On Gaza, So Very Corbyn, So Very Bartolotti

The tissue of lies associated with the flare-ups on the Gaza-Israel border in recent days has been well-investigated by Honest Reporting, here.

That the usual suspects are making the most of the opportunity to demonise Israel is, of course, to be expected, and in Australia as well as in London and elsewhere anti-Israel activists, typically a strange yet familiar concoction of far leftists and their Islamic allies, have been on the march to demonstrate support for the so-called "Great Return March".

Through the lens of anti-Israel campaigner Alex Seymour (aka Seymour Alexander), a glimpse of the bourgeois Corbynista types who made common cause with Muslim defenders of Hamas to protest in London's Whitehall on Saturday at Israel's treatment of (ahem) "peaceful demonstrators" at "a family picnic":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVmY--vGTgQ

How very Corbynesque of Corbyn to leave an Israel-demonising message on Facebook to be read to the demonstrators, a message that maintained, inter alia, the extremist sentiment that the so-called "refugees" (the only hereditary refugees in the world) have a "right to return to their homes" (with all that would mean for the continuation of the state of Israel!) 

"The majority of the people of the Gaza Strip are stateless refugees, subject to a decade long blockade and the denial of basic human and political rights. More than two thirds are reliant on humanitarian assistance, with limited access to the most basic amenities, such as water and electricity.

They have a right to protest against their appalling conditions and the continuing blockade and occupation of Palestinian land, and in support of their right to return to their homes and their right to self-determination."  [Emphasis added]

How does the bit about Hamas go in Lord Sugar's delicious poetic tweet on Corbyn, that I reproduced  a few days ago?  Ah. yes!

Easier for the inhabitants of Gaza to blame Israel for real and imagined troubles than the fanatical bloodthirsty hard men to whom they are in thraldom. 

No sympathy at all for the Israelis, facing the threat of violation of their borders ("invasion" in plain language):

On the same day that demo was held in London, half a world away in Melbourne the usual contingents of Muslims and lefties demonstrated, affirming their support for

"the bravery and resilience of protesting Gazan refugees....

Residents of Gaza are demanding their Right of Return to these erased and ethnically cleansed cities in commemoration of 70 years of Nakba, or Catastrophe, which marks the beginning of genocide and zionist occupation.

We demand the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador of [sic] Australia. We call on Australian politicians to break political and economic ties and condemn the massacre in Gaza"

And chanting that old pregnant-with-meaning catch cry "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free".  Below: a small section of the marching crowd, ahead of the inevitable gaggle of "Socialist Alliance" placard-wavers.

More on the Melbourne demo here (from which I reproduce this photo of a brave bystander):

On Sunday a similar event occurred in downtown Sydney:

Recognise anyone?  Yes, behind the flag in the lower photo that's Stephen Sizer's soulmate, Father Dave Smith, in clerical garb and keffiyeh.  In the left foreground is academic Nick Riemer, next to Palestinian activist Shamikh Badra, and (far right) the far left's Pip Hinman.

Meanwhile, today by the verbose deputy leader of the Welsh Greens, an anti-Israel stalwart of an often eyebrow-raising kind (as regular readers of my blog will be aware):

How very green of that Green.

Does she not know?  Has she not heard? 

There are no Israeli troops occupying Gaza.  Nor, of course, Jewish "settlers".  None since 2005.

As for the legal status of Israel and the West Bank, an interesting interview with Professor Eugene Kontorovich here

An Israeli's petition regarding Hamas here

A Green Tickled Pink

The zany Medea Benjamin

co-founder in 2002 of the infamous Codepink organisation

recently wrote an as-a-Jew pro-BDS piece in The Guardian that has been replicated elsewhere.
Here, for instance, with Ms Benjamin looking rather demure in the accompanying photo:

 A rather different look by her at this anti-Ahava protest:

And a very different look indeed from her mullah-pleasing apparel at an Israel-bashing conference in Teheran:

Being an inveterate Israel-basher and BDS activist herself, the Welsh Greens' deputy leader Pippa Bartolotti has shared the article to her Facebook page with, inter alia, the following introduction:

Incidentally Bartolotti's still unmoved by requests to remove this obscenity from her Facebook post that attracted some 470 comments, many from angry "Zionists":

Her response to such a request (a response that at least has the merit of enabling us to remind ourselves of what slime many Greens are made of):

[Updated] From UK Green Pippa, What a Lotta Rotta

Among the hysterical leftist reactions to Donald Trump's announcement that the United States' Embassy in Israel will be moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are these posts, from the Israel-hater who used to head the Green Party of Wales, is still its deputy leader, and who aimed to be leader of the UK Greens.

I refer, of course, to Pippa Bartolotti, "Flytilla" alumna whose bloopers include carrying a very dodgy Syrian flag, and who's on record as declaring  in November last year that the Rothchilds [sic] won the US presidential election and who in March this year "liked" a Facebook post linking Israel to the 9/11 atrocity.

Ahead of a rally of Israel-haters in Cardiff at the weekend to protest the Trump announcement, Ms Bartolotti has pronounced on social media, to a predictably enthusiastic reception from those who wish Israel ill, or worse:

and

Of course, this reflects not only this inveterate Israel-hater's own ignorance and spleen, as well as that of many other UK lefties.  It is a damning indictment of the preoccupation with one tiny country (dat of da Joos) so many Greens have, preferring to focus on the supposed crimes of Israel in preference to virtually any other foreign issue.

Meanwhile:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=3Pbe5H2aEY0

Update:  The JC has now reported on Ms Bartolotti's disgraceful posts, which have drawn numerous antagonistic comments from pro-Israel Facebook readers, Jewish and non-Jewish.  Ms Bartolotti is keeping a low profile, it seems, in face of the well-merited onslaught against her.

It will be instructive to see the outcome of this letter, sent to Caroline Lucas:

More Joo-baiting from this wretched ignorant woman:

Balfour, Beasts and Bartolotti

They've been gearing up for quite a time now, the Israel haters behind the Balfour Project (it has been claimed, rightly or wrongly, that the person who registered the domain name was a certain soon-to-be-ex-vicar).

Here's a photograph of two members of the Scottish Parliament, posing gleefully outside Holyrood with  anti-Balfour propaganda.  Both are in favour of a unilaterally recognised state of  Palestine.

On the left of the picture as we face it stands Sandra White MSP, of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP).

Got into a beastly spot of bother a while back did short and and perhaps not so sweet Sandra, co-convenor of the cross-party group on Palestine at Holyrood. 

She retweeted an antisemitic cartoon showing a porcine beastie with wee porcine beasties representing Israel, Isis, Al Qaeda and so on suckling at its teats and the word "Rothschild" written across its belly.

This caused outrage in many quarters, including calls for her prosecution, but with the SNP's backing Sandra weathered the storm.  The retweet had been made "accidentally".  Apparently.

Standing on the right of the above photo is Benenden-educated Labour MSP Claudia Beamish, who's prone to call the Arabs the indigenous people of Israel.  Her Jewish great-grandma knew better.

Claudia's father, you see, was one of the Big Beasts of the Israel-hating movement, and a Tory backbencher at that.  He was  none other than Colonel Sir Tufton Beamish (l917-89), made a life peer as Lord Chelwood in 1974.  Outspokenly hostile to Israel's creation, he was a member of CAABU's general council (I blogged about that particular nest of vipers here) and later formed a pro-Arab pressure group within the Tory Party.

Sir Tufton was halachically a Jew, though he seems to have concealed the fact. His mother was the sister of Sir Ernest Simon and his maternal grandmother was an active shul member in Manchester and a Zionist, no less!

At least he didn't call himself an as-a-Jew!

Now that the centennial year of the Balfour Declaration has arrived a number of anti-Balfour initiatives besides the Balfour Project are in existence.

We read here that former Lib Dem (now independent) life peer Jenny Tonge, former Lib Dem MP David Ward, and Labour life peer Lord Ahmed

'are fronting the Balfour Apology Campaign, led by the London-based Palestinian Return Centre, which is seeking an official apology from the British government for issuing the Declaration “which has caused so much damage”....'

We all know what would happen to Israel if the Return Centre had its wicked way.  And all members of that trio have form when it comes to Jews and Israel: all, as that article reminds us, have made antisemitic remarks. It adds:

'Simon Johnson, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said it was “a ridiculous argument” and “a futile and hate-filled campaign”.

He added: “What they are doing is asking for an apology for issuing a non-binding statement of commitment that was the first step towards the establishment of a Jewish homeland. That is as close to denying the right of Israel to exist as I can think of, and should be called out as anti-Semitic.”'

And here's someone who should be called out as antisemitic, Pippa Bartolotti, formerly leader of the Welsh Greens and now, to quote her official Facebook page, their "deputy spokesperson".

 She has displayed her antisemitic credentials before, as I have shown, with references to the "Roth[s]childs".  (Google Daphne Anson Pippa Bartolotti for my previous posts on this lady).

Pippa Bartolotti has given her ten pence worth on the Balfour Declaration.

Here she is on 2 March this year:

 A conspiracy theorist gets into the act:

And who hastened to "Like" that 9/11 Israel did it conspiracy theory? Step forward the lady herself:

Red Caps, Pussy Hats, & Greens Leader Pippa on the "Rothchilds" Again

First, the red caps.

They're what the smart gals in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, have been wearing on top of their niqabs, while taking part in a mass parade and military display in support of the Houthi movement.   Brandishing weapons, this chapter of the Israel-hating Sisterhood  chanted: "Death to America! Death to Israel! A curse upon the Jews!"

Memri.org video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktp4ZVtHymY  The parade was broadcast on the Yemeni Al-Masirah TV channel on 17 January this year.)

Second, the "pussy hats".

They're the specially knitted pink or red chapeaux with the little pointed ears that anti-Trump feministas (who typically say not one word of condemnation of Islamic misogyny but, rather, tend to be in the forefront of the Useful Idiot and anti-Israel movement) have been sporting at anti-Trump marches this weekend.

Why didn't these women march in support of the sexually assaulted women of Cologne in January last year?   Against the Muslim youths who have made Sweden the rape capital of Europe?  Against the truly benighted patriarchal attitudes that Islam is introducing into Europe?

The hats can be seen at this march in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the crowd is at least seemingly good natured (the video bears last year's date in error).

How nauseating yet utterly predictable, given the Left's proven track record of hypocritical absurdity, to see, here, "Hanoi Jane" smiling approvingly at Miley Cyrus, whose obscene stage acts have done more to degrade women and perpetuate the "sex object" stereotype than Trump's admittedly appalling adolescent-level lewd boastings have!

Crazy feministas making hijabs for themselves (out of the American flag):

Malevolent madness in Merkeland: at Berlin march an anti-Trump feminist intones a certain Islamist supremacy phrase while other feminists listen enraptured!:

One of the gung-ho "protesters from around the world" is British Greens politician Pippa Bartolotti, who's taken part in the march in Cardiff.

But demonstrating against Trump is not all Pippa has been getting up to in the past few days.

She's had a go at the "Rothchilds" again.  Remember last time, in November, regarding the US election?

 Now, in linking to a video:

The response:

Also among the supporters of anti-Trump demos, Baroness Tonge:

  Whose Facebook friends include the poster to Tonge's wall of this abhorrent nonsense:
 

Time to defriend such antisemites, Your Ladyship. After all, you're not an antisemite yourself.  Are you?

"The Roth[s]childs Won The US Election": British Greens politician

Anti-Israel Welsh Greens leader Pippa Bartolotti, another British leftist manifesting the antisemitism that's now rife and respectable on that side of politics:

Meanwhile, Senator Tom Cotton on how Trump can dump the Iran deal:

"Some Might Brand Me Anti-Semitic, But I Really Don't Care": Welsh Greens leader

I've blogged several times about the anti-Israel activities of Welsh Greens leader Pippa Bartolotti, for instance (do take a look, for the second one in particular is a wonder to behold!) here and here

Ms Bartolotti certainly deserves a place in the pantheon (if that's the right word!) of British anti-Israel politicians identified in this blog post by the redoubtable Edgar Davidson.

In recent days Ms Bartolotti has shared the following cartoon posted by an anti-Israel resident of Cardiff (whose Facebook page is filled with such matter) and introduced the cartoon with a defiant introductory comment of her own:

More currently from the fragrant lady:

 A friend of mine has a formula that he reckons works half or even two-thirds of the time.  He calls it Cherchez Le Juif. He says "if a person's more antisemitic than they ought to be, look for the Jewish grandparent".

Both Ken Livingstone and Jeremy Corbyn have suggested that they might well have a Jewish forebear: but have yet to produce the goods.  (Dear old granny, in Ken's case, I seem to recall.)  Good figleaf, say what?

But in this case?

Voilà!

Refugees: Rot, Rort & Reason

First of all, here's UKIP's Nigel Farage, speaking last week:

For a splendid example of the sheer perverse rot spewed by leftists, even on the distaff side, here’s feminist (yes, feminist!) Laurie Penny, ranting recently in the New Statesman following her return to Britain after a year away.  Yes, there’s the inevitable condemnation of “Islamophobia” and the inevitable facile and highly contentious analogy between today's "refugee" crisis and  the plight of persecuted European Jewry during the 1930s, and yes, there's the perception that all cultures, even egregiously misogynistic ones, are created equal, and that all migrant groups bring “cultural enrichment” to their host nations. 

“…. It’s not that Britain wasn’t a racist, parochial place before. But the xenophobic, Islamophobic and, most obviously, the anti-immigrant rhetoric has ramped up everywhere.

…. Fascism happens when a culture fracturing along social lines is encouraged to unite against a perceived external threat. It’s the terrifying “not us” that gives the false impression that there is an “us” to defend.

…. The chosen minority must summon the fears of every social class at once. That’s why migrants, the bogeyman of choice, are presented as a paradox, just as the Jews were in the 1930s.

…. Perhaps those of us lucky enough to be European citizens should take a deep breath and realise that maybe, just maybe, our feelings might not be the most important thing here. That maybe if thousands of people are desperate enough to risk death to come to our shores, whether or not we’re entirely comfortable having them move to our area should not be the deciding factor in policymaking.

…. Notionally more compassionate news outlets take care to remind us that immigrants actually “enrich” our culture and bring economic benefits. The fact that this is entirely true does not make it any less of an offensive argument. Migrants do not come to the west from war-torn Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan or any other nation that has been colonised and occupied and then bombed and plundered for resources over centuries of imperial and post-imperial exploitation chiefly to enrich the lives of westerners and liven up our god-awful cuisine with some actual flavour. They come out of fear for their lives. They come for asylum and security and opportunity, and they are perfectly entitled to do so, if not by the law of the land then by the principles of justice and human decency.

…. Europeans are quite capable of sitting calmly in the bubbling water of cultural bigotry until it boils away every shred of compassion we have left. That’s the real threat to our “way of life”.’ 

Compare the above bilge with these admirably clear-sighted passages from an article in the August issue of the Australian conservative intellectual journal Quadrant by editor John O’Sullivan:

“…. Refugees are not the only people on the move.  Economic migrants in their millions want to leave places like Afghanistan, Somalia and Burma and settle in the welfarist West.  Enjoying fewer rights than refugees under international law, they seek either to pass as refugees or to break into the West and establish a modern legalistic version of squatters’ rights.  Unlike the passive DPs of post-war Europe, they come from a potentially limitless pool of future migrants.  Given both their numbers and their willingness to override our immigration and other laws, they plausibly threaten our security, identity and social cohesion, especially under a multiculturalism that treats all cultures as equal or that (in reality) privilege the culture of the Other.

…. International human rights law, UN treaty compliance rules, and the influence of NGOs internationally are now among many constraints on national policy-making.  An alternative structure of law, regulation and political authority competes with national governments in refugee policy and human rights law…. Citizenship, borders, democratic decision-making – these are all subject to external supervision.  Lawyers and activists even assert that governments have no rights to control their borders because migration is itself a human right.

…. Migrants of all kinds, sensing weakness, keep coming.  More drown.  The problem gets bigger.  And worse.

Nations can only be generous if they feel secure.  That was the lesson of World Refugee Year.  Australia has learnt it.  The international community … not so much.”

 Australia has learnt it?  Let's hope so.  Here's Australia's most-read columnist, Andrew Bolt, today, in the wake of emotive calls from Australia's Labor opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and certain other politicians, for the country to admit more refugees; (these demands have been prompted by the tragic drowning of little Aylan, notwithstanding the fact that his father, it's been revealed, was not a genuine asylum seeker but sought German dental care):

"Aylan [Kurdi]’s terrible death does not tell us to open our borders. If anything, it warns us to be wary of the consequences of badly directed “compassion”.

Aylan’s family, while originally from the Syrian border town of Kobani, recently besieged by IS, had actually been living in safety in Turkey for three years....

[C]an the West really take in not just real refugees, but the Third World’s poor as well, including those in search of better dentistry?

And here is the dilemma: the more the West takes in, the more will try to come, too, searching in rich countries for what they cannot find in poor — and the more will drown in trying, just like Aylan. We saw all this from the boats which landed here, before the Abbott Government stopped them. Now Germany sees it.

The “refugees” flooding over its borders have crossed many countries where they’d have been safe .... before finally making it to the rich welfare state they really want....

Germany expects up to 800,000 asylum seekers this year, most of them men who will seek to bring over their relatives and brides, too.

How will Germany assimilate so many? How well will such people — mainly Muslims from much poorer countries — fit in? What will this cost German citizens, in money, jobs and safety?

These are questions no responsible statesman can avoid, for all the demands to show “compassion”. But our own politicians have dodged such calculations in the past, and we have paid for it.

For instance, the Fraser government responded to the Lebanese civil war by taking in thousands of Muslim Lebanese, most with few qualifications and no English.

So kind. Yet the consequences for our security have been dramatic. Of the 21 Australians jailed for terrorism offences, all are Muslim and nine were born in Lebanon or to Lebanese families. Gun crime in the Lebanese enclaves of Sydney is now notorious.

More recently, we responded to the wars in Afghanistan and Somalia by again taking in more Muslim refugees.

Again, it made us less safe. Afghans are heavily recruited into bikie gangs and jihadist groups. One Afghan refugee, Numan Haider, pledged himself to IS and stabbed two police in Melbourne.

Children of Somali refugees have joined jihadists in Somalia. Levels of crime for their community, too, is above the national average — to be expected when many are poor, traumatised and face extra hurdles fitting in. They face racism, too.

True, most Muslim immigrants make fine Australians. But any politician who refuses to consider the safety of fellow Australians when deciding on our refugee intake is betraying their first duty.

That said, Syrians tend to have higher education than people from Somalia and Afghanistan. Many do badly need help, and we have wealth to share.

But let’s not pretend that bringing in people from what’s still an overwhelmingly tribal or sectarian Muslim country carries no risks...."

Read all of Bolt's article here

Meanwhile, in Wales, Greens leader Pippa Bartolotti has a message or two:

More on that football story here

"Rupert Murdoch ... Is A Zionist Jew" & Other Fables: As told by a British party leader

Pippa Bartolotti  is the fanatically anti-Israel leader of the Wales Green Party.  She stood unsuccessfully for leadership of the Green Party of England and Wales in 2012 in succession to the equally anti-Israel Caroline Lucas, and, again unsuccessfully, for the European Parliament in this year's May elections.

Ms Bartolotti's speeches to the Welsh Greens (see the opening words of one in the link above, for instance) often include references to Israel, despite that having absolutely no relevance to green issues in Wales.

In the video at the foot of this post (a video which consists of a 65-minute demonisation of Israel) Ms Bartolotti centres the narrative of her recent address to an audience in Newport, Gwent, as a "fundraiser evening" for the Gwent Greens,  entitled "Why Gaza?" largely on her participation in the "Viva Palestina" convoy of 2010.

Here's one of the many photographs that she shows to her audience; it was taken when the convoy passed through Turin:

She also displayed a photo of herself with the "Pace"flag she acquired in Italy, but had the good sense to leave this photo, of herself and the flag of an expansionist Syrian party which was inspired by Nazi symbolism, at home.

Ms Bartolotti's speech contains a number of howlers and half-truths: I nearly entitled this post "Pro-Palestinian politician Pippa picks a pack of pickled porkies" but on reflection I decided that sounds too flippant, for what she is feeding her audience is no laughing matter.

And it's not only in the use of those mendacious maps:

For example:

At about  3:08 she declares, regarding the United Nations of 1947: "The UN, as it is now [!!!], was dominated by Western Powers" 

At about 3:34, with no reference to Israel's invasion by five Arab armies hell-bent on its destruction, she declares that "the so-called War of Independence ... was a very bloody one-sided affair" (with Israel the sole baddie, of course)

At about 6:50 the spin about the Nakba begins, with the Arabs are described as "the indigenous population" and nothing said about how they were duped by their leaders into fleeing their homes ... As throughout, the Arabs are squeaky clean, the Israelis the villains ...

At about 9:29 A reference to Menachem Begun in a peculiar pronunciation (a soft g); can it be that the speaker is not so very au fait with Israeli history after all?

At about 9:40 we have Ariel Sharon blamed for the Sabra and Shatila massacre as if he carried it out

At about 14:21 regarding the Mavi Marmara affair, no context regarding the IHH nor of the vicious beating of Israeli personnel: "It was completely unnecessary to kill anyone let alone ten people"

At about 29:55 A description of the plight of Palestinian refugees in Syria as if their status after all these years is Israel's fault, with nothing said about the Arab rejectionist nations' deliberate policy of using the Arabs who left Israel as pawns ...

At about 43:12 "You have to remember that the Zionist lobby in America is very strong"

At about 50:27, relating to a certain allegedly all-powerful cabal, a howler regarding a certain pro-Israel media mogul of non-Jewish descent on both sides: "Rupert Murdoch ... is a Zionist Jew ..."

At  about 4:23: Hamas is "labelled a terrorist group – which is rather strange really"

At about 38:54: "Hamas ... is practically Dad's Army"

And at about 52:20: "They [Hamas] are not a terrorist group"

At about 1:00:59: An off-the-cuff tribute to busy busy busy anti-Israel activist Elizabeth Morley for her letter-writing campaigns alleging – wait for it! – pro-Israel bias on the part of the BBC.  (This, by the way, is the Elizabeth Morley, of the Aberystwyth Palestinian Solidaity Campaign branch, who, against avowed PSC policy, is not averse to posting links from the antisemitic online Redress such as this grubby piece of racism by Stuart Littlewood):

At 1:02, despite exhortations to BDS as a means to a "proper peace"

commendation of a one-state solution that entails the eradication of Israel from the map: Gaddafi's statement was "eminently sensible":

"A very bloody one-sided affair" indeed.

 Here is the entire video, in the unlikely event that anyone wishes to endure all 65 minutes of it: