deny or belittle.

If you want to negotiate a State and you really want a 2 state solution then you don't go about it by seeking the destruction of the other side. Corbyn supports these views, whatever he says, and he is especially keen to embrace Jews who share these egregious views because it gives cover to his own prejudices. [Emphasis added]

This is not to say Israel is completely innocent, but the rhetoric against it from the Muslim world and the far Left in this country and outside is so shrill and disproportionate, not to say frequently mendacious, that reasoned and honest discussion of a very complex historical and legal problem is virtually impossible in the media and online.

Corbyn aligns himself with, and is the cheerleader for the politics of the bully and the antisemite who broach no discussion or questioning because they might be confronted with the truth. This is why so many of the meetings he has are behind closed doors or exclude 'Zionists' who might challenge lies and exaggeration or half-truths and conspiracy theories as well as blatant antisemitic tropes.

Former PM Gordon Brown attempts damage control

Corbyn is a vicarious 'insurgent'. He goes around appropriating international conflicts in Israel, Ireland, Iraq, Syria etc. and local politics to his own internationalist, anti-capitalist anti-colonialist, anti-West world view. He then tells us with delusional hubris he does it in the pursuit of peace without a scintilla of evidence to support that statement.

All that would be acceptable in terms of free speech, but the problem is that in so doing he befriends murderers and terrorists and enemies of this country and sanitises them.

He may soon be Prime Minister of this country. Alarmingly, there appear to be millions that don't see him for what he is, or worse, do see it and don't care or actually agree with him. For Jews, perhaps more than most people, that is a scenario that is burned into their psyche and that is why their response is so anguished."'

"Israel Has Been Made an Alibi for a New Climate of anti-Semitism on the Left"

Time to re-read the late lamented Professor Norman Geras's post here on "Alibi Antisemitism".

Here's the merest taster:

"In Marx's essay On the Jewish Question, written in 1844, there are two contrasting sets of themes vis-à-vis the Jews. In Part II of the essay Marx deploys some well-known negative stereotypes, according to which: the mundane basis of Judaism is self-interest, egoism, or, as Marx also calls it, 'an anti-social element'; the worldly religion of the Jew is huckstering; and the Jew's jealous god – 'in face of which no other god may exist' – is money.

The emancipation of the Jews is said by him to be equivalent to the emancipation of mankind from Judaism. Part I, on the other hand, presents a version of secular democracy in which the Jews, like any religious or other particularistic grouping, may retain their religion and their separate identity consistently with the state itself rising above such particularisms, and rendering these politically irrelevant.

Though Marx himself regards this – political emancipation – as an incomplete form of emancipation, he nonetheless articulates a genuine type of moral universalism: different faiths, ethnicities, peoples, have a right to assert their specific identities and shared beliefs within the free secular order of the democratic state. The distinctions between such groups just cease to have a political bearing. Marx does not extend this argument beyond the single state to the global arena (that not being part of the discursive context), but the correlate at international level of what he argues in Part I of On the Jewish Question is today embodied in the notion of a right of nations to self-determination, as affirmed in Article 1.2 of the United Nations Charter.

The contrasting themes of Marx's essay may be taken as emblematic of the state of affairs obtaining today between Jews and the left. It is not difficult to understand the long affinity there has been between them. Common traditions of opposition to injustice, the commitment within liberal and socialist thought to ideals of equality (whether this is equality under the law or equality in substantive economic terms), opposition to racist and other similar types of prejudice – these things have long served to attract Jews to organizations and movements of the left, and they still do.

[Continues Prof Geras:]

At the same time, that affinity has now been compromised by the existence of a new climate of anti-Semitic opinion within the left. This climate of opinion affects a section of the left only, and not the whole of it. But it is a substantial section. Its convenient alibi is the state of Israel – by which I mean that Israel is standardly invoked to deflect the charge that there is anything of anti-Semitism at work. Israel, so the story goes, is a delinquent state and, for many of those who regard it so, a non-legitimate one – colonialist, imperialist, vehicle of oppression and what have you.

 Similarly, diaspora Jews who defend Israel within their home countries are not seen as the conduit of Jewish interests and/or opinion in the normal way of any other democratic articulation; they are treated, rather, as a dubious force – the notorious 'Jewish lobby' – as if their organized existence were somehow improper.

These themes pitch those who sponsor them out of a genuine, and into a spurious, type of universalism: one where the Jews are special amongst other groups in being obliged to settle for forms of political freedom in which their identity may not be asserted collectively; Jews must be satisfied, instead, merely with the rights available to them as individuals. I call this a spurious universalism because people's rights to live as they will (subject to the usual constraint of not harming others) is an incomplete right – a truncated and impaired right – if it does not include the freedom to associate with others of their own kind.

To repeat: Israel has been made an alibi for a new climate of anti-Semitism on the left." [Emphasis added]

 (All tweets pictured above are current ones.)  For Corbyn's eyeroll see here

Marvellous Melanie on British Leftist Antisemitism

Nobody tells it better than Ms Melanie Phillips.  A must-watch (or listen-to) video.

Nearly an hour's worth of footage, but this wonderful woman is worth every minute.

To quote the uploader:

 British Columnist for The Times, Melanie Phillips, critiques attempts
by the Left to equate Antisemitism with Islamophobia, distorting the
truth about Islamism in the process. JBS exclusive coverage of an
ISGAP program from the ISGAP Center in NYC.

An Anglo-Jewish Hero's Night Out (video)

To quote David Collier, describing the execrable leftist and as-a-Jew anti-Israel event he attended yesterday in London:

".... Then after [each panellist spoke] for a few minutes each, in the spirit of good comradeship the microphone began to move around the floor. One after the other repeated the sentiments of the panel. ‘It is a witch-hunt’.  ‘Antisemitism is a right wing disease’. ‘Left wingers hate all forms of racism, especially Islamophobia’. Over and over again, ‘Islamophobia’, ‘Islamophobia’, ‘Islamophobia’. Several suggested ‘hiding the hate’ might be a good idea for tactical reasons (something to bear in mind). Eventually, someone said it, this whole episode isn’t even about antisemitism, it is about Islamophobia, ‘they’ (I assume Zionists?) ‘are using this to attack Muslims’. Loud applause.

 A special mention needs to go to Jonathan Hoffman. Jonathan is a vocal Zionist presence at some of these events. When the microphone arrived at his door. He made full use of it. You can hear his comments below. Fighting the fight the way he does, is I assure you, emotionally charged and draining. This was an extremely hostile room of radical thought. He deserves both our appreciation and gratitude."

Richard Millett's video shows why (be sure to see his description of this latest London anti-Israel fest too):

Good onya, Jonathan.  כל הכבוד

Needless to say, the abominable leftists have edited our hero and the heckling out of their videos:

In Australia, Schoolkids Study Palestinian Activist's Play

Two months before their upcoming conference at Sydney University (13-15 May), entitled "Socialism for the 21st century," Aussie far leftists, who include Green Left activists and members of the Socialist Alliance, have just announced the line-up for their inevitable session bashing Israel.

Meanwhile, another Israel-undermining initiative, altogether smarter and more subtle, which has infiltrated the school system in the Aussie state of Victoria, appears to have gone relatively unnoticed. 

I refer to the fact that the play City by the Sea, by poet, writer and activist Samah Sabawi, a Gaza-born (1967) Australian/Canadian, is now on the 2016 playlist for school students taking the Victorian Certificate of Education.  It means that students in years 11 and 12 will be attending performances of the play at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne in May.

An official document listing the plays selected for study in 2016 states, inter alia:

'Students will undertake an assessment task based on the performance of a play on the Playlist. Question/s will also be set on the performances of the plays in the end-of-year Drama written examination.

While the VCAA [Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority] considers all plays on this list suitable for study, teachers should be aware that in some instances sensitivity might be needed where particular issues or themes that are explored may be challenging for students. Teachers are advised to familiarise themselves with the treatment of these issues and themes within the context and world of the play prior to students viewing the play and/or studying the playscript. This might involve reading the playscript, talking with the theatre company, researching the playscript, the work of the playwright, director and/or company, attending a preview performance and/or discussing the matter with the school administration. Information provided in this notice about themes and/or language used in specific plays is a guide only. In some plays, suggestive and potentially offensive words and phrases are used. This language may invite adverse comment from some areas of the community' [Emphasis added]

Tailor-made, wouldn't you say, for teachers who may be left-wing anti-Zionists, and indeed any teacher who relies for information about the Middle East on such biased sources as the Fairfax Press (The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald), the ABC and SBS, wittingly or unwittingly to poison young minds?

The document continues:

"Tales of a City by the Sea explores life in Gaza through the lens of a generation who have grown up in a state under occupation. It tells a story of people who are experiencing very difficult life circumstances, but who are resisting being defined by their suffering. Before the play begins, the cast mingles with the audience and introduce themselves as actors who are there to share a story. There is no effort to create the illusion that they are their characters. The device of Brechtian alienation emotionally separates the audience from the story to allow them to take a critical view of the action. The actors are visible at all times, when onstage and offstage. Actors who play several characters transform in full view, through costume changes, gesture, and voice. While the story specifically takes place in 2008 during the siege of Gaza, the symbolic staging of the play does not include scenic elements that define place or time. The non-naturalistic set, composed of a set of white sheets on wires, has a makeshift sensibility. Time and place are indicated by transformations of lighting and set, which is operated by the actors as part of the action of the performance. A singer performs traditional songs a capella in Arabic throughout these changes, punctuating the action while connecting to the audience.The play combines scenes from life with conventions of epic theatre, including direct address, poetry, and breaking the fourth wall."

To quote the Sydney Morning Herald during 2014:

'The play tells the story of Jomana, a Palestinian woman living in the Shati' (beach) refugee camp in Gaza who falls in love with Rami, an American-Palestinian doctor who arrives on the Free Gaza boats in August 2008. Theirs is a relationship met with more challenges than most; at one point Rami makes the perilous journey through the underground tunnels that connect Gaza to Egypt.

The script – which was born out of poetry that Sabawi wrote during the first Israeli attack on Gaza in 2008-2009 – is based on real events, with fictionalised characters, taking the audience through "a year in the life of Gaza"....

 Liz Jones, artistic director of La Mama, said she was struck by what she calls a "beautiful work" when she first heard the script at a public reading two years ago.

"It's essentially a love story, as I see it, as well as a very passionate plea for compassion, harmony and a peaceful solution to all the troubles in the Middle East – an area that is seen as quite 'other' in this country," she says.

"It deals with the people involved as deeply human – as loving, as suffering, as caring, as we all aspire to be - and I think that's very important because it's not the way people from the Middle East are usually presented."

A longtime vocal advocate for Palestinian rights, Sabawi recently made headlines when she was taken off the panel at an Israel-Palestine debate at the Wheeler Centre, only to be promptly reinstated four hours later. At the time, Sabawi said that she thought her ejection from the panel was due to pressure from those who object to her support for the BDS [Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions] movement against Israel.

Tales of the City and the Sea is undeniably political, but Sabawi stresses that its message is a universal one. "It's looking at how human beings – not just Palestinians – at how human beings react in extraordinary circumstances and at times of war," she says.

"It's the idea of connectivity, it's the idea of defying the fragmentation of the Palestinian nationals ... before the last attack on Gaza began I was in constant contact with artists in Gaza and the West Bank preparing for this and everyone was saying, 'We're all one people.'"

Not convinced of the play's power as propaganda?  Then read this:

'Tales of a City by the Sea is the story of two people who meet and fall in love in the besieged Gaza strip, woven together from the actual experiences of people living under occupation.

Jomana, a Palestinian woman living in a Gaza refugee camp, falls in love with Rami, an American-born Palestinian doctor and activist who has just arrived on one of the first Free Gaza boats in 2008. Their love is met with relentless string of challenges. Ultimately, Rami must decide between returning to his comfortable life in Texas and staying in Palestine with Jomana. Choosing to stay means leaving his family and career behind for a life ravaged by war, while leaving means not only losing Jomana but also ignoring the plight of the Palestinians.

The play premiered in November 2014, with simultaneous productions at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne and the AlRowwad Cultural and Theatre Society, in Aida Refugee Camp in Palestine. La Mama saw a sold out season and both productions received passionate responses from audiences and critics alike. Hundreds posted on social media, encouraging their friends to see it and asking for remounts in other places.

Starting in May 2016, we want to take Tales of a City by the Sea on tour!....

We believe that sharing Palestinian stories is a key step towards a just and peaceful resolution, and that a view into the realities of life under occupation has the power to change hearts and minds.

“This gripping play is an act of resistance that implores its audience to take heed.”

— The Age'  [Emphasis added]

 Not for nothing have those connected with the play expressed their delight in its exposure to school students:

Congratulations to all of us!   Palestinian play highlighting challenges of life in Gaza during the war of 2008-2009 has been selected for the 2016 Victorian Certificate of Education Drama list.   The play Tales of a City by the Sea by Palestinian Australian playwright Samah Sabawi was one of 16 of more than 50 submissions selected for the 3 VCE Playlists.   As a result, it will be seen and studied by hundreds of year 11 & 12 Theatre students in Victoria and it will be published by Currency Press and disseminated among these students.

 There's more delight now: