Smear, sneer and snide innuendo
JVL Introduction
Jon Berry is an academic at the University of Hertfordshire and with long membership of and activism in the teachers’ union, now the NEU.
A friend drew his attention to a web discussion for members of the NEU who were “concerned about the NEU’s anti-Israel stance and their failure to take Jewish members’ complaints seriously”.
He attempted to take part in the meeting but was sent no details as to how to register. When he pursued the matter he was told he had been rejected because ‘the content of your blog suggested you weren’t supportive of the aims of the group.’
Galvanised by this bizarre response he wrote to the sponsoring groups: We Believe in Israel, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, British Israel Trade Union Dialogue, and PaJes: Partnerships for Jewish Schools (a division of the Jewish Leadership Council).
Here he takes up the story…
This article was originally published by radicalreadblog on Sun 20 Jun 2021. Read the original here.
Smear, sneer and snide innuendo: the stock in trade of the Deputies and their allies
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It is understandable why a group of supporters of apartheid/ethnic cleansing who have dropped a shameful episode of Zionist history in a memory hole should be reluctant to see their narrative subjected to critical scrutiny. The facts of what s currently going on in I/P is another area they will wish to shield from view. But facts these days are recorded and shared by too many people to be buried with any succss.
Those who refuse to debate a contentious issue have always got something dishonorable to hide.
Well said Jon Berry. Solidarity – Mary x
Another illuminating narrative of the workings of the BoD and other Jewish Groupings. I wish Dr Jon Berry every success with his endeavours to uncover the facts underlying the smears and innuendos referred to in the flyer for the meeting.
Academics in the cross-hairs and now the NEU bereft of any open clear democratic debate.
All of my Jewish friends and colleagues are deeply troubled by organisations who claim to speak on behalf of all Jews when that is patently ridiculous. Like any other cohort of people there are a wide range of views and opinions among Jews.
I repeat my support for all those being unjustly targetted and branded as antisemetic for political purposes in an extremely chilling manner.
Fran Heron
Thanks Jon for taking up the cudgels and trying to get reasonable answers to reasonable questions.
I’m wondering what on earth CAN be done to stop what seems like the socially effective “5 Minute Hate” campaigns in Orwell’s “1984”?
Would NEU be prepared to sue, do you think? When “education” and reasonableness fail, often aggressors carry on with bullying if it serves their needs and there are no adverse consequences for them.
This piece reads like a sequel to the earlier drama in which the UKLFI, the BoD and certain individuals of the ‘Jewish defence Forces’, whilst having persuaded Pearson to revise GCSE Middle East Conflict textbooks to convert them to Israeli Hasbara, were then uncovered by Professors Chalcraft and Dickins’ report for BRICUP. https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/textbooks-altered-line-by-line-at-uk-lawyers-for-israels-behest/
https://www.campain.org/post/pearson-caught-in-middle-east-history-textbook-scandal
I am not surprised at all when Jon got no response from three of the parties, including We Believe in Israel and the BoD. Neither of their websites currently has a word to say about this endeavour with the NEU. Interestingly Marie van der Zyl wrote a letter to the gen. secs. of NEU on 9th June complaining of the NEU member who has organised ‘understanding antisemitism’ workshops being an antisemite. It is a very large link but anyone interested just google ‘board of deputies neu’. Doesn’t look as though she got a reply. It is also noteworthy that whilst the appeal on Twitter for NEU Jewish members to report their antisemitic experiences, seems to have had little or no response, a JC tweet, a few days ago, complaining that the train drivers union published an article saying ‘Zionism is racism’ had few supporters but many agreed with the union.
Times they are a changin!
Please could I also add an appeal for people to sign the petition by prof. James Dickins to Pearson to reissue corrected versions of the GCSE textbooks? http://bit.ly/PublicPetition
A sideways-on take to the present discussion …
I noticed in a back copy of “The Friend” (the Quakers’ newsletter) a small, objective feature on the Jerusalem Declaration defining what antisemitism is and is not. It struck me that there are many “faith” newsletters in the UK, they reach people serious about their own faith and interested in others’. Would JVL be prepared to undertake the work of sending the JVL article on the Jerusalem Declaration to credible and respectful faith newsletters with permission to use it in their own media? It would be one way of getting the message out and evading the censorship of the “Guardian”!
Solidarity and much Respect. The vile smears and lies from these awful organisations and Zionist supporters against really good people on the left is horrific and insidious. Their silence on the real right wing racists is deafening and shameful.
The Labour Party under Keir and his Starmtroopers is rapidly turning into a gangster organisation.