Oberman pays damages after false antisemitism allegations
JVL Introduction
Tracy Oberman, who was a critic of Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of antisemitism, has had to pay substantial damages and court costs after falsely accusing Dr. Phillip Proudfoot of antisemitism. We welcome this decision and her public apology.
This report by the Guardian reflects the published statement by Dr. Proudfoot’s lawyers and we highlight the statement by his solicitor, Zillur Rahman who said: “Antisemitism is a serious problem in our society and it is unfortunate that some people like Philip, who show solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle for freedom from Israel’s oppression, have been falsely accused of antisemitism, which can have a chilling effect on free speech against injustices and human rights violations.”
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Tue 26 Apr 2022. Read the original here.
Tracy-Ann Oberman pays ‘substantial damages’ for antisemitism claims
Actor apologises for falsely suggesting politician Philip Proudfoot had ‘Jew block list’ on Twitter
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“Antisemitism is a serious problem in our society” – but it isn’t. Not in British society. What is serious is its exaggeration for political reasons. As we see from this case.
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer woman!
I hope people support Mike Sivier who is facing a libel action from Rachel Riley. It would be good to wipe the smile off her face too
Anyone who has ever been or is a believer in Corbyn`s “antisemitism” is described accurately by this quote from a thirties philosopher —
“The people are dull, they are sheep, and will believe what they are told” Tracy-Anne would hate to be described as a sheep but at least she admits it. I can only hope that her bank balance became as depleted as her intelligence is.
It is such a shame that so many well-known figures have got themselves caught up in the feeding-frenzy, the race to the bottom which was the concerted attack on Jeremy Corbyn, with the intention of labelling him, and anyone associated with him, as anti-semitic. So many falsehoods were published in this campaign. And it was so easy to make groundless accusations compared to the time and cost involved for the accusee in seeking redress and correcting the record. Corbyn never was a litigious soul, and to his discredit, both one publicly to admit a belief that there might be some truth in the rumours, and worse, one to delay or avoid the inevitable conflict. Some senior Labour Party figures, during Corbyn’s leadership, reported hundreds (in one case thousands) of cases of antisemitism, the huge majority of which were entirely spurious, the huge majority not even involving Labour Party members. But mud sticks, and I see no effort by the current leadership either to right wrongs, or even to recognise that they existed.
I cannot and will not vote Labour again until there is an attempt to set the record straight.
What does Freedland have to say? The Grauniad encouraged this sort of stuff.
This is a really good outcome. There are hundreds of individuals and organisations burdened by false accusations of antisemitism that remain u resolved. It’s sad that this is one of very few cases that have delivered justice.
We should celebrate Proudfoot’s brave and successful fight for justice.
As a socialist and a humanitarian, he is an example to us all.
Well done !
Shouldn’t we be making more of this? It is yet another example, and a high profile one, of the exaggeration of antisemitism as a way to try to discredit those on the left, or who support Palestinian rights. Jeremy Corbyn had the Labour whip removed for speaking this truth. It adds to the mockery of Keir Starmer’s addition to the definition of antisemitism that it is antisemitic to say allegations are exaggerated or used for factional purposes.
This may also be of interest and is highly relevant: https://skwawkbox.org/2022/04/26/oberman-apologises-pays-damages-for-smear-vs-proudfoot-exaggeration-of-a-s-claims-is-legal-fact-mr-starmer/