Israelis are calling their leaders fascists. Why can’t British politicians?
JVL Introduction
What is the world of political debate coming to when MP Kim Johnson, forced to issue an apology after calling the Israeli government fascist, could include in her apology that, “While I was quoting accurately Amnesty’s description, I recognize this as insensitive and I’d like to withdraw it?
In other words, what I said is true, but I’m told I’m not allowed to say it…
Ben Reiff writing in The Landline/+972 Magazine points out that this kind of language is not unusual in Israel. Despite the atrocious nature of the current regime more open political debate is still possible there than it is in Britain – and particularly in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, where alleged “Jewish sensitivity” and faux moral outrage is the weapon of choice for suppressing criticism of Israel.
The Pickle picked up and reproduced Reiff’s article with a brief introduction by Eli Machover, which we repost with permission, together with the original article.
This article was originally published by +972 Magazine,the Landline on Tue 7 Feb 2023. Read the original here.
Israelis are calling their leaders fascists. Why can’t British politicians?
What will it take for British officials and other international actors to start taking Israeli leaders at their word and offer any meaningful pushback?
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Keir Starmer is a manager, not a politician.
I wonder, how long will it be before Starmer will have to respond to complaints that the Labour Party has itself turned away from Socialism and towards Fascism? The way things are going, I can see that happening fairly soon.
I’m particularly worried about the lack of free speech in the Labour Party but also the woeful lack of response from the MSM. It seems that Kim Johnson tried to weave a route through and to point out the party hypocrisy, the media happily put the
boot in then deliberately evaded the issue. Quite Orwellian really.
By retracting her statement, Kim Johnson has hobbled herself. She knows that the LP fascists are now out to get her and they surely will. How much more good would she have done if she had stood up in Parliament, described the threats and refused to retract one word?
The reactionary cast of what Starmer has made of the Labour Party is well known, certainly among the left. Less fully realized is the danger this presents to society if he is to be given a massive majority at the next election. This would be seen by Starmer as a vote of confidence in him, his position on Zionism, and his repressive actions against the ‘hard left’, and would serve as an authorization to move still further towards the right. It is no coincidence that the Stalinist government of Orwell’s 1984 is given the name ‘Ingsoc’ – Orwell was pointing to a well established tendency in institutions governed by those who claim to represent the people to drift towards authoritarianism, particularly when led by bureaucrats with connections with the law and the police. Starmer’s fondness for a form of focus-group populism could lead to new laws cracking down on characteristics and activities deemed unpopular. The illiberality of Tory policies such as the treatment of Assange, Shamima Begum, unions and asylum seekers would under this scenario be continued and intensified. A Labour government fully aligned with the security state both here and abroad could see new limitations to freedom of thought and speech and protest, an increase in state surveillance of the citizen, an increase in corporate power and a new raft of secrecy legislation designed to cover up the murky doings of government and those with the government seal of approval.
However the situation we confront is not entirely without hope. The capture of the Labour Party by Starmer and the right, while regrettable, creates a window of opportunity for the left to found a new truly socialist party, formed out of an alliance of progressive unions and the hundreds of thousands inspired by the Corbyn project. If this is to happen there is no time to waste. A confident Starmer Party with a huge majority and a ruthless determination to impose its stamp on British society could set back that hope for a generation or more. This for me is more than sufficient reason not to vote Labour in 2024.
Everyone has a right to be insulted.
Starmer leads/rules on behalf of the Trilateral Commission, of which he is the only UK MP who is a member.
He has long-since forfitted any legitimacy as the so-called leader of a democratic-socialist party.
Kim Johnson has ensured she has put herself in Starmer’s sights.
How much more effective she could have been if she had stood up to the “fascist” bullying that now characterises the UK Labour Party.
I’m afraid these so called Socialist politicians have turned out to be nothing but self- serving, spineless , wretched people who only seem to care about retaining the party whip at all costs. Even if it means abandoning such worthy causes as “Stop the War” and standing up for the oppressed, not the oppressor.
Unfortunately the discourse around the treatment of Palestians is beyond farcical because supporters of Israel are metaphorically linking arms to try to silence anything that might be construed as critical of Israel, no matter the truth.
Brilliant comments from Kuhnberg, I totally agree. Will Starmer attack this latest Fascist policy from the Tories.
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