Jeremy Corbyn Suspended

 

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.