Tag: Antisemitism

The MP for Dudley North had clashed with the Labour party chair, Ian Lavery, in the House of Commons just before the parliamentary recess in a heated exchange that was witnessed by other MPs. Austin was angry about the party’s new code, which recognises the internationally accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism but does not replicate in full its list of examples – a contentious omission that has dismayed many within the party and further strained Labour’s relations with the Jewish community in the UK. The letter sent to Austin is identical to one sent a day before, on 18 July, to the veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who was told that she faces disciplinary action for abusive conduct, having branded Jeremy Corbyn a “racist and antisemite”. “The Labour party takes all complaints extremely seriously,” he said. In whose interest is it to kill Egyptians, other than Israel, concerned at the growing closeness of relationship between Palestine and the new Egyptian government?” During the attack, masked gunmen dressed as Bedouin nomads opened fire on police with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Egyptian state television reported. The Press TV presenter Lauren Booth asked Corbyn: “Would a Muslim go against his Egyptian brother and open fire?” Corbyn responded: “It seems a bit unlikely that would happen during Ramadan, to put it mildly, and I suspect the hand of Israel in this whole process of destabilisation.” The previous year Israel had conceded that several Egyptian police officers might have been killed accidentally by Israeli fire during an incursion by Palestinian militants. “Jeremy’s speculation about the perpetrators of the attacks on the Egyptian border guards was based on previous well-documented incidents of killings of Egyptian forces by the Israeli military,” a Labour party spokesman said. Yes, Jews are angry – because Labour hasn’t listened or shown any empathy | Jonathan Freedland Read more Ivor Caplin, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: “Conspiracy theories underpin a huge swathe of antisemitism. The IHRA definition is clear about this. Jeremy needs to provide clarity on his views on this conspiracy theory and any others he may have aired in the past.” Dave Rich, head of policy at the charity Community Security Trust, said: “The debate about the IHRA definition and Labour’s code has been about the difference between clear antisemitism and criticism of Israel, but often the problem comes with an extreme hatred of Israel, often expressed through conspiracy theories that provide the bridge between the two.”

Netta Barzilai’s “excellent” song could not win Eurovision “because Europe is imbued with bicolored anti-Semitism: The classic Christian anti-Semitism of Holocaust’s perpetrators and Muslim anti-Semitism that’s striking root” there, he wrote, vowing to eat his own “hat” if he’s proven wrong. Kishon, a political hawk and the son of the late humorist Ephraim Kishon, failed to predict the future: Barzilai’s unconventional song “Toy” in fact did win the contest, earning the fourth-highest score in the pan-European song competition’s 63-year history. But his prediction nonetheless illustrated how many Israelis apparently overestimate the politicization of Eurovision, the prevalence of anti-Israel sentiment in European societies — or both. At this year’s contest, Israel would have come in third Saturday if it were up solely to the official juries of the 43 countries that participated. For example, Israel was the top vote-getter from juries both in France — which many consider emblematic of Europe’s anti-Semitism problem — and the Czech Republic, which is a historic and contemporary bastion of support for Israel and Jews in Europe. Even though Israel won this year’s contest, the organizers were still accused of politicizing the event after its Portuguese hosts did not mention Jerusalem when asking the Israeli jury to announce their score. Greece and Cyprus are notorious for this, with each country giving the other top scores most years. In Israel, too, some saw a political message in the victory by Barzilai. But to some Eurovision veterans, Barzilai’s victory had little to do with her message and everything to do with the gimmickry and showmanship of a woman clucking like a chicken. “It’s a rarity show and that’s a shame in a song festival.”

Labour’s latest bitter row over antisemitism could hardly have come at a worse time for the party’s army of activists in the north London Tory stronghold of Barnet. “Barnet has been moving towards Labour now for quite a while. We have been campaigning almost non-stop for eight, 10 years. If Labour could take those two seats, and the political makeup of the rest of the borough remained unchanged, it would seize control of the council, which has been in Tory hands since 2002. Adam Langleben, the Labour councillor for West Hendon, points to last year’s general election result in Chipping Barnet as a sign of the changing times. The difference between now and 40 years ago when my parents moved up here is that people are bringing their politics with them. But something has changed in the last 10 years. Langleben helped represent local residents at the two inquiries into the project. Labour says the project has failed to deliver promised savings, undermined accountability and allowed public services to deteriorate. You need something to bring things together.” As campaigning begins in earnest, Richard Cornelius, the leader of Barnet council, insists he and his colleagues will not be exploiting Labour’s discomfort in strongly Jewish wards.

One of the main concepts in journalism education is that of framing: the highlighting of particular issues, and the avoidance of others, in order to produce a desired interpretation. We have been reminded of the importance of framing when considering the vast amounts of media coverage of Jeremy Corbyn’s alleged failure to deal with antisemitism inside the Labour party. On Sunday, three national titles led with the story while news bulletins focused on the allegations all last week. Dominant sections of the media have framed the story in such a way as to suggest that antisemitism is a problem mostly to do with Labour and that Corbyn is personally responsible for failing to deal with it. Yet where are the Jewish voices who support Corbyn and who welcome his long-established anti-racist record? Where are the pieces that look at the political motivations of some of Corbyn’s most vocal critics? Where is the fuss in your news columns about the rising tide of antisemitism in Europe, such as in Hungary, where the Fidesz government has used antisemitic tropes to bolster its support, or in Poland, where the government is attempting to criminalise revelations about the country’s antisemitic past? It is not “whataboutery” to suggest that the debate on antisemitism has been framed in such a way as to mystify the real sources of anti-Jewish bigotry and instead to weaponise it against a single political figure just ahead of important elections. We condemn antisemitism wherever it exists. We also condemn journalism that so blatantly lacks context, perspective and a meaningful range of voices in its determination to condemn Jeremy Corbyn.

Michael Martin, the former Commons Speaker, became the latest senior figure to speak out against antisemitism in Labour on Sunday when he called for a special one-day conference to address the problem. In a rare intervention in party politics for someone who had to quit the party whip when he became Speaker, Lord Martin said he was “appalled” by what was happening in Labour and that failure to tackle antisemitism could cost it the next election. Stressing that he was not criticising Jeremy Corbyn personally for the problem, the former Labour MP, who now sits on the crossbenches in the Lords as Lord Martin of Springburn, said a special conference would allow party members to show how strongly they were opposed to antisemitism. Martin’s intervention came as Labour confirmed that Corbyn has suspended his personal Facebook account. Party sources said it was administratively simpler for Corbyn to have just one Facebook account – he has retained his official one –although the move came as the party faced fresh criticism over senior officials belonging to Facebook groups where antisemitic messages were posted. I have not been attending parliament because I’m on sick leave, but if I had been there on Monday last week, I would have joined the protest,” he said. “If you ran a restaurant, and it was dirty and there were cockroaches, you wouldn’t get away with saying ‘the restaurant down the road is dirty and has cockroaches too’. “The only way that the Labour party can improve the quality of life for men and women, and children, is if they are elected to public office and they have a parliamentary majority,” he said. Labour insiders dismissed a report in the Times claiming that the party is facing a worrying fall in membership. Membership was more than 570,000 after the election.

The comedian and activist Eddie Izzard has marked his arrival on Labour’s ruling national executive committee by saying the “stain of antisemitism” present among “a minority” of members has to be removed. Shawcroft, a Corbyn ally, had been under pressure to quit since it emerged she had opposed the suspension of a Labour councillor accused of Holocaust denial. Izzard took her place as the runner-up in the NEC elections. He spoke out as the party dismissed the implications of a Sunday Times investigation that found 12 officials working for Corbyn or John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, were members of Facebook groups that routinely featured anti-Jewish, violent or abusive messages. “This is a very important time for the Labour party and we must stamp out completely the stain of antisemitism from a minority of members. “We must make amends and repair the damage with the Jewish community as Jeremy Corbyn has promised to do.” The Sunday Times reported that a two-month investigation into 20 of the biggest pro-Corbyn Facebook groups – headed by We Support Jeremy Corbyn, which has 67,000 members – had uncovered more than 2,000 racist, antisemitic, misogynist, violent and abusive messages. The paper said 12 Labour staffers working for Corbyn or McDonnell were members of these groups. “This has been written up in a way that makes it look as if these people were active and complicit in the abuse,” said a senior party source. “But a lot of these people did not even realise they were members of these groups. “And there is nothing wrong with being a member of a Facebook group that supports the Labour party.

Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the vilification and abuse of Labour MPs who attended Monday night’s demonstration against antisemitism in the party. As leaders of the Jewish organisations that staged the protest told him that they would not meet him until he intervened to halt the attacks on social media, Corbyn said he was profoundly concerned by any abuse. “People have the right to speak out and the right to demonstrate,” he told the Jewish News in his first ever interview with a Jewish newspaper. “I will not tolerate abuse of people for their beliefs.” “Any abuse that’s done is not done in my name,” he added. He also rejected the idea – put forward by a rival demonstration by the Jewish Voice for Labour on Monday – that the reason for the main protest was to smear Corbyn himself. “I don’t see that as a smear.” But his remarks failed to silence his critics. “He’s squandered a wonderful opportunity to speak to the Jewish community in a week when they needed it most.” In the interview, Corbyn was challenged repeatedly to condemn the way MPs who attended the protest have been attacked. He also defended David Lammy, the Tottenham MP who went to the protest to support Jewish constituents. “They need to hear you say, publicly and your own voice, that we had every right to protest about antisemitism, and that Labour MPs had every right to support us … that anyone directing abused, intimidation or threats at those of us who oppose antisemitism is damaging your efforts to eliminate it.” The Skwawkbox, a leftwing blog, emailed several MPs, including John Woodcock, Ian Austin and Wes Streeting, challenging them to prove they opposed all racism in a way that implied their opposition to antisemitism was only a way of attacking the party leadership. In his interview, Corbyn insisted the investigations into allegations of antisemitism made against Livingstone must follow due process.

Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for what he called “pockets of antisemitism” in his party, after Jewish leaders called for a solidarity protest outside parliament on Monday evening to warn the Labour leadership that “enough is enough”. “We are campaigning to increase support and confidence in Labour among Jewish people in the UK”. Enough is enough,” they said, calling on “members of our community and all those who oppose antisemitism” to gather in Parliament Square as Labour MPs meet. Several Labour MPs have said they would like to hear an explanation from Corbyn directly, after Facebook posts emerged in which he appeared to show his support for an antisemitic mural in 2012. The statement said the mural was “offensive, used antisemitic imagery, which has no place in our society, and it is right that it was removed”. A later statement from Corbyn added: “I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on.” But Sunday’s statement from Jewish leaders condemned Corbyn’s response as “far too little, far too late”. She said: “It fails to understand on any level the hurt and anguish felt about antisemitism.” But Watson defended Corbyn on Sunday, saying he had expressed deep regret and apologised. Watson said: “I’m very, very sorry that people feel hurt by this and that’s why I think it’s right that Jeremy has expressed regret for it. He said that he didn’t see the mural, he was talking about free expression and I think now that he has seen the mural, he’s right to say that it was right not just to be removed but that he expresses deep regret for the offence caused by the mural.” Starmer said the image was “antisemitic and we need to be absolutely clear about that”. He said: “The most important thing is that the Labour party keeps on saying that antisemitism has no place in our party, in our communities or in our society, and we’ve got to have zero tolerance.