Starmer’s silence on Palestinian solidarity day speaks volumes
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Ghada Karmi, a Palestinian refugee and activist who has lived in Britain almost all her life.
She is not alone in finding Keir Starmer’s “slavish devotion to Zionism” increasingly baffling.
Has he really come to believe that support for Palestinian rights – to which Labour is committed – would end all chance of winning support from Jews in Britain?
If so it says little about his much-vaunted human-rights credentials – and even less about his views of Jews in Britain, seeing them as a monolithic bloc, united by anti-Palestinian sentiment.
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Tue 1 Dec 2020. Read the original here.
Starmer's silence on Palestinian solidarity day speaks volumes
By his attendance at a pro-Israel event, the Labour leader could not have chosen a more calculated way to gratuitously insult the Palestinians
Loading article text…
I agree with the sentiments of this article. The Labour leadership is clearly sideling the Palestinian cause to appease the Israeli lobby in the UK. This is what happens when you buy into the false narrative that criticism of Israel is antisemitic. All this talk about changing the “culture” in the Labour Party and making it a”safe and welcoming place for the Jewish community” is nothing more than a cynical attack on those who dare to call for Palestinian justice and the right to free speech on Israel. Calling out Israeli oppression of the Palestinians is being defined as “threatening” the”Jewish community” because the pro Israeli lobby deem it to be “offensive”. Challenging those who support the oppression of the Palestinians is being presented as antisemitism. Anti Palestinian racists are presented as “victims” of a hostile environment in the Labour Party. Logic is being turned on its head to shield Israel from criticism. This is all being done at the expense of the Palestinians.
With the prospective loss of members Starmer needs more donations from the millionaires, there can be no bigger sleeze merchant than David Abraham’s, a perfect match for Starmer.
Keir Starmer personally wrote to David Abraham’s asking whether he would consider donating to the party [the Times Nov 2020]. Also Starmer received £50,000 from Israeli firsterTrevor Chinn only published after his election as Labour leader he said he would be happy to give more “if Labour committed to “the right policies”[Guardian 2020] Now I wonder what those right policies could be? “Recently published data shows Labour leader Keir Starmer received a £50,000 donation from pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn – information which was not disclosed until after polls had closed in the leadership election”. [the Canary]
Remember this… British Labour Party under police investigation over illegal donations
4 December 2007
The police investigation into Labour Party funding, launched after Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted that donations by property developer David Abrahams were illegally funnelled through middlemen, will not be a re-run of the “Cash-for-Honours” scandal.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/12/labr-d04.html
Always good to see Palestinian contributions to this site. Their struggle is our struggle. Fighting antisemitism and anti Palestinian racism are part of the same struggle! I hope we hear more Palestinian voices on this site. Unity is strength.
The Guardian’s uncritical support of Keir Starmer amounts to an attack on free speech, and is potentially antisemitic in that it silences a significan strand of Jewish opinion. Today i posted an account of the November 29 conference below the line. One poster took issue with the following statement:
“Rayner, interestingly, seems to have been landed with the unenviable job of Labour obedience enforcer, threatening at November 29’s conference of the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel, to suspend thousands of party members for insisting on debating the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn. Many of those same rebellious members, incidentally, see Starmer and Rayner’s attendance at Sunday’s conference as a calculated insult to the Palestinians, since it had been scheduled to take place, no doubt by accident, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Not a good look, perhaps, for a party that wants to remain impartial on the issue of Israel. “
The poster asked why an English person should be bothered about Israel. I replied:
“Israel, regrettably, is the key issue of our times. The modern world is a uniquely interconnected place. What happens in Gaza or Jerusalem affects what happens in London, Washington and Berlin in a very real way: and how we judge those events is an index of where we stand in every department of our lives. I don’t want to cite parallels, but I genuinely believe that if the problem of Israel is not solved in a just and honorable way it could prove a flashpoint for a third world war. Alternatively, the Palestinians could just roll over and disappear, much as you want the left to. As I said before, I don’t believe that will happen.
As to Starmer, the way the left sees it, he is the one who started the war on the left, and if you poke a hornet’s nest you shouldn’t blame the hornets if you get stung.
I’m not a troll, as should have been obvious, My grandparents were murdered by the Nazis, so I have a very real apprehension of what antisemitism is and what Israel was founded to achieve. To my sorrow I believe it has taken a grievously wrong turn, and if the injustices being enacted there are not reversed it will be a tragedy not just for the Jewish people but for the entire planet.“
After this the entire thread, including my original comment, was moderated. I have complained to the Guardian on the grounds that the moderator’s action infringed my freedom of expression and was potentially antisemitic in that it refused to print a viewpoint held by many left-wing Jews.
@Kuhnberg
That such a comment was removed by moderators at the Guardian is sadly no surprise these days. It operates on a hair-trigger as far as any comments that deviate from the approved narrative are concerned- even those that feature the Guardian’s own reportage, in some cases!
And then there is the recurring case of Steve Bell’s vanishing cartoon strips when they are deemed a little too honest for Guardianista sensibilities.
Sadly, it now seems many, many years since the Guardian was a truly radical, campaigning newspaper that took on Establishment vested interests without fear or favour.
Now, it resembles just another comfortably-off, middle-aged, slightly chubby round the waist, middle-class time-server, counting down to retirement and not wanting to do anything that rocks the boat and upsets the boss.
Stephen is right. But we should accept that The Guardian is no longer a guardian of free speech and progressive values, as it was under Rusbridger. It is now a mouthpiece of the establishment with a propaganda section that it calls Journal. I gave up buying it long ago but will accept a handed-on copy because the crossword, unlike the rest of Journal, is of a good standard.
They will ignore complaints. The only way to have an effect on the Guardian is to hit it in the bottom line – just don’t buy it.
Having posted on a LP site about KS not recognising the UN Day of Palestinian Solidarity, l was told 29 th Nov was the wrong date .
This year the UN changed it to 1st Dec.
This made KS look ok! Did people know about this change? Can the UN do this? Why would they.? I have asked my Palestinian friends in Israel but haven’t heard as yet.
The Guardian’s Comment is Free is another example of doublethink since comment is anything but free!
However I disagree with Gharda that Starmer is trying to win over the Jewish community. Why would he see that as so important when is quite cavalier about losing the support of the Muslim/Kashmiri community which is 8 times as large?
Nothing Starmer does will win over more than a quarter of the Jewish community. Why? Because it’s not in their class interests to vote Labour.
What Starmer is concerned with is winning over the British Establishment and to do that he must convince them that he is 100% in support of US foreign policy, which Britain slavishly adheres to.
Israel is the lynchpin of that policy hence his and Rayner’s obscene cavorting at the weekend.
The problem for Starmer is that he shows no sign of winning over the working class that deserted Labour at the last election.
For anyone who doesn’t know, both The Canary and Skwarkbox (which do cover issues of interest to us who are politically “left of centre”) seek small donations to help them keep going. The lowest “one off” donation is £10, I believe, but I’m sure any sum (however tiny) would be much welcomed.
I sent an email immediately after attending the International Rally for Palestine, to both Starmer and Rayner accusing them of supporting and condoning apartheid and the actions of an apartheid regime.
The simple fact is that Starmer in his eagerness to please his paymaster (s) and distance himself fro Corbyn, and his role in Corbyn’s front bench and disastrous promotion of a 2nd referendum. Any solidarity he may have felt with the Palestinian population has been sold to the highest bidder.
I agree with all who say that that the Guardian has hit rock bottom and the only course of action left is to stop paying for it. However, I urge everyone to do so with a direct message to the Editor – no matter how brief or long. In May this year I sent a eight page letter to Kath Viner informing her that as a loyal reader of 40 plus years I had finally had enough and was cancelling my subscription. I was astonished to receive a very substantial reply the very next day from the Subscriptions Editor on her behalf. I didn’t buy into any of his arguments and told him so. The point is to let them know you are abandoning them with reasons why.
[email protected]
Yes I also last yr sent a letter to Kath Viner . She did not bother to even acknowledge me letter. yes the Guardian has certainly gone quite fast since she took over. This needs to addressed ASP. maybe she should resign before The Guardian becomes The Telegraph or the Times.
Starmer’s motives for joining the omertà against Israel’s HR abuses fall into a number of categories.
1. Cosying up to the Tory establishment.
2. Silencing critics like the BOD and the media on the issue of AS.
3. Enabling Israel to get away with its abuses without public scrutiny.
4. Clearing out the left from Labour, thus cementing his grip on Labour and satisfying centrists within the party and an increasingly right-wing public.
5. Winning power in 2024.
The last object is probably paramount. All those who continue to support him on the basis that a Labour government of whatever stripe is preferable to a Tory one should reflect on the fact that few individuals settle for enabling one abuse only, and that democracy is ill-equipped to deal with bad but popular leaders. When someone shows you who he is, you would do well to believe them. Were Starmer to become PM, it seems unlikely that he would do anything to improve equality, further human rights at home and abroad, or call power to account. I voted for him and Rayner in the belief they would follow a progressive and fair-minded path; I have never been so mistaken in my life. Their recent actions have left me with no alternative but to leave the party. Had I not done so I would doubtless have been one of the thousands to face suspension on cooked-up charges of antisemitism .