Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, has had his party
membership suspended by the current leader, Keir Starmer. He has had the whip
removed in Parliament, meaning he is technically an independent MP. This is due
to the anti-Semitism row that has been tearing thorough the party for almost
five years. Many claim it is a direct result of Corbyn's leadership, seeing as
he was elected at about the same time it all kicked off. Several Labour MP's and
other Labour officials have made comments that have been branded anti-Semitic
such as Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone. However, as I said at the time, all Naz
Shah did was Tweet a satirical joke about Israel .
All Ken Livingstone did was mention something said by a historian, Lenni
Brenner, about an attempted pact made between German Jews and Adolf Hitler. I
must remind you exactly what anti-Semitism means; it is defined as "hostility
to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews and Judaism" (Source: Oxford
English Dictionary and Encyclopaedia
Britannica). As I said at the time, Livingstone and Shah very obviously do
not qualify under this definition, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2016/05/is-ken-livingstone-nazi.html.
Jeremy Corbyn actually launched the Chakrabarti Inquiry to try and get to the
bottom of the issue and it concluded that the party was not overrun with
anti-Semites, but that there was a "toxic atmosphere" and occasionally
"ignorant attitudes" in the Party community. There was another fuss
in 2018 over a mural in east London
that supposedly had anti-Semitic themes. The artwork was obliterated just three
weeks after being created and Corbyn spoke out against that. However I was at a
loss to pick up the anti-Semitic themes in the painting. It depicts no
references at all to Jews or Judaism, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/03/anti-semitic-mural.html.
In February 2019 the party split with the "gang of seven" resigning
and setting up a new party, the deceptively-named "Independent Group for
Change". It became one of the shortest-lived government parties in UK
electoral history, disbanding the following December. The EHRC, the Equality
and Human Rights Commission, launched its own investigation the same year which
was published in April. It said there was "no evidence that anti-Semitism
complaints were treated any differently than other forms of complaint, or of
current or former staff being motivated by anti-Semitic intent." When Sir
Keir Starmer was elected the new leader that same month he said he would tackle
anti-Semitism by "tear(ing) out this poison by its roots!" He set up
a new complaints procedure to deal with reports of anti-Semitic harassment from
members. The latest row broke out when a couple of weeks ago the EHRC published
a new report finding that the party was responsible for "unlawful acts of harassment
and discrimination". They also said that some complaints were suppressed
by senior party figures. Starmer has now suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending an
investigation. He said it was "a day of shame for the Labour Party." The
response has been a mixture of cheers and boos. Jewish welfare groups have
praised Starmer, saying "He has done more in four days that Corbyn did in
four years!" Corbyn's supporters on the left of the party, which as I said
is a huge contingent, are furious and regard this as some kind of witch hunt. Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45030552.
I am honestly surprised at all this business because Labour
is the British political party most associated with anti-racism and equality. It
has long been affiliated to "anti-fascist" lobby groups and think
tanks. Its rank-and-file members are generally far to the left of the centre-left
leadership and Parliamentary party. Are these really the people in all of
British politics who are mostly likely to hate Jews? Corbyn himself marched against
the National Front with the Anti-Nazi League through Southall in 1975. This
just doesn't make sense. When you look into the origins of the problem you find
an answer. Firstly, it is because when Corbyn became leader in 2015 a large
number of people supporting the Palestinian cause saw him as a vital ally
because he is a member of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and had reached
the grand status of Leader of the Opposition. Many of them joined the Labour
Party specifically because of that. The other factor was that in July 2017 the
Labour Party National Executive Committee formally adopted the "working
definition" of anti-Semitism proposed by the IHRA, International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance. This differs considerably from the original academic definition
in a number of ways. According to the IHRA, one does not have to go as far as
expressing hostility or prejudice towards Jews and Judaism to be anti-Semitic.
One merely needs to fulfil a number of far milder, hazier and more subtle
criteria such as: "Accusing Jewish
citizens of being more loyal to Israel , or to the alleged priorities of Jews
worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations." Does this count even if the individual or group concerned says that itself? Apparently. Also: "Denying the Jewish people their right
to self-determination, eg: by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour." This can
been applied to any and all disagreement with the policies of Israel .
For example, if you believe the Israel Defence Forces have been too
heavy-handed when they drops bombs or incendiaries on innocent people in
Israel's neighbouring countries or occupied territories, does that qualify?
Does this therefore mean that Israel
is a nation totally ring-fenced from criticism? If it is not, then could the
IHRA please tell us exactly how one can
criticize Israel
without being an anti-Semite. Here's another: "Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the
Nazis." That depends if it is fair to draw those comparisons. If it is
unfair then that unfairness can be exposed by respecting the free speech of
those who draw it; along with their opponents. I am frankly sick and tired of continuously
hearing that we're not permitted to talk about, or even think about, certain subjects because any associated controversy
has been completely settled by higher authorities. Source: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism.
I think we can now understand the inevitable collision between these two
factors that was bound to rear its ugly head at some point. Many people in
Labour who express viewpoints that used to be acceptable have now found those
same viewpoints verboten by the new
NEC policy (In fact I know somebody who once interviewed me who was a former
Labour Party member who was expelled, although he might not want me to identify
him right now). These people are not anti-Semites. None of them hate Jews or
want to do any harm to Jews. Many of them would defend Jews from the very
hatred they have been falsely accused of. Most of the people affected by this
change are people who think the Israeli state is carrying out unjust and
unlawful policies and wish to say so publicly. All other countries can be evaluated
openly and without consequences, so why should Israel
be an exception? It is only by addressing this question can peace return to the
Labour Party. I'm not a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn; I would never vote for him,
but I think he is innocent and I call for all charges against him to be
dropped.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2019/02/gang-of-seven.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2020/04/kier-starmer-new-labour-leader.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/06/general-election-2017-results.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2016/12/back-to-ccs.html.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2019/02/gang-of-seven.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2020/04/kier-starmer-new-labour-leader.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/06/general-election-2017-results.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2016/12/back-to-ccs.html.