Rogues with a Brogue (video)

In Belfast on Tuesday, heavily outnumbering pro-Israel counter-protesters, dozens of raucous members of an outfit calling itself BDS Ireland (part of part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement along with Sinn Fein) yell their opposition to Northern Ireland's first friendly football match against Israel in Windsor Park. Over 5,000 Israel-haters signed a petition demanding the match's cancellation, but the match went ahead, the home team winning by 3 goals to nil.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZDo7r5AuI

Shana Tova from me ... & Corbyn ...

To my Jewish readers ...

Pass the sick bag, please.

Meanwhile, read the incomparable Howard Jacobson's new take on Corbyn's antisemitism here:

"....We know what an antisemite look like. He wears jackboots, a swastika arm-band, and shouts Juden Raus; Jeremy Corbyn wears a British Home Stores vest under his shirt and is softly spoken.  Antisemites accuse Jews of killing Jesus; Corbyn is an atheist and seems not to mind if we did or didn't. Whether that's because Jesus was Jewish and killing him meant one less Jew in the world, is not for me to say.  And - and - he doesn't deny the Holocaust...

 Mind you, he knows a man who does.  In fact he knows a surprising number of men who do. That he denies ever having been in their company - until photographs turn up of him rubbing noses with them at the gravesides of mass murderers, offering to show them his belief systems if they'll show him theirs - 'Gosh, they're the same size!' - should come as no surprise. You can't spend your whole life in the company of blood-libellers and holocaust-deniers and expect to remember them all by name...

I will spend my remaining seconds - I don't mean in life, I mean of this speech - telling you why it matters to everyone, not just Jews, that a man so spiteful, sanctimonious and obdurate should never be allowed to do to the country what he's been doing to his party...."   [Emphasis added]

David Singer: Jordan’s Re-entry into West Bank Looms Large as Trump Dumps PLO

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

Two major developments this past week could see a large part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) being reunified with Jordan – as existed between 1950 and 1967 – or becoming a Jordanian enclave – under President Trumps’ yet-to-be- announced “ultimate deal” intended to resolve the100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.

Those developments were:

1. Trump immediately stopped all further American financial aid to UNRWA:

The PLO refusedto have anything to do with Trump’s slowly-gestating peace proposals after Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

This PLO anti-Trump stance has continued unabated despite US Ambassador to the United Nations – Nikki Haley – publicly warning the PLO last January when asked about future US funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Arab refugees:

“The President has basically said he doesn’t want to give any additional funding, or stop funding, until the Palestinians agree to come back to the negotiation table. We still very much want to have a peace process. Nothing changes with that. The Palestinians now have to show they want to. As of now, they’re not coming to the table, but they ask for aid. We’re not giving the aid. We’re going to make sure that they come to the table.”

This week Trump gave up waiting – ending all future donations to UNRWA including $300 million pledged for this year.

More than 2 million UNRWA registered Palestinian Arab refugees live in Jordan – most of whom have full citizenship. Nearly 370,000 – or 18 per cent – live in 10 refugee camps.

The West Bank has nearly 775,000 UNRWA registered Palestinian Arab refugees – a quarter of who live in 19 camps.

Trump’s proven propensity for financially helping those States that help him achieve his goals could well see a large part of this retired UNRWA funding being redirected to Jordan – if Jordan replaces the PLO and enters into direct negotiations with Israel on finally resolving sovereignty in the West Bank.

2. The PLO announced it had refused Trump’s proposal to create a Jordan-West Bank confederation:

Israel and the PLO have been unable to agree on the creation of an additional Arab State between Israel and Jordan after fruitless negotiations conducted over the last 25 years.

Rejecting a Jordan-West Bank confederation now sees the PLO hoisted by its own petard– leaving Jordan to fill the yawning diplomatic void by stepping in and negotiating with Israel to engineer Jordan’s return to a large part of the West Bank – occupied by Jordan from 1948 until its loss to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Restoring Jordanian citizenship to the West Bank Arab population – as existed between 1950 and 1988 – would once again see parity of rights re-established between the Arab populations spanning both sides of the Jordan River.

The 29 refugee camps in Jordan and the West Bank could be closed and their inhabitants integrated into the general population. “Palestinian refugees” would be relics of the past.
No Arab or Jew living in the West Bank would be forced to move.

Palestinian Arabs residing in other Arab countries could emigrate to this newly-merged Jordan-West Bank entity – which might even choose to rename itself “Palestine” – comprising as it would about 80% of the territory contained in the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. Israel would end up exercising sovereignty in about 19 per cent – leaving sovereignty in the remaining 1 per cent – Gaza – to be determined by Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

As with any good settlement – no-one would be 100 per cent happy – but 100 years of conflict would be ended and Trump would have pulled off yet another stunning success.

(Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators –  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

Some Corbynistas' Petty Vengeance

A tweet by Wales-based international relations academic and UK-Israel relations specialist James Vaughan ("Would talk less about antisemitism if there were less of it about"):

At several London bus stops today:

Image: Evening Standard/Aine Lagan 

Inter alia:

',,,,The Met tweeted to say police in Lambeth were investigating reports of fly-posting and that "offensive material will be removed".
The posters shocked Londoners making their way home from work, with many describing them as “vile” and “terrifying”. Others claimed the adverts were a “hate crime”.
A TfL[Transport for London' spokesperson said: "These adverts are absolutely not authorised by TfL or our advertising partner JCDecaux.
“It is fly posting and therefore an act of vandalism which we take extremely seriously. We have instructed our contractors to remove any of these posters found on our network immediately.”....'

 

Back to Vaughan:

"We Will See What They Come Up With, Maybe in the Next Hour, Gideon" (updated; more videos)

That's how BBC presenter Huw Edwards closed this interesting interview with the excellent Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism:

And so it soon proved.

Anti-Israel Labour ferals including as-a-Jews demostrate (a MrAlexSeymour video); sorry, the video insists on aligning itself to the right!  (What fun to see the ferals this furious!)

                                           

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYpgYdhr4TM

More, insisting on staying left this time:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiC9ghNZ9jo

Full marks for integrity, by the way, to the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.  

In 2007 he campaigned against the National Union of Journalists pro-BDS initiative, and here he is again, challenging the NUJ to state where it stands on antisemitism:

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."'

Stephen Sizer's Misadventures

"Truly, I have never known a man to find himself alongside antisemites so often and not realise until it is publicly pointed out to him. Someone ought to make a sitcom about his misadventures with the antisemites."

So observed Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman back in March when she reminded readers, inter alia, that "he defended the Rev Stephen Sizer, who was later banned by church authorities from social media for sharing antisemitic material blaming Israel for 9/11."

An editorial note at the end explained "Jeremy Corbyn defended the Rev Stephen Sizer before Sizer was banned by church authorities from social media for sharing antisemitic material blaming Israel for 9/11 " 

Look again at that sentence "Truly, I have never known a man to find himself alongside antisemites so often and not realise until it is publicly pointed out to him". 

 Does it not also bring to mind the ex-vicar of Virginia Water?

This chap, still going strong:

Earlier this week Sizer posted the following plea to his Facebook faithful regarding an article (by Dominic Kennedy) that appeared in The Times on 24 August:

And was duly obliged:

'Jeremy Corbyn claimed that Zionists in Britain “don’t understand English irony” in a speech that appeared to portray Jews as an alien culture. Luciana Berger, a Jewish Labour MP, said that the Labour leader’s comments, caught on camera at a pro-Palestinian event, were “inexcusable” and made her feel unwelcome in the party.  Mr Corbyn has been fighting claims of antisemitism in his party for most of the three years of his leadership. The latest disclosure is the most damaging blow yet to his claims that he opposes prejudice against Jews. Jamie Susskind, a former speechwriter for Ed Miliband, called on the Labour leader to resign.

In the 2013 speech Mr Corbyn referred to a speech by Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Authority representative in Britain. Mr Corbyn said that the envoy’s words had been “dutifully recorded by the thankfully silent Zionists who were in the audience on that occasion and then came up and berated him afterwards for what he’d said. “So clearly two problems. One is that they don’t want to study history and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t understand English irony either. Manuel does understand English irony and uses it very, very effectively so I think they need two lessons which we can help them with.”

.... Mr Corbyn faced a backlash after the video of his speech was published by Mail Online. MPs piled pressure on their leader. Ms Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, tweeted that the video of Mr Corbyn “making inexcusable comments — defended by a party spokesman — makes me as a proud British Jew feel unwelcome in my own party. I’ve lived in Britain all my life and I don’t need any lessons in history/irony.” She was supported by Labour colleagues. Catherine McKinnell, the Newcastle North MP, tweeted that she was “standing right with you”. Phil Wilson, the MP for Sedgefield, added: “Right beside you.”

Marcus Dysch, who works for the Jewish educational charity World ORT, said that it was clear that the remarks targeted Jews. Tweeting in a personal capacity he said: “Unambiguous antisemitic hate from Corbyn, a terrorist-sympathising, purge orchestrating, fear-mongering, unaccountable piece of work who should never have been allowed to lead a once-great party. Is it any wonder British Jews despair as this saga drags on?”

Mr Susskind, the former chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club, said: “Corbyn is not criticising Israel or supporting Palestinians. He is saying that Zionists (read Jews) who have lived in England their whole lives are somehow not fully English in their sensibilities. He has to go.” Jeremy Duns, the novelist, responded with a display of English irony: “Love the idea of the world’s most humourless man offering to teach Jews about irony. I mean, Zionists, sorry! He meant only Zionists, of course he did, silly me.”

Jennifer Gerber, director of Labour Friends of Israel, described Mr Corbyn’s comments as “despicable”.  John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: “I think this has all been taken out of context: whatever Jeremy has said throughout the years has always been about how to secure peace, particularly within the Middle East and also peace with justice for all concerned — both members of the Jewish community and also members of the Palestinian community. In that context Jeremy has devoted his life, so I think this would take expressions out of context in that way are not helping.”

Nick Griffin, former leader of the far-right British National Party, weighed in behind the Labour leader. He tweeted: “Go Jezza! I wonder how many Labour activists the hysterical Zionist media campaign against Corbyn is re-pilling?”

Mr Corbyn made his comments at Friends House in Euston during an event publicised on the propaganda website of the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the Home Office since 2001. A spokesman for Labour said that he was there to support peace. Among the speakers was Daud Abdullah, a former deputy general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, who has been accused of calling for violence against Israelis and condoning attacks on British troops. Stephen Sizer, a vicar who has suggested that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks, also spoke.  (Emphasis addded)

It has also emerged that Mr Corbyn accused Israel of genocide at a rally in 2014. The Daily Mail reported that he was recorded at a protest near the Israeli embassy in London, saying: “This is an occupation, this is a genocidal attack on Palestinian people.” ....'

As the pictured examples above indicate Sizer is rather fond of posting links to conspiracy theories regarding the Jews of Israel. 

And as left-leaning Zionist and London academic David Hirsh and the well-known Anglican blogger Archbishop Cranmer have both pointed out in recent days, Sizer posted this version of the antisemitic trope "the Jews control the media" on Facebook last week:

(Read Hirsh here and Cranmer here)

As I've observed countless times, it is curious that Sizer fails to defriend the many antisemites among his Facebook followers.

People like the notorious Tony Gratrex, long associated with the Reading PSC branch. 

In recent days:

Sizer posted this statement on Facebook a few days ago:

But he also posted this, and, hey presto, what do we find when following the link?

Why, an offering from a hate site about which we are reminded here:

 'If Americans Knew (IAK), a non-profit founded by activist Alison Weir, has the rare distinction of being condemned for furthering anti-Semitism by the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation.

Weir earned this remarkable wall-to-wall opprobrium by promoting anti-Semitic myths, working with white supremacists, and publishing anti-Jewish content on IAK’s web site.'

Not a good look, Stephen Sizer.

Speaking of the Campaign Against Antisemitism:

One of Sizer's Facebook faithful, the scurrilous clown who calls himself Harriet S Place,  has defended Sizer thus:

Ah, but would Harriet and other apologists be so understanding of a public figure on the right of politics who linked to propaganda material by David Duke or the Ku Klux Klan and claimed that they had no ulterior motive in doing so?  Would they not condemn such a person as a racist and a fascist?

Answers on a postcard, please.