Labour drops case against Diana Neslen
JVL Introduction
A famous Labour Activists for Justice victory against the Labour Party’s authoritarian and irresponsible disciplinary system, as Diana Neslen is exonerated.
The update on the Crowd Justice website on 9th February, reposted below, tells the story.
Labour drops case against Diana Neslen – Guardian article
Labour has finally backed down and withdrawn its absurd charges of antisemitism against Diana Neslen, one of our original group of Labour Activists 4 Justice and an orthodox practicing Jew.
Follow this link to read the Guardian article, published on Mon 7 Feb 2022.
Diana hasn’t received an apology from the Party, despite her request for it to do so, and they had told her she was not entitled to talk publicly about it. She says she was a “committed Zionist” before she visited Israel, and says that she would not be silent. “You shouldn’t silence people who you disagree with, and although Zionism is for many Jews a sense of identity, [it’s] not for all and we all have a right to our views.”
We call on Labour to withdraw complaints against other party members under similar investigation and to review those subject to extraordinarily punitive sanctions such as the six original LA4J claimants including the late Mike Howard. Also, as the Guardian reports, there are at least 46 Jewish Labour members that we know of, two of whom have since died, who have faced or are facing disciplinary charges relating to allegations of antisemitism
“To say that we are insulting Jews is wrong,” said Diana. “We are acting in accord with what we regard as Jewish values and Jewish ethics, and I’m not going to change that.”
We will continue to call on the Labour Party to stop its harassment and discrimination of those who have anti-Zionist views and to apologise to those it has wrongfully accused of antisemitism.
Please donate if you can and share the link to the Guardian article.
A victory for common sense!
Justice done. And well done. From a fellow falsely accused.
Ironic that this should come from the Guardian, which did more to undermine confidence in Corbyn among liberal voters than all the tabloids combined, and which has several times censored their resident cartoonist Steve Bell’s cartoons relating to Israel and Zionism. A paper which likes to have its liberal cake and eat it!
Perhaps Labour is turning a corner and understanding that many established supporters are questioning their blanket support of a party that now ignores the plight of minorities, notably the Palestinians. Dropping the hateful case against Diana Neslen and now being forced to suspend Neil Coyle are two tiny encouraging steps, or am I being naive?
Well done, brave Diana, for standing up to intimidation and oppression from a Party calling itself democratic and socialist – a vile fraud of course.
Thank you again Jewish Voice for Labour for bravely backing the fight back.
I am proud to have contributed to the legal fund and I am doing so again.
There is also your achievement of having prompted the two-faced though thoroughly establishment Guardian to have published a bit on this story.
It is deeply concerning how closely the right-wing establishment media embraces Labour Leader Keir Starmer and desperately tries to protect him from any criticism, even to the extent of presenting Starmer as if as a victim, a classic ploy for which some otherwise better people have fallen.
It just occurred to me to have a look on the CAAs website to see if they published any articles at any point in relation to Neil Coyle, and there was absolutely nothing. The only thing that came up when I did a search on their website was an article posted in July 2021 about how Coyle wrote to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner alledging that Jeremy Corbyn may have broken the code of conduct for MPs in regard to support for his legal disputes. This was in respect of the Crowdfunder that raised several hundred thousand pounds:
The former leader of the Labour Party is being investigated over the “registration of an interest under the Guide to the Rules” by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
This comes after Labour MP Neil Coyle wrote a letter to the Commissioner, alledging that Mr Corbyn may have broken the code of conduct for MPs in regard to support for his legal disputes.
Mr Coyle said that Mr Corbyn had “received financial support for legal cases involving him in various legal disputes, principally surrounding antisemitism” which had not been properly declared.
https://antisemitism.org/jeremy-corbyn-under-investigation-by-parliamentary-watchdog-over-alleged-improper-declaration-of-legal-support-for-antisemitism-related-claims/
Needless to say, the Crowdfunder was nothing whatsoever to do with ‘antisemitism-related claims’. And as for their complete silence re Coyle, the CAA finish the above article (as they generally do) with the following:
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
Hmm…..
Congratulations to Diana Neslen. It would be fascinating as to how Mrs Neslen turned from being a committed zionist to one who was concerned about Palestinian rights after her visit to Israel. Those of us who are somewhat ignorant of conditions in the Israeli/Palestine conflict could learn from anyone with “on the ground” experience.
After considerable reflection, I have come to suspect that the PEOPLE of Israel, themselves may have to a great extent been also ABUSED and MISLED!!
Let us recall how and why the state of Israel was created in the first place. Ostensibly to provide a safe haven for Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. This appears to be humanitarian and laudable. BUT was this simply a pretext to create a state in the Middle East that could be counted on to always represent Western and capitalist interests?
I realize that as I am not a Jew this concept could be distressing to those who are Jews. This is not my intention. I want to understand the underlying reasons for the Israeli/Palestine situation and I most strongly suspect that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have anything to gain in this conflict but that both parties are being manipulated by outside forces. These “outside forces” have little interest in any ethnic, cultural or religious differences so long as they hold control over a middle eastern country that is politically useful to their military and financial interests!
What happened to the case against the CAA and its dubious status as a charity
Well sadly very little but we continue to pursue this!
Starmer may know his way around and under the legal establishment, but he is no supervillain. His handling of the membership and the antisemitism scam has been exceptionally maladroit, and the way things are going he stands to be torpedoed by the growing international awareness of the ignoble part Israel has played in their settler-colonial endeavour. In the next decade or so Palestinian rights will become as popular a cause as the struggle in South Africa, and those with a record of assisting the oppression of the Palestinians and the theft of their land will be exposed as the racist reactionaries they undoubtedly are. The world can only be fooled for just so long, and once the fraud can no longer be sustained the Labour Party will have to reform accordingly. Unfortunately by that time Starmer will probably be safely installed in the House of Lords, along with Cressida Dick, John Mann and others elevated for their services to the establishment.