Hardly A Diamond Geezer, Sean!

Spare, nimble, and loquacious, Sean Clinton is an Irish anti-Israel activist who spends a great deal of time and energy campaigning about what he insists are Israeli "blood" diamonds.

He turns up not infrequently in videos of anti-Israel demonstrations in Dublin and elsewhere, some of which have appeared on this blog from time to time.  (This one's my favourite)

I imagine that the volubly anti-Israel Mr Clinton would protest at any suggestion that he's antisemitic.  But, I'm afraid, he's one of the anti-Israel crowd on Facebook whose name appears in connection with the promotion on Facebook of a rather squalid video film that indulges in antisemitic tropes – it even has a Rothschild giving a (manufactured-for-video) cackle of demonic laughter at the end, as he contemplates the (alleged) world power and influence his mega-riches have (supposedly) bought him.

This rich-Jews-rule-the-world-and-decide-its-destiny genre video is hardly something for which the "It's not antisemitic to be anti-Zionist" crowd should be expressing a liking or to which such individuals should be linking. I'm not sure what precisely Mr Clinton's part on Facebook has been, but it would appear from this that he has had some hand in aiding its promotion on the social media site.  I hope that's not the case.

Rubina Khan's Facebook page is a slough of antisemitism and conspiracy theories.

Nor should this piece of racism, found on the Facebook page of Stephen Sizer's mate Tony Gratrex, of Reading Palestine Solidarity Campaign infamy, merit endorsement (hat tip: reader P):

Time – high time – to review that Facebook wall of yours, Tony Gratrex, and delete the antisemitism that's  posted there.  Oh, and "unlike" stuff while you're at it, dude. (See also my post here)

And, as I've repeatedly noted, the time's long long overdue for you. Reverend Sizer, to make a cull of some of your Facebook "Friends"

The reason's not far to seek.

Charity That Begins At Home In The UK Might Be Funding Islamic Terrorism (video)

Middle East analyst and commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti explains the issue:

Read more here

In The Al Beeb Man's Stereotype Are Many Mansions: From the BBC, gratuitous references to the "Jewish Lobby" (video)

At 11.30pm on Sunday (8 November 2014) Jo Phillips. described by newsreader Tim Willcox as "our [i.e. Al Beeb's] political advisor" and Nigel Nelson of The People newspaper, joined Willcox for that day's review of the national newspapers.

Although  an article from on the BBC website  tells us that Jo Phillips was “once head of media in former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown's office” and although elsewhere on the web she's described as a former parliamentary candidate, Ms Phillips's partisan background was not revealed by Willcox.  That omission is despite the fact that in November last year the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU) reiterated the necessity of upholding BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality:

“We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities) are unbiased and we may need to make it clear to the audience when contributors are associated with a particular viewpoint, if it is not apparent from their contribution or from the context in which their contribution is made.”

With specific regard to BBC News, the ECU stated:

“The production team have been reminded of the importance of clearly summarising the standpoint of any interviewee where it is relevant and not immediately clear from their position or the title of their organisation.”

Willcox ignored this guideline.

.During the broadcast on Sunday, much attention was given to The Independent's front-page report headlined "Labour funding crisis: Jewish donors drop 'toxic' Ed Miliband".  That report asserts, inter alia:

'The Labour party is facing desertion by Jewish donors and supporters because of Ed Mili-band's "toxic" anti-Israeli stance over Gaza and Palestine. In a fresh headache for the Labour leader, it is understood that Mr Miliband has been warned that Jewish backers are deserting the party in droves over what community leaders perceive to be a new, aggressive pro-Palestine policy at the expense of Israeli interests....

A senior Labour MP warned that Mr Miliband now had a "huge if not insurmountable challenge" to maintain support from parts of the Jewish community that had both backed and helped fund Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's election campaigns.'At the same time, a former cabinet minister privately admitted that Labour's fundraising efforts were in disarray. The former minister said the party would struggle to raise anywhere near the £19m a party is entitled to spend under electoral law in the run-up to next May's poll. "We will have to pass the begging bowl round to the unions," they said. "That would send a bad signal. In return, they [the unions] would demand to call the shots on policy."

Donations from the Jewish community have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to the Labour Party. Several previous donors told The Independent on Sunday that they and others are now very unlikely to support the party. They spoke on condition of anonymity."There aren't that many donors to the Labour Party these days, and certainly not the same number of Jewish donors. There is a lot of worry," said one. "I have been a Labour supporter all my life and I would like to see a Labour government, but, on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure I want to see Ed Miliband in Downing Street or Douglas Alexander in the Foreign Office." .... Another previous donor said they had been asked by the party to arrange a fundraising dinner for Jewish Labour supporters but had found no takers....

 Prominent Jewish supporters say problems started in the summer with Mr Miliband's aggressive condemnation of Israel's ground incursion into Gaza last August, which he described as "wrong and unjustifiable".... This was followed by a decision to whip a vote calling on the Government to unilaterally recognise Palestine – against long-standing British and Labour policy that recognition should only be part of a negotiated two-state settlement. That decision was opposed by a number of senior Labour MPs – including at least two shadow cabinet ministers – who warned it would haemorrhage Jewish support...'

As we saw here, and as mentioned in passing by the newspaper, one previous Labor supporter who has been incensed by Miliband's stance over Gaza is the actress Maureen Lipman.

In reviewing this report, Jo Phillips, and newsreader Willcox, used the phrase "the Jewish lobby" (which was nowhere used in the report).

Averred Jo Phillips:

“You’re not supposed, apparently, to say anything anti-Israeli, um, and if you attack Israeli political, um, policies or the government policies, then you know, this is what you get. Um, you know it seems to me that it is totally hypocritical that on the one hand they are now going to have to look perhaps to the unions to get some funding, but will be accused of being in the unions’ pockets, and when he’s being brave and principled and standing up and saying, you know, ‘this time Israel has gone too far’ um, people take their money away, so he can’t win, can he?”

And to make matters worse Willcox, citing Maureen Lipman as an example, gratuitously suggested that “a lot of these prominent Jewish faces will be very much against the Mansion Tax” (which is a proposal raised by Labour and the Liberal Democrats to impose an annual tax on houses with a high market value).

As one shocked viewer has observed:

• The idea that a wealthy Jewish lobby seeks to use money to manipulate political policy is a centuries-old antisemitic trope. The BBC’s unchallenged promotion of this slur is shocking and causes many Jews to feel threatened and persecuted by the broadcaster.

• The BBC claimed that the “Jewish lobby” is thwarting a "principled" foreign policy position. There is no factual basis for this accusation.

• With no evidence at all the BBC claimed that wealthy Jews are challenging taxation proposals to hang onto their “mansions”.

Want to protest to Al Beeb?

Complain here at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

You can also contact (enquiriesATcultureDOTgsiDOTgovDOTuk)the Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, requesting him to denounce thesegment.

Say Goodnight To Sweden, Gracie

Oh dear, all really is not well in the land that recently voted to recognise a Palestinian state.  It seems that it's not only in Sweden's second city, Malmo, long known as a centre of Islamist anti-Jewish activity, that the negative consequences of mass Muslim immigration are being heavily felt.

Just read this article, for instance.

The menace of mass Muslim immigration is a sober reality for many of the nations of northern and western Europe, of course, and not least for their Jewish citizens (see here for Sweden's courtship of the Muslim vote) , so we certainly should not gloat.

 Meanwhile, in Denmark, Daniel Pipes and Geert Wilders consider the threat to Western societies:

 

In London, a noxious anti-Israel rally, & a child rabble-rouser on the "Zionist plan of world domination" (videos)

Here's a spectacle horrible to behold.  It took place in London on 6 November in protest at the British Film Institute's hosting of the Israeli Film Festival.

It's reminiscent of hyenas crazed with hunger tearing at a carcase.

A Jewish soprano warbles her party piece, anti-Israel lyrics set to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

A black women, who should know better, leads the chanting "Israel is an apartheid state! Israel is a racist state!"

A male voice shouts out claims of "genocide" and "genocidal maniacs' ...

"Jew Haters!" "Antisemites!" "Nazis"!  A lone man does his best to confront these noisome, noisy, noxious ferals with their despicable tropes against Israel, and towards the end of the video we glimpse a trio of counter-demonstrators with Israeli flags.

And here's an earlier (5 November) display of recent anti-Israel hatred also filmed by the fervently anti-Israel activist Alex Seymour, aka Seymour Alexander, to whom, much as I deplore and detest his views, I'm certainly grateful for recording these and other glimpses into anti-Israel demonology in Britain.

This one's of a demo outside the London hotlel where a conference of representatives of Hewlett Packard, which supplies the IDF and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, was taking place.

One speaker is the woman with long grey hair who, with a male companion, has in recent months pursued the gimmicky habit of reciting anti-Israel "poetry" on London Tube trains, haranguing a hapless captive audience with their ludicrous propaganda.

Another speaker (from 6:59) is a strident-voiced child, a rabble-rouser of tender years whose indoctrinated hatred of Israel is quite instructive.

This obnoxious youngster alleges the "devious little Zionist plan of world domination" (which antisemite taught him that, I wonder?) and  shrieks: 

"Israel is a lunatic state!" "Israel is a Zionist state!" (Doh!) "Israel is an illegal state!"  "Palestine will rise ... Israel will fall! ..." 

At the prospect of the fall of Israel there are cries of "Yes!" and robust cheers from the haters present.

No prizes for guessing their ultimate goal, then.

Update: See more viciousness here, which took place yesterday in London; see hysterical harpies harassing Film Festival-goers.

David Singer: With The Republican Victory In The Mid-Term Elections, Obama Confronts An Embarrassing About Face Re Palestine

Here, entitled "Palestine – Obama Confronts Embarrassing About Face", is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The Republican Party’s stunning victory in the American mid-term elections offers real hope that President Obama will now be held to honouring the written commitments made to Israel by President George W. Bush in his exchange of letters with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on 12 April 2004 – as overwhelmingly endorsed by the House of Representatives 407:9 on 23 June 2004 and the Senate 95:3 the next day.

Those commitments were made in support of Israel’s decision to unilaterally disengage from Gaza – which Israel duly honoured in 2005 – when the Israeli Army and 8000 Israeli civilians left Gaza – many after living there for almost forty years.

That withdrawal brought Hamas to power in Gaza’s one and only election – which has since seen three wars, thousands of deaths and casualties, property destruction running into billions of dollars and 11,000 rockets being indiscriminately fired into Israeli civilian population centres.

Bush’s Congress-endorsed commitments assured Israel that the United States:

1. Would do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan other than the Roadmap envisioned by President Bush on 24 June 2002.

2. Reiterated America’s steadfast commitment to Israel's security, including secure, defensible borders,

3. Was strongly committed to Israel's security and well-being as a Jewish state.

4. Understood that an agreed, just, fair and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement would need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.

5. Accepted as part of a final peace settlement that Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

6. Acknowledged that in light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it would be unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations would be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, that all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution had reached the same conclusion.

President Obama and his administration sought to circumvent these clearly stated American pledges – thereby encouraging continuing Arab rejectionism of Israeli peace overtures whilst souring the American–Israeli longstanding relationship. Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly took the first steps to repudiate these commitments on 6 June 2009:

“Since coming to office in January, President Barack Obama has repeatedly called on Israel to halt all settlement activity in Palestinian areas, a demand rejected by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israelis say they received commitments from the previous US administration of President George W. Bush permitting some growth in existing settlements.

They say the US position was laid out in a 2004 letter from Bush to then Israeli premier Ariel Sharon.

Clinton rejected that claim, saying any such US stance was informal and "did not become part of the official position of the United States government." 

Clinton – doubling as Obama’s attack dog – made Obama’s intentions clear when she stated on 25 November 2009

“We believe that through good-faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements.”

This blatant disregard for Bush’s written commitments – which had never mentioned land swaps – signalled trouble for Israel – if Obama ever confirmed Clinton’s statements.

Eighteen months later Israel’s worst fears were realised when President Obama declared on 19 May 2011:

“The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”

Israel’s curt response came the same day:

Mr. Netanyahu said in a pointed statement just before boarding a plane to Washington that while he appreciated Mr. Obama’s commitment to peace, he

“expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of American commitments made to Israel in 2004 which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.” 

Prior to Obama’s statement US presidents generally had steered clear of saying any negotiations should start on the 1967 lines.'

“It is clear, however, that a return to the situation of 4 June 1967 will not bring peace.

There must be secure and there must be recognized borders.”

— President Lyndon Johnson, September 1968

“In the pre-1967 borders, Israel was barely ten miles wide at its narrowest point. The bulk of Israel’s population lived within artillery range of hostile armies. I am not about to ask Israel to live that way again.”

— President Ronald Reagan, September 1, 1982

 “Israel will never negotiate from or return to the 1967 borders.”

— Secretary of State George Shultz, September 1988

These presidential statements were reiterating the personally expressed policy positions of those Presidents.

Bush’s commitments – so overwhelmingly endorsed by the Congress – are in an entirely different league.

With the Republicans now firmly back in control of both Houses – the President and Congress need to assure Israel – and indeed every other nation – that commitments jointly made by an American President and endorsed by an American Congress cannot be unilaterally revoked.

America’s honour and credibility – and any hope of ending the Jewish-Arab conflict – demand this happens very soon.

"I've Never ... Felt Inhibited By Antisemites": Isi Leibler On His Long & Legendary Career as A World Jewish Leader (video)

"Unquestionably the dominant Jewish lay leader in Australia during the previous quarter century”, as the Encyclopaedia Judaica describes him, Isi Leibler (who celebrated his 80th birthday last month) headed the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) from 1978-95.  He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1977, an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) in 1989, and an honorary Doctor of Letters from Deakin University in 1990. 

Well-known around the globe for his regular column in the Jerusalem Post,  Isi Leibler
was born in Antwerp, the eldest of three sons of Polish-born parents, and was brought up in Australia from the age of five. Educated at the Melbourne Boys' High School and the University of Melbourne, where he attained a first-class honors degree in politics, he began doctoral studies with the hope of becoming a diplomat, but abandoned that goal owing to the early death, in 1957, of this father, a diamond merchant.  Eventually, with Melbourne Yiddishist and Bundist Bono Wiener, Isi Leibler founded Jetset Tours, which became the largest travel company in the Southern Hemisphere.

Isi Leibler was involved in Jewish communal leadership from his student days, and became a legendary figure not only on the Australian but on the world Jewish stage, initially for his pioneering involvement in the cause of Soviet Jewry.

See my post here.

In the following video, which I asked Mr Leibler's permission to post here, we see this remarkable Jewish leader in conversation with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren – and also his wife Naomi, daughter of Jerusalem-born Rabbi Israel Porush of Sydney – talking about his life and career, his motivations and achievements,beginning with his dealings with antisemitic schoolboys as a child all the way through to his impressions of Israeli statesmen (learn which one made the deepest impression on him) and other world leaders (learn which one he frankly describes as "an antisemitic bitch") whom he met in the course of his career.

His remarks at the beginning of this long (44 minutes) but irresistible and instructive video
– "I've never in my life felt inhibited by antisemites.  I feel superior to them. I feel I can take them on and I can screw them" – partly sum up their speaker.