Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party
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- Antisemitism in the Labour Party, Antisemitism § See also
- https://daviddpaxton.com/2018/03/08/vincible-ignorance/
ToDo: Note: this title should be more about the Labour Party and its links with the Israel lobby
"Anti-Semitism is not a real phenomenon within the Labour Party or any of the other major political parties. There are anti-Semitic incidents but they are usually related to Israel's behaviour, Israeli brutality. So every time there is an Israeli attack on Gaza – and there have been 3 in the last 7 years – there is a rise in anti-Semitic episodes and incidents in Britain. Fundamentally, Israel and the Israeli propaganda machine and Israel's friends in England and the Israel lobby in Britain deliberately confuse or conflate, and I stress they do it deliberately, anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism. Anti-Zionism is nothing to do with Jews. Anti-Semitism is hatred of the Jews as Jews. Anti-Zionism is opposition to Israel as a colonial power and as an exclusive Jewish state."— Avi Shlaim, Israeli Professor of International Relations at St. Anthony's College, Oxford
Articles
- Whilst the right wing media and Tory detritus continually libel and smear Jeremy @jeremycorbyn and the @UKLabour Party with accusations of endemic antisemitism, it's time to present the British people with actual FACTS, not smears with absolutely no proof to back them up. (long timeline). @BlogRedRobin, Twitter.
- Aug.16.2018: Labour antisemitism row: Unite boss accuses Jewish leaders of 'truculent hostility'. Len McCluskey has accused Jewish leaders of showing “truculent hostility” towards Labour, as he called for the party to draw a line under the antisemitism row by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance guidelines in full. In his article, McCluskey also accuses the Labour MP Chuka Umunna of using the antisemitism row to justify his own rumoured plans to found a breakaway political party. Umunna accused Labour of “institutional racism” in a recent column in the Independent, which many in Labour took as a signal that he is preparing to leave. Heather Stewart, Jessica Elgot, The Guardian.
- Aug.13.2018: McDonnell backed launch of anti-Zionist group accused of antisemitism. Shadow chancellor praised network’s founding a decade ago, but stresses he does not endorse all of its views. John McDonnell a decade ago praised the founding of a controversial anti-Zionist network which has been accused of antisemitism, saying it had given a voice to Jews who condemned Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinians. The shadow chancellor was lead signatory of a Commons early day motion written in 2008, also signed by Tory MP Peter Bottomley, that welcomed the launch of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and its founding charter. Pippa Crerar, The Guardian.
- Aug.02.2018: David Rosenberg on The 70 Rabbis Attacking Labour and the Tories. David Rosenberg has posted up a very interesting piece on his blog about the party political dimensions surrounding the latest screams of ‘anti-Semitism’ directed at Pete Willman, the prospective NEC candidate, who blew his top the other day at the letter signed by 70 rabbis alleging that Labour was now intrinsically anti-Semitic and was a hostile environment for Jewish members. And so the usual Blairite and Zionist mischief-makers, like Luciana Berger, have been making the usual accusations and demanding action against him. The Thatcherite infiltrators and the Israel lobby also went berserk because Willman said that the people making these accusations were ‘Trump fanatics’. Rosenberg is a Labour member, and states that he doesn’t know Willman except as a name. He says: "I do know that there has been an all-out War against Corbyn-led labour, and one of the battalions, alongside the Tory Party and the Pro-Tory press, and pro-Israel lobbyists, has been a narrow group of right-wing pro-Zionist Jews, some of whom are absolutely open in their support and admiration for Trump. And I do know that antisemitic posts have been outed as being from fake accounts pretending to be Labour members/supporters, so I don’t think it is at all outlandish to contribute that to the debate with those thoughts. It is not how I would do it, and his badgering question to his fellow NEC members: “How many people have seen antisemitism in the Labour Party?” was not so clever, but we are getting to the point where certain quite reasonable questions are being dismissed as “antisemitic” in themselves". He goes on to discuss anti-Semitism in the Labour party, stating that he has only encountered it once since he rejoined the party in 2015. He’s sure it exists in pockets, like it does in wider British society, but notes that other Jewish members haven’t encountered it in the Labour party. The release of the tape a week after the meeting but after the NEC elections has begun, was meant to result in one less seat for the pro-Corbyn slate and too late to put in someone else. At least that failed. Beastrabban\'s Weblog.
- Did Hitler support Zionism:
- Interesting thread, sheds some light: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/32677/did-hitler-support-zionism
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/adolf-hitler-zionism-zionist-nazis-haavara-agreement-ken-livingstone-labour-antisemitism-row-a7009981.html
- http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v13/v13n4p29_Weber.html
- https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ken-livingstone-hitler-was-supporting-zionism-a3235796.html
- https://www.quora.com/Did-Hitler-support-zionism
- May.09.2018: Labour councillor rejected definition of antisemitism. Zena Brabazon, who is Jewish, declined to support the attempt led by the local party to adopt the definition last July. The motion was passed unanimously, but Ms Brabazon abstained and instead went up to the public gallery where activists, understood to be linked to Momentum, heckled the Labour council leader who introduced it. Ms Brabazon told The Times that she objected to the motion because she felt it confused two separate issues: legitimate concerns about Israeli govt policies and condemnation of antisemitism. The definition, from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities”. Haringey council. Lucy Fisher, The Times.
- Apr.24.2018: How the Corbyn Board of Deputies meeting collapsed into excuses. ...This afternoon, Mr Corbyn published a decent enough apology in the Evening Standard, in which he went further than ever before in appearing to have some grasp of the issues (even though it contained the odd assertion that anti-Zionism is not antisemitic). It is clear from the formal statements from the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council after the meeting that this was not a genuine attempt to tackle antisemitism but rather a meeting designed to solve a political problem – that Labour is now viewed as having an issue with antisemitism. ... Stephen Pollard, The Jewish Chronicle.
- Apr.20.2018: Labour Party broadcast star Lassaad Laouini called Jews ‘evil’. Lassaad Laouini, 47, the general manager of Leeds Grand Mosque, appeared in a film shown on ITV and the BBC last week discussing homelessness. The Labour Party has said it is reviewing the production processes for the promotional films after being alerted to Mr Laouini’s social media comments and those of a former supporter of the British National Party who appeared in a previous broadcast. The film was made by Josh Cole, the founder of the non-partisan Rize Up campaign that was launched last year to encourage young people to vote. Mr Cole also made Labour party political broadcast screened in February that featured a former British National Party supporter who has made offensive comments about Muslims. ... ... David Brown, the Times.
- Apr.18.2018: Five things we learned from parliament’s anti-Semitism debate. MPs debated anti-Semitism in the House of Commons. Robert Halfon, Andrew Percy, Angela Smith, Andrew Gwynne, John Mann, Ruth Smeeth, Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, Karen Lee, Margaret Hodge, Luciana Berger. Anoosh Chakelian, The New Statesman.
- Apr.17.2018: The antisemitism debate is not about partisanship — it’s about freedom. The HoC will today host a general debate on ... antisemitism. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as the leader of the Labour party, antisemitism has been driven to the top of the political agenda by 2 years of incidents within Labour’s ranks, ranging from the ill-judged to the decidedly racist. Three weeks ago, I joined dozens of Labour and Conservative MPs in Parliament Square along with 1,500 members of the Jewish Community to deliver the message that enough is enough. Several Labour MPs spoke forcefully about the need to stamp out antisemitism within their party and their bravery cannot be understated. They risk the wrath of local Labour parties, some of which have sought to pass motions condemning their MPs for even attending the rally, while others have vehemently dismissed it at as an attack on the party leadership. My concern, however, is that these MPs have little power to enact the changes that are so desperately needed. How many more blatantly antagonistic actions from within their own party must they stand before they say enough is enough and deny Jeremy Corbyn and Labour their support in parliament? Mere days after that same rally, Mr Corbyn chose to spend a Passover dinner with Jewdas, a fringe group who not only espouse the sort of far-left vitriol that has become common currency in the Labour party, but who expressly lambast mainstream Jewish communal organisations. It is actions such as this, and through a recent interview with the Jewish News — where Mr Corbyn refused to condemn Jewish Voice for Labour, the organisers of the bewildering counter-rally against those protesting antisemitism last month — that he has made his real views abundantly clear. The current party leadership cannot be trusted to address this issue properly. Mike Freer MP, The Times.
- Apr.17.2018: Tensions in Labour erupt over rising abuse of Jews. Labour’s antisemitism row intensified yesterday as 3 of the party’s Jewish MPs received standing ovations in the Commons after attacking its handling of the issue. Dame Margaret Hodge, Luciana Berger, Ruth Smeeth, Tom Watson, John Mann, Robert Halfon, the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council. Henry Zeffman, The Times.
- Apr.06.2018: Leaked minutes show Labour at odds over antisemitism claims. The depth of the split in the Labour party’s ruling body over antisemitism and racism has been laid bare in leaked minutes that show fierce disagreements over disciplinary action. Key Corbyn supporters tried to block action against members facing complaints. Momentum’s founder, Jon Lansman, and the MP Jon Trickett were two prominent figures who voted to limit disciplinary action in the three contentious cases that went to a vote, multiple sources said. Euan Phillips, who runs the campaign Labour Against Antisemitism, said he was losing faith in the management of complaints. Linkback: Christine Shawcroft, Jon Lansman, Darren Williams, George Galloway, Rachael Saunders, Tom Watson, Jon Trickett, Progress, Naz Shah. Jessica Elgot, The Guardian.
- Apr.05.2018: Antisemitism on the left and Jeremy Corbyn. Letters, The Guardian.
- Apr.05.2018: Peers report pro-Corbyn Facebook pages to police for antisemitism. A group of peers, including Alan Sugar, have written to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, to report antisemitic abuse on Facebook pages backing Jeremy Corbyn. The peers who have signed the letter included the crossbencher Lady Deech, a former member of the Jewish Leadership Council, and Labour’s Lord Turnberg and Lord Beecham, as well as the former Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile. Ros Altmann, the former Conservative pensions minister, has also signed it. Lord Sugar, who this week was criticised by the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, for tweeting a made-up picture of Corbyn attending a Nazi rally, doubled down on Twitter on Thursday, tweeting a derogatory poem about the Labour leader that called him a "dangerous fool who is antisemitic". Sugar, a Jewish peer and former Labour member and donor until he left the party in 2015, has been highly critical of Corbyn’s leadership, particularly over the party’s handling of antisemitism. On Wednesday it was announced that the two largest Jewish bodies had agreed to meet Corbyn to discuss his efforts to tackle antisemitism, which Corbyn said would be held according to an agenda proposed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the Jewish Leadership Council. Jessica Elgot, The Guardian.
- Apr.05.2018: This Passover has presented an uneasy dilemma for Britain’s left-wing Jews. How is this Labour leader different from all other Labour leaders? Stephen Bush, The New Statesman.
- Apr.01.2018: Am I stinking vermin or am I running the world? The racists think it’s both. The graffiti artist defended by Corbyn believes Jewish and white are the same thing. If that were true I’d feel safer. David Baddiel, The Times.
- Mar.31.2018: Labour poll says antisemitism row is exaggerated. Nearly eight out of ten Labour members believe that accusations of antisemitism are being exaggerated to damage Jeremy Corbyn and stifle legitimate criticism of Israel, according to a YouGov poll. Sam Coates, The Times.
- Mar.29.2018: What You Didn’t See at the Zionist Anti-Corbyn Rally. The papers and TV news were naturally full of the anti-Corbyn rally organised by the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies of British Jews. Jeremy Corbyn isn’t an anti-Semite, and this isn’t about anti-Semitism. This is about the Israel lobby using it as a weapon to get rid of a Labour leader they hate and fear, backed by a craven, mendacious and deeply compromised press. It’s long past the time it was stopped. Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Mar.29.2018: The Anti-Semitism Smears and the Tories' Long History of Racism. On Monday, the Jonathan Goldstein of the Jewish Leadership Council and the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, wrote a letter complaining that Corbyn had done nothing to tackle what they claimed was the rampant anti-Semitism in the Labour party, and that Corbyn had consistently sided with anti-Semites against Jews. This was accompanied of a mass demonstration outside parliament organised by the two organisations. The real issue here, which Arkush and Goldstein’s smears of anti-Semitism are meant to cover up, is Corbyn’s attitude towards Israel. They claim he’s anti-Israel and anti-Zionist. He isn’t, but he is pro-Palestinian. But this is too much for the Israel lobby, who smear anyone, who wants justice and dignity for the Palestinians as anti-Semite. Arkush is a true-blue Tory, as well as a massive hypocrite. The Tories have, of course, taken all this as an opportunity to claim that Labour is riddle with anti-Semitism, unlike them. This covers up the fact that the Tory party has a very long history of racism and anti-Semitism going right back to the Die-Hards of the First World War. (...) Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Mar.26.2018: Jeremy Corbyn concedes Labour has failed to address antisemitism problem. Leader makes more thorough apology as Jewish groups criticise his response to mural row. Anne Perkins, Matthew Weaver, The Guardian.
- Mar.26.2018: Why Labour continues to struggle with antisemitism. Toxic subject returns to dog leadership despite internal inquiry, numerous suspensions and repeated apologies. Jeremy Corbyn’s period at the head of Labour has been punctuated by a series of rows about antisemitic episodes, a toxic subject that has continued to trouble the party leadership despite an internal inquiry, numerous suspensions and repeated apologies. The disputes are often fuelled via social media, or by trawling through postings from years ago – and made especially potent because the subject is frequently seen through an internal left-right prism, of loyalty or otherwise to the man who has led the party since 2015. It was not meant to be like this. A debilitating period of antisemitic rows had prompted Corbyn to ask Shami Chakrabarti to conduct a party inquiry in Spring 2016 in an attempt to draw a line under the issue at a time when over a dozen members had been suspended. One of those was Naz Shah, who had suggested relocating Israel to the US in a Facebook posting made in 2014 before her election to parliament. Soon afterwards, Ken Livingstone waded in, repeatedly and stubbornly arguing that “Hitler supported Zionism” at the time the Nazi leader rose to power. Dan Sabbagh, The Times.
- Mar.24.2018: Labour MPs challenge Corbyn on antisemitism and Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn faces the most serious revolt by his own MPs since the failed coup of 2016 as senior figures publicly accuse him today of condoning antisemitism, while at the same time purging his inner circle of passionate pro-Europeans. Explanations demanded over Facebook comment (mural depicting bankers playing monopoly on the backs of the poor) and sacking of Owen Smith. Angela Smith, Luciana Berger, Stephen Pollard editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust Toby Helm, The Guardian.
- Mar.24.2018: Corbyn "supported antisemitic mural". Jeremy Corbyn has been forced to apologise after initially defending his apparent support for a mural depicting Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor. Last night Mr Corbyn said: "That is in no way comparable with the mural in the original post. I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic. I wholeheartedly support its removal. I am opposed to the production of antisemitic material of any kind, and the defence of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of antisemitism in any form". Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, had demanded an explanation for her leader’s apparent support for what she described as "one of the worst examples of antisemitic imagery". Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on British Jews, had said: "Silence is complicity, which is why I will continue to challenge antisemitism within the Labour Party, regardless of threats of deselection or abuse. When it comes to antisemitism, alt-left is beginning to smell a lot like alt-right". Kalen Ockerman, who is based in Los Angeles, denied that his mural was antisemitic but said he had "depicted the elite banking cartel known as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, the ruling elite few, the Wizards of Oz playing a board game of Monopoly on the backs of the working class". Francis Elliott, The Times.
- Mar.08.2018: Vincible Ignorance Here we go again. The problem of antisemitism within Labour cannot be solved until its causes, depths and manifestations are properly acknowledged. Getting these properly acknowledged is the task of Sisyphus. David Paxton, DavidPaxton.com.
- Mar.08.2018: Labour suspends party members in 'antisemitic' Facebook group. Jeremy Corbyn was active in closed group Palestine Live but says he did not see offensive posts and left in 2015. Some of the posts on Palestine Live appear to include links to Holocaust denial myths, allegations of Israel’s involvement in the 9/11 and 7/7 terror attacks and the training of Islamic State fighters, and conspiracy theories involving the Rothschild family. Corbyn posted several times in the group after being tagged in posts. He left the group in 2015, around the time he became Labour leader. Corbyn said his posts were limited to some replies, including “a suggestion on the vote on recognising Palestine, which I supported, and inviting a doctor to speak at an event”. Corbyn said he had not seen the other antisemitic posts on the group. “Had I seen it, of course, I would have challenged it straight away, but I actually don’t spend all my time reading social media,” he said during a visit to Derbyshire. The Palestine Live group was founded in 2013 and was set up in a way that allowed administrators to add people to the group without their consent. The Labour MPs Clive Lewis and Chris Williamson were members of the group, as were two former Liberal Democrat politicians, Baroness Jenny Tonge and the former MP David Ward. Jacqueline Walker, a former Momentum steering group member, is also a member of the Facebook group. Walker has been suspended from the Labour party twice over allegations of antisemitism. Palestine Live’s content was first revealed in a 250-page dossier looking at the posts and profiles of members of the group, compiled by the businessman David Collier, who said his blog was dedicated to “researching antisemitism inside anti-Zionist activity”. Joseph Glasman, of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said the organisation would be filing complaints against Corbyn and Lewis to the Labour party.(Timeline in here) Jessica Elgot, The Guardian.
- Mar.04.2018: Lies, Libels, Criminal and Political Manipulation Catch Up with the Israel Lobby. Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Jan.31.2018: Corbyn Falsely Smeared Again as Anti-Semite by Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. Beast Rabban's Blog.
2017
- Feb.09.2017: New Labour. Lobster on Tony Blair and the Israel Lobby (Israel lobby in the United Kingdom), and how both of them were deeply intertwined in the anti-Semitism smears against Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum. Ramsay's article is also interesting as it notes that Blair hated the Labour party and viewed it as his enemy. Beast Rabban's Blog.
2016
- Oct.17.2016: Vox Political and Jonathan Rosenhead on the Politicised Nature of the Anti-Semitism Smears. Beastrabban's Blog.
- Oct.06.2016: Guy Debord's Cat on the Main Political Parties and the Israel Lobby, the Israel lobby still carries on smearing decent people, the Jewish Labour Movement contrived to have Jackie Walker dismissed as vice-chair of Momentum. Not only is there a Labour Friends of Israel, headed by Luke Akehurst, there is also a Conservative Friends of Israel and a similar organisation in the LibDems. 80% of Tory MPs are members of the organisation, and from 2010 to the date the article was written theConservative Friends of Israel spent £30,000 taking more than 24 Tory backbench MPs on trips to Israel and the West Bank. Israel has bought political influence in this country. Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Sept.27.2016: New Labour. More on Progress, the Groaniad, and the Israel Lobby. Linkback: Progress, Israel Lobby. Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Sept.23.2016: New Labour. More From Lobster on New Labour’s Links to the Israel Lobby. Beast Rabban's Blog.
- Jun.30.2016: Lobster on the Anti-Semitism Allegations, the Zionists and the Nazis. BeastRabban's Blog.
- May.07.2016: The Anti-Semitism Accusations, Blair and the Israel Lobby. Beastrabban's Blog.
- May.05.2016: CounterPunch on the Real Reasons for the Accusations of Anti-Semitism against Corbyn and the Labour Party. The point is that the campaign that is currently underway to label Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party a party riddled with antisemites and antisemitism cannot be separated from the issue of Palestine, a cause that Corbyn has been active in over many years. BeastRabban's Blog.
- May.05.2016: Labour is not anti-semitic – it is more Jewish than the Tory Party. Beastrabban's Blog.