Antisemitism has been used to smear the left, while the right targets Jews
JVL Introduction
Israel’s attempts to cover up its oppression of the Palestinians and deny their civil rights under occupation has just been condemned in a new Human Rights Watch report.
The UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has gone further, berating Israel for its abuses towards all Palestinians under its rule without distinction, effectively acknowledging that Israel’s abuses of Palestinians are embedded in the Zionist ideology of the state, rather than specific to the occupation.
At the same time the offensive against critics of Israel is reaching new height with attempts to criminalise support for BDS and anti-Zionism increasingly defined as antisemitism (witness Trump last month).
“The centrists have let the antisemitism genie out of the bottle,” argues Jonathan Cook, “in order to damage the left.”
But they do not control it, and we now face the all-too-real revival of right-wing antisemitism. Jews in the west are likely to pay a heavy price…
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Mon 30 Dec 2019. Read the original here.
Antisemitism has been used to smear the left, while the right targets Jews
Israel may emerge stronger by playing politics with antisemitism, but not without severe repercussions for Western Jews
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For obvious reasons one of the political lobbies with potentially the most power to oppose the international resurgence of the extreme and often neo-fascist right is that of the Jewish establishments. It is therefore extraordinary that these establishments, in an almost universal blind defence of Israel, with its far right allegiances, give a pass to the development of the very forces which just 80 years ago produced the extermination camps. The depth of this monumental fault produces the absurd logic that Jewish organisations which call out this folly are necessarily defined as antisemitic. A real life Alice in Wonderland as horror movie.
Another excellent analysis by Jonathan Cook.
But : “… his [Corbyn’s] party was forced to swallow this very same definition [IHRA]”
There was no forcing. It was a terribly mistaken (cowardly?) choice of abandoned principle – with predictable results. No candidate for the Labour leadership is brave enough to face down the gross exaggerations, smears and lies.
Another excellent article from Jonathan. I am yet to come across a potential Leader of the LP who mentions Palestinian Rights and Israeli abuses. It seems they are falling over each other to prove themselves the toughest in combating ‘antsemitism’ in the LP reaching a zenith with Thornberry. No mention has been made of the appalling role that the PLP played in undermining Jeremy Corbyn. No mention has been made of the disgraceful accusations by some PLP members that have brought the Party into Disrepute. ‘We are a Broad Church’ they say. But nothing about the thoroughly nasty slurs poured on our current Leader’s head. Qui tacet consentire videtur, as Thomas Moore said. My gratitude to those who did in fact speak up but were drowned by the Media.
So… the question is… is there a single Labour leadership candidate who will stand up to this incredible and ludicrously successful Israeli interference with our rights to freedom of speech ? And how do we find out ?
I don’t think there is a candidate who is willing (and able) to state, clearly and coherently that they are against the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians while at the same time declaring unequivocally, their rejection of anti Semitism. So who should I support?
It is so fundamental to Labour Party values how can our Party possibly adopt any other position?
I have to say – somewhat belatedly in this thread – that I really AM getting sick and tired of Richard Hayward – or RH – repeatedly referring to Jeremy and others in the LP as cowards. I can assure you that he along with a number of OTHER personas, monitors and posts comments all day long every single day on skwawkbox, and in ‘his’ case, has been doing so for about eighteen months. He is a propagandist, but he holds back when he posts on this website but, at the same time, cautiously tests how far he can push his narrative – ie his/their propaganda agenda. So, for example, in this instance, he puts ‘cowardly’ in brackets, along with a question mark, but more recently saw his chance to be explicit re the disinvitation to Glyn to speak at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event.
RH is well aware of the pressure/blackmail heaped upon Jeremy and the LP by the Blairites/’moderates’ in the party working hand-in-glove with the corporate MSM and the semi-corporate BBC and the Jewish newspapers and the JLM and CAA and LAA et al to sign up to the IHRA definition and the examples. And the ‘pressure’ was relentless, and continued on an almost daily basis for several months. Yes, he attacks the perpetrators of the A/S smear campaign for the purpose of giving himself credibility AND for the purpose of ingratiating himself with the left, but his main objective is to inculcate readers – ie the left and JC supporters – with the idea and belief that Jeremy is a coward, and THAT is why he repeats it again and again and again on skwawkbox, Repetition being a form of brain-washing and a well known propaganda technique of course.