Antisemitism: what does that even mean?
Philip Roddis
It pains and embarrasses me that I used to admire Dame Margaret Hodge. Her steely grillings of millionaires, in her capacity as chair of the select committee on tax avoidance, had once warmed me to her.
Since then I’d given her little thought, until she made that foul-mouthed, slanderous and – in any other context than a McCarthyesque circus whose real target is the first Labour leader in living memory to challenge ‘austerity’ – outlandish attack on Jeremy Corbyn last July.[1]
Then came Giladgate and the suspension of Labour MP Chris Williamson for defending Israeli Jewish musician – and vehement critic not only of his own state but “a particular subset of Jews” – Gilad Atzmon.
I stress that term, a particular subset of Jews. Those who call Atzmon antisemitic have rarely in my experience troubled to read him in the round, though a few offer cherry-picked quotes. I blame a confusion Atzmon is at pains to disentangle.
In The Wandering Who? he sets out three understandings of Jewishness. One refers to those born Jewish, another to followers of ethical values and spiritual disciplines encoded in the Torah. To make important generalisations about either is absurd; to make important negative generalisations a double disgrace: a moral affront in and of itself, and a moral affront in light of a thousand years of Western history culminating in Hitler.
The third understanding, however, refers to “Jews identifying as members of a superior race”. These last, says Atzmon, “are the Jews I speak of in such negative terms, and whom I urge to question their arrogant assumptions”.
If these are the words of an antisemite, call me one too.
I myself have not encountered that third category in personal life. The Jews I know and count as friends are on the left, or at any rate liberal. (Nor do any belong to Atzmon’s second category: with a few exceptions I don’t much rub shoulders with religious types, whatever brand they smoke). But this reflects the demography of my worlnon-existence the non existence of Atzmon’s third category of Jews.
In the Never Again culture of Israel, and the powerhouses of London and New York City, they do exist, and I applaud the man’s courageous, principled and costly[2] stance of calling them out.
Talk of cherry picking brings us, in this context, back to Dame Hodge.
Three nights ago she was on Newsnight to slam the reinstatement of Chris Williamson. In so doing she issued another slander, folded into an aside on the man Williamson had – with guilt by association a standard smear in Stalinist[3] McCarthyite and other forms of witchhunt – defended at no small cost.
The next day that man responded with clear proof that Hodge, probably through ignorance as much as malice, had profoundly misunderstood a statement he’d made.
Here then, is Gilad Atzmon on the subject of Margaret Hodge on the subject of Chris Williamson.
I offer it not because Hodge is important, though as the above photo shows she still commands respect within the Labour Party. I offer it because great care is called for when examining issues not intrinsically difficult but so buried by obfuscation and mendacity, so emotionally charged and in this case so tightly bound with the quite different agenda of ousting Corbyn.
On these matters, Hodge’s interventions are at best crass, ignorant and spiteful. At best – and in this she exemplifies so much that is rotten in our political classes and debased media.
You might also read Atzmon’s written response of yesterday, addressed more at Lord Falconer than Dame Hodge. After rebutting accusations of holocaust denial, he concludes:
I categorically deny being an anti-Semite. Crucially, I have never been charged or even questioned about anything I said or wrote by any law enforcement authority anywhere in the world. That Lord Falconer accuses an innocent citizen, one with an absolutely clean record, of being “guilty” and the BBC presenter does not challenge or even question Falconer’s assertion is a clear indication that Britain is now a lawless place … an authoritarian society governed by a compromised political class. Britain has become uninhabitable for intellectuals, truth tellers and peace lovers. Sad it is but no longer a surprise.
NOTES:
[1] In this context we should note three ironies. One is that this same Labour right applauded the Maidan Square coup which brought antisemites, the real kind, into the Kiev administration to embolden Ukraine’s far and thoroughly antisemitic right (as when in 2017 thousands of nationalists marched in Kiev to celebrate the birthday of Stepan Bandera.) Another, related, is that in devaluing the antisemite term – which is what you do when you call Corbyn one – you let real antisemites off the hook. A third is that like the West at large, Israel – I mention this given how many names on Tom Watson’s tweet are in Labour Friends of Israel – has again and again been willing to work with antisemites, also the real kind, in pursuit of its agendas.
[2] The nature of Israel – both as a racist state and, to borrow from a Stephen Gowans book I’ll shortly review, as a ‘beachhead for imperialism’ from which to control the middle east – is obviously relevant in more ways than one. Here I confine myself to the observation that Israeli Jewish critics of Israel, like white South African members of the ANC in the apartheid era, exemplify – whatever other traits they may demonstrate – considerable courage.
[3] I’m aware of a revival, outside the traditional circles of Western Communist Parties, of interest in defending Stalin. At one level this is understandable. Given the corruption of our media and political systems it can be tempting to assume that whomever our rulers and their servants hold up as paragons of virtue, or as monstrosity incarnate, will be the opposite. I’d go so far as to say such reasoning will more often than not deliver broadly accurate results. It’s no substitute for proper investigation, however, and I’m planning a post addressing not so much the brutality of Stalin as his criminal incompetence.
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
Just in case anyone is still reading this thread, the following is from the current MERIP: “Palestinians in Gaza began ongoing weekly demonstrations on March 30, 2018 to reassert their right of return to their ancestral homes and lands they were forced to leave when Israel was established in 1948. The “Great March of Return,” as Palestinians have called the protest campaign, represents a vital expression of social movement organizing by Palestinian civil society, which includes human rights and legal activists, grassroots organizers, artists, journalists, BDS activists, political representatives and intellectuals.[1] One of protest organizer’s goals is to raise global awareness about the fact that approximately two-thirds of Gaza’s over 2 million residents are refugees who have been denied their internationally recognized right to return to their homes and land. They also seek to revive the nonviolent protest tradition of the first Intifada of 1987, making great efforts to prevent militarization of the protests. “These nonviolent demonstrators are regularly met with sniper fire from Israeli soldiers along the fence that marks the 1949 armistice line separating Israel from the tiny (25 miles long and five miles wide) coastal enclave of Gaza. Marchers are fully aware of the deadly risks associated with entry into this “no-go zone,” an area unilaterally designated by Israel to be off limits to Palestinians. But the fence does not mark an internationally recognized border: Israel has never declared its national borders and still maintains complete control over Gaza—therefore it remains an occupying power under international law. “Since the demonstrations began, at least 270 Palestinians have been killed, including 49 under the age of 18, the majority shot by Israeli snipers. An additional 31,249 have been injured—more than 500 people each week on average.[2] Despite the toll, marchers continue to demonstrate against their hopeless situation. Gaza has… Read more »
It hardly needs to be added that the majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party and much of the Shadow Cabinet actually justify the sub-Nazi treatment being meted out to Palestinians standing up for themselves.
According to the soi-disant inquisitors of ‘anti-semitism’ Corbyn has actually read an ‘anti-semitic book’ – wow! Shock Horror! The book in question, ‘Imperialism: A Study.’ by J.A.Hobson, was first published in 1902. Actually Corbyn, I believe, did a review some time back. Hobson himself was a frequent contributor to the Manchester Guardian, along with his namesake L.T.Hobhouse, the two being known as the ‘” Hobs.’ I can remember reading the book many years ago but can’t remember anything anti-semitic about it. In fact there was no reference to Jews or Jewish anywhere in the nearly 400 page book. There was one reference to Rothschild on page 57 – that was it. Whether that qualifies the book as being ‘anti-semitic’ seems highly dubious. Hardly in the same league as Mein Kampf or Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
But there you go, once the fanatics have decided upon the guilt of the offender the most marginal and trivial the ‘evidence’ to support their beliefs are sufficient. It really is breathtaking to witness the militant ignorance of these people.
”Ignorance is Strength.’
Members of the Jewish faith posit that ones religion makes one a semite. In using such logic Then all Catholics are Italian ,all Lutherans are Germanic ,all Anglicans are British and Muslims are Arabs.. THis is the oldest play in the book . Anglo-zionist by gas lighting and role reversal in victimization have successfully detracted and eliminated any debate with regards to the colonization of the middle east by creating the colonial occupied lands and called it Israel. Ones religion will not classify one to be a semite just like an Indonesian will never be considered an Arab just because it is the largest Muslim nation on the face of the earth. The whole notion of Jewishness ,Israel and the oligarchical class have created a perception of a class of people that are above and beyond any criticism and any debate . I myself having a genetic background of being both Italian/Catholic and Serphardic ancestry have to always state this when discussing ,debating or disputing anyone with a scintilla of grey matter between their earlobes about anglo-zionist debates and rhetoric. There seems to be always a void in any intellectual honesty when disputing facts and any historical revisionism with anything to do with any matter related to anything Jewish. Lenny Brenner rarely gets a mention one of the few Ashkanazi Jews who has extensively written about zionism and Israel proper using direct quotes from famous Zionist throughout history and how foul ,fascistic and supremacist their character and souls are. Until anglo_zionism/Zionism is purged and put into the dust bin of history like Nazism I am afraid that the real anti-semites will continue for Zionist are the anti-semites for it is a historical and scientific fact that semites are people of the Levanitne basin which are represented by the vast majority… Read more »
Party news website LabourList ran a poll asking whether Williamson should be readmitted to the party – 61 percent responded yes. Just 31 percent said no.
The results are significant, both because LabourList is not associated with the left of the party, and because of the number of participants – more than 10,000 readers voted.https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/labour-grassroots-want-chris-williamson-back-poll
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-hundreds-protest-fatal-shooting-of-ethiopian-israeli-teen-by-off-duty-police-officer-1.7431216
Here’s how the Israeli police treat their non-jewish citizens
“Here’s how the Israeli police treat their non-jewish citizens”
He was “of Ethiopian descent” so are you sure he was “non-jewish”?
The Labour Party complaints and disciplinary procedure which has taken so long to prepare, looked at objectively reminds me of that scene in the film ‘one eyed jacks’ staring Marlon Brando and Karl Malden.
̶K̶i̶d̶ ̶R̶i̶o̶: Chris Williamson…. I am going to get a trial, ain’t I.
̶D̶a̶d̶ ̶L̶o̶n̶g̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ : Tom Watson’s group…… Yeah Kid, you’ll get a trial and then we’re going hang you.
Sorry..starring, although Tom Watson does a lot of staring when out witch hunting for Anti-Semites.
For clarity:-
Q; What is a Semite ?
A: 1/a) a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs
A: 1/b) a descendant of these peoples
A: 2/ a member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language
*********************************************************
Thanks Merriam Webster:-
So, clearly just another case of AshkeNazi Zionist Cultural Misappropriation of language;
& the Ashkenazi were literally infamous for stealing the culture, language, identity, property & lands of those they conquered, through creating distractions & driving division by whatever means necessary, irrespective & long long before they ever arrived in Jerusalem.
Hodge appears to worship, serve, reaffirm & enforce the historically infamous bitter Ashkenazi ‘art’ of wholly immoral self -declared supremacists, who are the genetic descendants of murderers, thieves & liars. A very cunning people, renowned for their connivance & corruption of minds & mind control.
“So, clearly just another case of AshkeNazi Zionist Cultural Misappropriation of language”
No. The word was coined nearly 150 years ago by a German who was indeed born into a Jewish but went on to become an atheistic communist activist, amongst other things, and eventually the first significant proponent of the expulsion of all Jews from Germany because they represented an existential threat to the spirit of the German people. He formed a political party to realize that aim and the word was coined in that context.
Yes, he was born an Ashkenazi Jew, but turned out to be not your average Ashkenazi Jew.
Look before you leap.
“…wholly immoral self -declared supremacists, who are the genetic descendants of murderers, thieves & liars. A very cunning people, renowned for their connivance & corruption of minds & mind control.”
Welcome to the entire human species, so be careful with that kind of language or you might be misunderstood and fitted right out, when, where and from what quarter you least expect.
That lying Zionist bitch needs to shut her fat ugly Jew mouth. She actively covered up paedophile sex abuse in Islington children’s homes for years. She demanded that Paedophile Information Exchange activists be hired as staff in children’s homes without background checks, blocked investigations, and actively smeared victims who eventually came forward as mentally disturbed. This went on for years unchecked because of her activities. Children suffered years of horrific abuse because of this lying bitch. She belongs in jail.
But yes, you guessed it – Tony Blair appointed her as CHILDREN’S MINISTER!
Mark: which all begs the question, where, how and why hasn’t the ‘Buck’ ever stopped ? Surely, those abused deserve to see a Full Final Solution, (FFS), with direct accountability, where public shaming in the MSM determines that nobody within living memory would ever consider “That lying Zionist bitch” or any other such person of such professional incompetence, for any public office, ever again. To afford her airtime is corrupt, until she has been educated in the English language, even absurd ! Also, compulsory expulsion from the Labour party would seem Labour’s only option, if any of the abused were to follow the chain of responsibility & highlight her potentially malicious premeditated efforts to dispute HER failures & legal responsibilities. I have no idea mark, as i’d upped & left in 1990, but surely somebody can manage to nail these matters down to public record, because Hodge doesn’t even know the meaning of an Anti-Semite and Hodge must know that Palestinians are Semites and her Ashkenazi Zionist sponsors are anti-Palestinians, therefore, they themselves are the biggest Anti-Semites leading a global movement of Apartheid & Anti-Semitism … even attempting genocide now, to steal lands with legitimate documentation belonging to SEMITES ! Palestinians ! We clearly need some constant scientific monitoring of each & every UK politician, due to the many distractive & divisive claims & behaviours of projection & transference of guilt, shrouded in smoke & mirrors and, errr… was it not your idea mark, with Gwyn calling for a final solution to the present pandemic & pandemonium from propaganda & cultural misappropriation of language … an Anti-Sem-Pandem™ detector in tandem with, a public awareness campaign on the true meaning of a Semite, as proposed by Joerg, seemed like a very good idea to me, if nothing else to educate people… Read more »
This is a paedo abuse scandal on the scale of Savile or worse that was simply swept under the carpet. There has never been any accountability for the suffering that was caused.
Rebecca Long-Bailey did her best to show support for Corbyn by admitting Corbyn had lost the trust of the Jewish community, then, when the interviewer said Corbyn should resign, she backed him up again by refusing to comment. Then she said, like some third world dictator, that she believed Mr Williamson should not be a member of the Labour Party and that she did not know how he had not already been expelled. With a disgusting colleague like her who knows nothing about due process or truth, Corbyn and Williamson don’t need enemies.
“Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has told Jewish Labour Movement officials in Manchester that she is aware Jeremy Corbyn has lost the trust of the community – and has begun discussions on how relations can be fixed.
During a meeting last Friday, the Labour frontbencher was told was that the best way to build bridges was for the Labour leader to resign, but she declined to comment.
But Ms Long-Bailey, who is now being tipped to succeed Mr Corbyn as Labour leader, was frank about her views on MP Chris Williamson, who was suspended again on Friday just 48 hours after he escaped possible expulsion over repeated antisemitism allegations.
The MP for Salford and Eccles told JLM national vice chair Stephane Savary and north west chair Dena Rynes that she believed Mr Williamson should not be a member of the Labour Party and that she did not know how he had not already been expelled”. https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/long-bailey-tipped-as-next-labour-leader-says-corbyn-has-lost-trust-of-jewish-community-1.485959
In order to make any comment about Israel, you have to be aware you are entering a minefield and take the necessary precautions. The IHRA was set up for this very purpose.
1/ Hire a team of top notch Lawyers to parse every word and phrase on any statement or article you publish [you will need to take out a second mortgage]
2/ submit said article to teams of English professors and/ or Professors of Linguistics.
Again very expensive but just think your life could be destroyed and you could be ostracized from society for life if you are accused of Anti-Semitism without taking those necessary steps. The aims of the IHRA are to chill speech and stifle criticism of Israel, either invest in the above or don’t criticise Israel. /S
Harry, good advice, however I refuse to get on my knees to these zealot thugs. Screw their fraudulent screeching; in fact, they can shove it where the sun don’t shine. Some of the progressive (ish) sites here in Australia have been plagued by zionist trolls ready to pounce on even the slightest criticism of Israel, or even mildest defence of the Palestinians. One of them claimed to have dobbed me into Mossad. I was using my real name at the time. Their over the top bullying and smearing of anyone supportive of Palestinians has gone on for too long. Enough.
Some thoughts by Professor N Finkelstein on Anti-Semitism and the Labour Party…
In his opinion one of Corbyn and the Labour Party’s mistakes was a complete abandonment of the principle of freedom of speech, people have the right to say whatever they want, if I am a member of the Labour party I subscibe to the Labour Party’s political platform, that’s what makes me a member, but that does not mean you have the right to trawl my face book postings, you have the right to vet everything I say or post on Instagram, I mean that’s Romania under Ceausescu, that’s North Korea under Kim Jong-un, that’s now going to be the mandate of the Labour party, to be trawling all your thoughts and ideas to see whether you are an Anti-Semite. http://normanfinkelstein.com/2019/05/27/professor-norman-finkelstein-labouring-under-anti-semitism/
Jews has their property rights in East Berlin reinstated after German reunification. We were only Germans and did not get the land back or compensation. Prenzlauer Promenade 191. I was very favourably disposed towaqrds the Jews but when they were treated like royalty by the Kohl-Regime and we were second class citizens my sympathy died.
They will move heaven and earth to restore a painting or a piece of property to a Jew that was sold at a loss in the 1930s. But oy vey! don’t talk of any compensation for Palestinians whose country was stolen. Having extorted literally trillions in tribute from the US, Germany and Switzerland, these leeches and parasites are now trying to extort a further $300 billion from Poland.
While on the subject of censorship, it may be appropriate to mention that ifamericansknew has managed to re-upload their video on How Israel Censors the Internet.
https://youtu.be/TAzBsVzYH1o
You used to admire Margo hodge? Haha
Quote from an article that cites some real racism.
“Prime Minister Theresa May admitted on behalf of the British government that torture had occurred under the Blair regime and publicly apologised and compensated victims—Fatima Boudchar had actually been pregnant when she was kidnapped along with her husband for rendition…However, not only did BBC News play down these admissions but within weeks it hosted—in an act of ‘balance’?—former Labour minister Margaret Hodge alleging that the present (anti-war) Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was an anti-Semite because of his position on settler-colonial Israel.13 This was followed by a similar appearance by her colleague Frank Field.14 What is significant is that by long-established convention these former ministers shared cabinet responsibility15 for this torture and yet they were not subjected to any BBC questioning that referenced the phenomenon, let alone any commentary critical of it.”
See link
https://arena.org.au/the-unspoken-wog-slur-by-gavin-lewis/
Labour Friends of Israel might be interested in the little snippet published in the Daily Telegraph of in 2003.
”Jewish groups plotted to kill Bevin
By Neil Tweedie and Peter Day12:01AM BST 22 May 2003
Jewish terrorist groups plotted to assassinate Ernest Bevin, the Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour government, as part of a bombing campaign on the British mainland inspired by the IRA.
MI5 warned Clement Attlee, the prime minister, that the Stern Gang led by a future PM of Israel Yitzkhak Shamir, and the Irgun led by another future Israeli PM, Menachim Begin, intended to establish five terrorist cells in London to mount a bombing campaign aimed at driving Britain out of Palestine. Bevin, who was opposed to the creation of the state of Israel, was a prime target.”
Omitted from this account was the murder of a senior British diplomat, Lord Moyne, in Cairo in 1944, and a number of letter bombs which were sent to members of the UK Cabinet in 1946. Fortunately these were intercepted and defused.
Any answers? Love to hear from you.
They also murdered Count Bernadotte, who risked his life to help thousands of Jews during the war.
Bevin; Phillip; everyone really: I just read your comment below – which rightfully gained the applause of many. The bulk of what you say may be unimpeachably true – but it is undermined by the political naivety of the concluding paragraphs: The [Labour] Party should call a special conference to examine its policies on Israel and to put together a comprehensive plan to reverse the crimes of the past, and present and to bring the justice and fair treatment Britain promised the League of Nations to these victims of the Empire. And those who protest that Israel should be left alone, and its crimes condoned, its child murders welcomed and its abuse of prisoners approved, ought to be excluded from the Party on obvious grounds with the Whip being withdrawn from all those MPs who have chosen, in being ‘Friends of Israel’, to be enemies of humanity and advocates of evildoing. “Ought to be excluded”? The Zionists run the Party – not Corbyn, and certainly not the grassroots Momentum. There will be no rapprochement. There should be, but categorically – there will not. As you once said yourself: “Mark Regev (to be seen with Tom Watson on the fringes of last years Conference – draped in the Israeli flag (reproduced in a recent forum))” commands more respect from party members than Corbyn” …or words to that effect. Labour is aligned with Zionism: period. Not aligned enough for some: but aligned none the less. The IHRA capitulation – for whatever reasons – was a major step toward the death of debate. Democracy has long been dead; but now we can no longer even address that directly. Partially; because we are holding a candlelit vigil for the return to the glory days of social democracy; the military Keynesian welfare state and unionised… Read more »
So, what you are saying is that it is ‘politically naive’ to urge that an obviously sensible course be followed. This is our old companion defeatism in its favourite pose as wisdom.
I don’t know why you take the blowhard seriously bevin,anyone who confuses the PLP,containing as it does the last rancid remnants of New Labour with the Labour party in the country really isn’t worth your time or mine,especially when he uses one hundred words where one would do!
A tad harsh, John. And on more counts than one. BigB represents for me a new and on the whole refreshing tendency of some on the Left to combine materialist analysis with an insistence on life’s spiritual – sorry, don’t have a better word right now – dimension.
But here I’ll settle on this. BigB is right in much of what he says about Labour. And it has to be said – because history shows this over and over – that the objective role of the Labour Left, regardless of the subjective intent of doubtless sincere individuals, is to sanitise the brand after each betrayal. It therefore isn’t simply a question of flushing out the “last rancid remains of New Labour” (not that that will be easy!) and BigB is quite correct on this, regardless of the fact he and I draw different tactical and strategic conclusions from broadly the same analysis.
Phillip: I think of you as a friend, and thank you for your solidarity.
The thing is though, with all due respect (to John as well): John falls into the category of those who believe – contra-factually, I would say – that there can be any “flushing out”. JC has moved into the centre, not the Blairites moving to the left as the masking media proclaim.
The rhetoric for the last two years has been: “come the Conference – we will get mandatory deselection …and rid the party of Blairites”. Two years later: still no mechanism other the same old rhetoric that could achieve the “flushing out”.
Meanwhile: Blairite neoliberal policies are “flushing in” …such as the pressure for a ‘Final Say, Final Stay’ vote to keep us in the institutionally neoliberal EU …contra democracy.
But most worryingly for me, and every one else really – though they may seem oblivious at the moment …is the ‘climate emergency’ plus ‘Labour for the Green New Deal’.
When former Blair campaign manager and fellow of the Open Society – Zack Exley – swans in, shares a platform with Clive Lewis, takes part in a closed doors meeting …then a short while later Labour are all eco-socialists, backing the green neoliberal Green New Deal (that Exley has just set up an NGO to promote) …you really do have to start to question who is calling the shots.
I’m pretty sure it is not JC …TB, maybe? Or Big Uncle George?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/22/labour-members-launch-green-new-deal-inspired-by-us-activists
BTW: John (I already addressed your concerns below). I was a member of the Labour party up until Jeremy Corbyn started collecting funds for jihadi proxies and child murderers the White Helmets. I did not resign in disgust, as every humanist should do, I was ousted. I know the perceived difference between the PLP and CLPs. It is just that in my experience, there is none.
If what it takes to remain a Labour supporter is to dismiss someone who wishes to expose their support for terrorism, imperialism, and humanitarian regime change …you really have to ask what the Labour party is about?
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak rubbish is my experience.
Jesus Christ john thatcher is delusional too! How many do called socialists in what you call the Labour Party in the Country support the white helmets? Support jo cox? Support actually existing socialism? Labour is a joke and I loved seeing all the middle classes showing off their new Labour Party membership cards when jezza still lost and talking about revolution, they made me cringe something rotten and now many have realised they haven away money for a red card with their name on it. Hate these pro labour people what short memories they have. You all still vote for and give money to a pro war pro Zionist party while declaring yourselves anti war and anti Zionist and you are gullible enough (as adults no less) to think you can vote in change, incrementally or not. Pathetic
What I am calling “politically naive” is what I have been posting for two years …impartial analysis of the stances and support that JC and the Labour party have taken make it quite clear that they will never indulge in removing the whip from pro-Zionists. ‘Ought to’ then becomes mere political posturing. What is “defeatist” about pointing out the anti-humanitarian nature of many of Labours policies? The acceptance and normalisation of the support for NATO war criminals, their jihadi and Banderist proxies notwithstanding: there is the implicit support for the British imperialist project masked by Labour – and Corbyn’s personal – support of the celebrity and charity regime change Jo Cox Foundation …which leverages her ‘untouchable’ status to camouflage the White Helmets and regime change ‘smart-power’ application globally …not just in Syria. But it is not just the support of the White Helmets – though that ought to be enough for anyone to abandon the Labour ‘humanitarian’ imperialism project – it is the nexus of NGOs and ‘philanthrocapitalism’ behind the Jo Cox Foundation. For the background on that: it is necessary to read Whitney Webb and Vanessa Beeley’s expose of th tangled web of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC). https://www.mintpressnews.com/jo-cox-assassination-white-helmets-humanitarianism-regime-change/246646/ In passing; I would just like to remind you that it was Labour who pushed the arch-imperial Magnitsky Sanctions agenda for Bill Browder …with JC in particular leading from the front …which is not something anyone can normally say. On a more relevant forum I will detail in much greater depth: for now, if you do familiarise yourself with the philanthrocapitalist shadow players behind the Jo Cox Foundation …you will find many correlations with the ‘Green New Deal’ agenda behind Labour’s ‘climate emergency’. One grouping stands out in particular: the nexus of Avaaz, Purpose, Change.org …and one not mentioned in… Read more »
“the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC)”
Too many acronyms.
It might be painful for any one author to repeatedly type a specialist acronym out in full; it is equally painful for scores of their (often consequently one time) readers to stumble over yet another occurrence of a WTFDTM and have to stumble off, perhaps never to come back, in order to REFO. If they can. SWALK.
Sorry, that should be either ‘RO’, not ‘REFO’, right?
Strike the “either” (SE). Or should that be “STE”?
It seems to me, B, that most of the evidences that you offer, regarding Browder, Jo Cox etc are simply debating points- much more complex than you suggest. And, I suspect, much less nuanced in your posts than you know them to be. Exaggeration to the point of falsification is not very spiritual. Or maybe it is. The plain truth is that nobody is suggesting for a moment that electing a Labour majority in Parliament will lead to anything more than the need to mobilise on a permanent basis to defend it, from its enemies and, even more ominous, its false friends. There are no consumer illusions here, or anywhere else on this thread: by far the easiest course to take is that which you outline, to look realistically at the mountainous difficulties in the way of beginning, through Parliament, to build the socialism whose foundation requires, as essential building materials, the pulverised rubble of class society and capitalism, and cut to the chase of denouncing the traitors before they have extracted the daggers from their belts. And then to retreat into one’s self and the ‘spiritual.’ I simply happen to think that the crisis facing us is a real one, not just another blip in the soaring progress of liberal capitalism but precisely as you seem to outline it. Life itself is in danger. Saving it will necessitate engaging the energies of the masses. And that begins by flooding, inter alia, the local Labour parties with members demanding action. Or do you know a better hole, to go to? No doubt these bastions of Blairism/Kinnockism will resist, new members will be suspended, expelled, silenced, intimidated. Or, to put it another way, there will be casualties as the citadels are stormed. (And the names of those who fall, the proscribed… Read more »
In principal I can agree with you. In practicality I cannot. I personally cannot rejoin the Labour party, as I have indicated before. If my situation was unique, then fine. But it is not: the Labour party is as it always was – top-down dominated by the NEC and unionised block voting. It is institutionally resiatant to change. And if it were to change to address all the issues you list – it would not be the Labour party …which is kind of my point. Whilst the Labour party exists in its current form: it supports an imagined consensus of future prosperity. Which, due to reality being real, and socialism being imaginary …cannot occur. That is not mere rhetoric: the consensus dream of social democracy is unreal. The mere application of entropy proves this empirically beyond any shadow of a doubt. Well, instead of desire-dreams of social democracy: I have shown the actualities of the pseudo-socialist dreamwalk – from funding the White Helmets to the ‘climate emergency’ green neoliberal psyop. And everything I have said I have provided empirical evidence for or links to …as you well know. Nothing is “imagined to the point of falsification” …except perhaps the perception it takes to avoid the truth of the matters I have raised. Are you still a member in Canada? Did you not get the Jo Cox Memorial Fund email – a third of the proceeds of which went to the White Helmet’s? Corbyn was supporting the Foundation only last week. And below Idrees Ahmad was soliciting for funds for terrorists. He of Pulse Media an alternative “syria is a war on civilians” subverted narrative peddler …check out his work. Everything I have claimed has social relevance that extends beyond the narrow concerns of social democracy. Self-absorbed concerns that can easily… Read more »
I’ve never for a moment thought you mad, BigB, and your analysis of the fix we’re in is one I share (hence my circulation, with you I think a recipient, of John Smith’s recent and excellent article on Brexit).
I do not, however, deem the Labour Party an (at best) irrelevance. Its relelentless record of capitulation notwithstanding, ditto the foolishness of assuming a ‘parliamentary road to socialism’, social democratic parties – especially the British LP, with its ties to organised labour – remain an arena whose abandonment by the Left is sectarian. That doesn’t mean all socialists must join the party, far less entertain delusions of the kind Marx (18th Brumaire) termed parliamentary cretinism. It means quite simply that in the war against capitalist barbarism, Labour remains a vital arena for winning hearts and minds.
And I must say – in the nicest possible way since you are, as I’ve said before, a serious, savvy and courteous comrade – the second half of your closing sentence presumes too much. Until just now, how on earth could you know whether Labour is or is not what I think it to be?
I was speaking more generally, by friend. As to the truth of my statement …time will tell. I can’t force the issue: but concerning Labour and the “climate emergency” and “Green New Deal” nostrum …I may well be way ahead of the curve. As a fellow admirer of Marx: surely we can agree the only “climate” solution is the ending of successive waves of capital accumulation by dispossession? While the Earth still has some possessions to pass on to the future?
Yes.
Phil you think labour has ever been on our side?! Jesus they have the biggest dove fraudsters I’ve ever seen: tony benn spoke a good game of being a man of the people while supporting internment without trial. Attlee was a good open fashioned war lover pretending he cared for the poor and that’s just two older dead members the current crop are ever so slightly more Guillotine worthy
John, your opening question begs more clarifying questions than I can possibly deal with. As I think I’ve made clear in other comments, Labour is fundamentally about negotiating rather than overthrowing capitalism, or even challenging its core dynamic. On this you and I – and BigB and bevin and many others – are surely agreed.
It seems to me you reduce a vital yet complex question – how should socialists engage (or not) with social democracy, especially the British Labour Party with its historic ties to organised labour? – to one of whether Labour is ‘on our side’. Lenin wrote much on the subject – remember the hanged man quote? – while it’s fair to say the question was one of three issues (the others being Ireland and the USSR) dividing the Left in Britain for at least two decades. Many of the most incisive thinkers on the Left – which is to say the most incisive thinkers, period – have failed to agree on it. Let’s not rush in where angels fear to tread!
Of course we can cite the endless examples of why Labour has always, will always and must always betray. That’s easy. But what do we do then? Walk away? From what is still a key arena for winning hearts and minds to the need, more pressing than ever as environmental disaster looms, to do away with production for profit?
Walk away to what? The RCP tried it and failed wretchedly. As for the her and now, IMO too many commentators here seem more interested – you can tell this not only from what they say but their needlessly harsh tones – in being gloriously right than engaging seriously with a question Lenin posed more than a century ago.
What is to be done?
You’ve lost it, my friend. Corbyn isn’t a Socialist, he’s not our saviour, he’s the best option available under a Capitalist system of advanced, managed democracy. We’re under no illusions, nor I think, is Corbyn, you can’t turn back 45 years of home ownership and council house give away, paid for votes. That will take generations of hardship and the tot\l destruction of the middle class.
In the meantime, Avaaz, Purpose, Change.org, Joe Cox Foundation etc are well known to us but need bringing to the attention of the larger public as do Ch4 News and all the other shysters. BUT…..Corbyn is only a politician, with a politician’s weakness for ‘liberal’ causes. That doesn’t make him automatically the enemy…..it just tells us what we already know….he’s a social democrat parliamentarian.
I’ve lost it? No, I’ve come to my senses. I refuse to endorse NATO war criminals, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, the City of London’s overfinancialised global terrorism and deliberate impoverishment of the world’s already poor, British imperialism of all forms, charity regime change fronts, the White Helmet’s and NATO’s proxy jihadi child murderers, NATOs neo-Nazi Banderist terrorists on its Eastern flank, the Drang nacht Osten and Barbarossa 2.0 Baltic occupation, Russophobia, Magnitsky Sanctions billionaire arch-imperialism, the betrayal of Julian Assange, the IHRA betrayal of the Palestinian people, the post-real Brexit betrayal, anti-democracy, and more. Particularly, I refuse to endorse a green neoliberal climate economy – the implementation of which will ruin our long term chances of survival by squandering remaining resources on climate mitigation policies that I already know will not work. Which is what I refer to as an extinction protocol. Because it is. And it is a neoliberal corporate power play and behaviour change run through the NCIP …specifically the New Consensus – allied to Avaaz – which is fomenting AOC and Corbyn’s GND. Or do you really think Corbyn became an eco-warrior after a chat with a little girl? So how about we wise up and reject the Parliamentarian route which has failed us? We are only defeated if we want to be. And we are more than defeated if we one-dimensionally vote for policies that are designed to enrich the already obscenely rich …at the cost of the planet and the foreclosing of the future. We do not just accept defeat for ourselves, we defeat the purpose of a future, denuding it of any real chance of prosperous continuance …which is a crime against humanity …just to sustain bourgeois socialism now. The whole pseudo-socialist pretense of humanism, internationalism, solidarity, and universalism – character masking bounded self-absorbtion… Read more »
BigB remember you have been conversing with western First world socialists who hate actually existing socialism. They talk a good game of solidarity and what not by they just want to appear, to have the illusion, that they’re nicer more virtuos and better than everyone else BUT if you say you cant vote in socialism they show how much a socialist they truly are. Remember westerners love a good postures and stances for Facebook and Twitter but in the real world they have no idea what solidarity actually is. Actually off you want to find a true anti socialist masquerading as a socialist just find the “not real socialism” idiots
Who they actually hate is the poor: only not necessarily the UK poor. They feign concern for them, with empty talk of internationalism and universal class solidarity (the inexistance of which – from a shadow government level – would really be welcome in Venezuala, Palestine, Syria; etc) …while enacting a set of policies to punish them for being poor. The hidden hatred in Labour’s foreign policy is never addressed by their masking fake universal rhetoric. What does the ‘pro-business’ euphemism mean? It means non-militaristic global imperialism and accumulation by dispossession from those already and institutionally impoverished by previous waves of City of London-led global usury farming. We are never allowed to address this core issue. The focus is placed on the mild redistributive policies based on ‘progressive’ taxation and parochial fiscal policy. So we can ‘end austerity’ and ‘reform capitalism’. But it is not reformed for the global poor – because they pay for it with their lives. We withdraw the tributary lifeblood from the global community: and redistribute the blood money to ‘save the NHS’. Shameful, if you think about it …only petty-bourgeois socialists never think about it. By challenging the imagined character mask of ersatz universalism I am obviously touching a nerve. If that causes even one person to reframe Labour’s life-blind policies – sold as ‘summum bonum’ solidarity against capitalistic excess …but actually concealing the core dehumanisation whilst becoming a benefaction from it …then good. But pseudo-socialists live deep in their silo mentalities and self-developed narcissistic character armour: which deliberately conceals and becomes an insulation from the real world harm they cause. It is a moot point whether Labour can deliver on their campaign rhetorical fictions – especially under EU/NATO vassalship. What is certain: is that the global poor will form the real tax base of their… Read more »
I can’t fault anything you say here BigB, except that it is very clear that Jeremy Corbyn has been used… I believe that he is a good man who is clinging on hoping that he can change things by his example… but sadly he will not. The Zionist press is rallied against him. Led by their attack dog Hodge. The isipid organisation plotting his demise are well versed and have the backing of world Zionists, as was exposed in the Aljazeera 4 part documentary of the evil ”Lobby.” What I don’t understand is no matter how much they are exposed they just keep getting stronger? My family and I cancelled our Membership at the point when Hodge was ‘enabled’ to get away with her libel and led the false anti semitic charge against all the decent people in the labour party. As you identify, all does appear to be lost. So wouldn’t it be a good idea now, for JC and all his supporters to ‘leave’ the Zionist’s to it. And begin again as the new Socialist Party… Call the spade a spade, instead of pussy footing around them. He would then see just how much support he actually has… or hasn’t? Farage is doing it, and is going great guns. Love him or loathe him, people do appreciate being told the truth. Shove the false accusations of antisemetism up their arses.. stop even accepting or acknowledging them. Those who support the Zionist premise are born liars anyway, who think by absolving themselves with the Kol Nidre, that we can’t see who they are. By their deeds are they known and they are ev il incarnate. This article in the Canary sums up the Jewish faith, and our retarded naivety in actually giving credence to anything they say. Isn’t it… Read more »
NOTE FROM OFFG – this is a disinformation account, deliberately trying to muddy the debate and to give the impression this site and its readers are promoters of Nazi propaganda. We’re leaving it here as an example of the crass and unsubtle methods being employed by these goons.
Take being a so called anti semite on the chin i do. If the truth happens to be anti Semitic and you get you called an anti Semitic accept it who cares the Jews do to care about us they own the west by Ansbach large andere spread the disinformation we see at all times they are underhanded. Their are probably only about 5% of the Jewish people who are decent the stuff just aren’t. I hate to have to use old nazi propaganda but this sentence from der ewige jude is telling: Sie sind hinterlistig, feige und grausam und treten meist in großen Scharen auf. Sie stellen unter den Tieren das Element der heimtückischen, unterirdischen Zerstörung dar – nicht anders als die Juden unter den Menschen
That’s exactly right.
Vote for Corbyn.
What you get is Watson and Hodge.
Telling the truth, it would appear, is incompatible with Labour party membership, as an example, saying that Israel is a racist state could get you expelled, yet Israel ‘is’ a racist state, inherently so, from its ‘Jews only’ immigration policy [a basic law, 1950] to over 50 laws [in Israel proper] which discriminate against Palestinians, to the blatantly racist ‘nation state law’ [recently enacted] which gives Jews rights which are denied to other groups. Israel is a blatantly racist state, even without going into its Apartheid policies in Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The whole of the Labour Leadership is fearful of the Jewish Labour Movements [JLM] accusations, when they are not apologizing for the practically nonexistent Anti- Semitism in the party [ Jenny Formby said just 12 members out of approx 550,000 have been expelled, that is .002%] the JLM by the way are affiliated to the World Zionist Organization[WZO] which funds illegal settlement building in the West Bank [a grave war crime, Article 6, Geneva conventions 1949] since confirmed by all 15 Judges in an opinion in the ‘Wall case’ at the ICJ, https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/131 the World Court in 2003] including the US Judge Blumenthal. The UK Labour party have a group affiliated to them who support grave war crimes.
Despite Hodge’s “steely grilling” the queation of why what Phillip Green did in looting pension funds is even legal was studiously avoided and conspicuous (to me ) by its absence.
Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro and Gilad Atzmon discuss Judaism v Jewish Identity Politics: Religion v Tribalism
_____
Atzmon: Chicken soup is not a political statement, it’s a soup.
_____
Shapiro: When we first met in a Jewish deli on Broadway, Gilad looked at the menu and asked, “What’s the most Jewish thing to eat?” I told him, “If you mean ‘what do most Jews who come here want to eat, you had better order the sushi.”
____
Robbobbobin: The first time I heard the word “kikes” actually spoken in “polite” company was in a very wealthy Jewish couple’s ultra-luxurious apartment on New York’s Middle East Side, when the hostess used it to describe, pejoratively, some penniless Jewish new immigrants huddling in slum conditions in Brooklyn.
_____
Proud to be antiFAsCemitic
It is a Jewish word.. this is how German Jews used to refer to the poor Ost Juden…The Jewish universe is highly hierarchical and suffocated with internal racism …
“It is a Jewish word.. this is how German Jews used to refer to the poor Ost Juden…”
Etymology: possibly, but as likely American, from the Yiddish kikel, or English from the name Isaac (Ike/Ikey), or…
“The Jewish universe is highly hierarchical and suffocated with internal racism”
Yes. I first heard it in less than “polite” company in the “meat markets” in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
‘Jeremy Corbyn was called a “f****** racist and an antisemite” by one of his own Jewish MPs in an extraordinary Commons bust-up. Dame Margaret Hodge’
If the Speaker had heard it shouldn’t it have required his intervention?
She will never get over the hubristic moment that let the ‘left behind Labour wing’ back in.
Why are we still talking about religion in the 21C?
“Why are we still talking about religion in the 21C?”
Because it is still one of the best ways to divide and rule.
As for Dame Hodge’s outburst, well that was the moment she realised the truth – she had a vision of Corbyn with a little moustache doing a Seig Heil and clearly saw the concentration camps forming behind him. (Incidentally, the “Us against the Nazis” vision, divorced from all historical circumstances and endlessly repeated from now till the end of time is itself practically a new religion.)
“Why are we still talking about religion in the 21C?”
Because organised religions provide the most comprehensive form of archetypal cohesion necessary to conform the personal, social, political and legal elements of a population to the perceived requirements of an overarching society.
Why was my post deleted, questioning the role of the Israeli embassy in this?
Are you in some way compromised, or worse still controlled by them?
Your post wasn’t deleted intentionally. Glitches happen sometimes.
Just checked in the spam folder, your comment isn’t there. It was probably a computer glitch at your end and it never posted properly.
No, we are not compromised or controlled by the Israeli embassy, or by any other powers or interest groups. We’d be able to afford a bigger staff if we were 🙂
Thanks for the reply, I didn’t really mean the final comment, but I have found that several of my comments on blogs/forums have been removed of late (showing after posting, then mysteriously go, never to be seen again).
I originally posted that all three major parties – Labour, Tories, Liberal Democrats have “Friends of Israel” organisations which originate from the Israeli Embassy – remember the Sha Masot affair.
How can our politics be varied and democratic if it is being controlled by a foreign state?
Andyoldlabour,
We are given the illusion of choice, to keep us quiet.
In point of fact, all ‘parties’ are controlled by the deep state.
No one is allowed to rise to the top unless MI5 have something on them with which to compromise and keep them with the programme.
If you ever needed proof, then look how seamlessly Blair slipped into the Conservative shoes?
What actually needs to happen is a clear out of all the ‘establishment/civil servants’ who have been there through many generations of politicians. Exactly the same people who control our Royalty, control the Government.. whatever colour it may be.
My YouTube comments on certain topics get deleted a lot too. Even on my own accounts I can go back to an open video I commented on and instead of it being at the very top it’s deleted entirely. We all know (((who))) orders these deletions
I must apologise unreservedly, because I have found my comment on the other article – “the witch-hunt”.
I will go and stand in the corner with my dunce’s cap on.
Its the age old trick moving the goalposts to adjust the game so you win. I grew up in a family that was heavily involved in the anti-Fascist movement before the war (….before I was born) and was involved with what could be called “Jewish rescue” — helping people who had got out of Europe settle in the UK. As such I never really gave the the definition of anti-Semitism any thought, it was obvious. Recently I noticed that the definition had changed — the goalposts had moved — because of the work of a group I’d never heard of before, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. I grew up familiar with the ADL and knew it as relatively non-political organization that went after any sort of anti-someone, not just anti-Semitism, but the IHRA turned out to be not just focused on one issue but also intensely political. It appears to not only want to redefine the concept but also to reapply it to the modern world as a tool for applying political leverage. Its rather cynically exploiting our revulsion for what happened 80 years ago by using the concept as a way of stifling political dissent, in particular Israel’s relations with its neighbors. This is political opportunism of the first order — and very cynical opportunism at that — which is likely to backfire since its likely to embrace Fascism rather than oppose it. (Its legislative agenda appears to include outlawing dissent by criminalizing it.) So I’ll just stick with the old school definition and old school organizations, thank you very much. This upstart organization may have traction in government, its got the money, the PR and probably runs a very effective blacklist (which I’m now a member, I’d guess). However, I very firmly believe that we are ultimately obliged… Read more »
As American writer Joe Sobran once noted, “An anti-Semite used mean someone who hated Jews; now it means anyone that Jews hate.”
A brilliant twist & quote Seamus: The irony of which being that that is all just a humorous expression of the absurd cultural misappropriations past and present and the perfect demo.
of the 360º distortion of all meaning of all words, with malice aforethought from some causing precisely the chaos & confusion today, highlighted in these columns & indeed seemingly almost the whole western world . . .
http://sobran.com/fearofjews.shtml
Somebody should try to comment that quote @theguardian 🙂
I’m banished 😉 but still smiling from Sobran’s Artistic License,
in this OffG uncensored territory.
Many thanks Seamus.
“What is anti-semitism”: that is a very good question? The answer is a biased and violent socio-political constructivism …a purely politicised terminology – and an intentionally weaponised one at that. There has been no scientific basis for racial categorisation or discrimination for decades now. Probably not since Lewontin and Jay-Gould critiqued E O Wilson’s ‘Sociobiology’ (see Lewontin’s extended essay “Biology as Ideology” from 1991). Since even then; biology has moved on rapidly – genetic determinism is dead. With it is the 19th century reductive materialist categorisation of population groups as ‘objects with particulars’ …or distinct races with specific quotients of intelligence or other determining biological factors. Every grouping is of individuals who are more alike than any minor differentiations that may be apparent or supposed. No two people are ever the same: right down to the structure and functional neuro-anatomy their brains – as advanced imaging techniques and neuroscience have shown (see Gina Rippon’s “The Gendered Brain” for an in-depth discussion of the science.) So what shapes us if not our genes …this does. Our conditioning and environmental reactions. That is this discourse, or any other encountered discourse …we are primarily shaped by epigenetic environmental and socio-cultural factors. So much so, epigenetics supersedes genetics – and can even curtail genetic development (see Rippon’s discussion of ‘Caeusescu’s babies’). We are picking up on social cues and other environmental factors all the time. To which we micro-adapt to on an instant by instant socio-interactional basis. This is what shapes identity – the affordances, cues and inter-subjective interaction with culture and the environment – Lewontin’s ‘Triple Helix’. So what is anti-semitism: in the light of their being no scientific categorisation of race? The political constructivism of discriminatory social categorisations is an ‘imagined sociology’. One that has no basis in either fact or reality.… Read more »
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
An Aesop fable adapted by Louis Untermeyer
A boy employed to guard the sheep
Despised his work. He liked to sleep.
And when a lamb was lost he’d shout
“Wolf! Wolf! The wolves are all about.”
The neighbors searched from noon ‘til nine
But of the beast there was no sign
Yet “Wolf!” cried the boy the next morning when
The villagers came out again.
One Evening around 6 o’ clock,
A real wolf fell upon the flock.
“Wolf!” cried the boy.” A wolf indeed.”
But no one paid him any heed.
Although he screamed to wake the dead,
“He’s fooled us every time.” They said.
And let the hungry wolf enjoy
His feast of mutton, lamb and boy.
The moral is this:
A man who is wise,
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
An Aesop fable adapted by Louis Untermeyer
A boy employed to guard the sheep
Despised his work. He liked to sleep.
And when a lamb was lost he’d shout
“Wolf! Wolf! The wolves are all about.”
The neighbors searched from noon ‘til nine
But of the beast there was no sign
Yet “Wolf!” cried the boy the next morning when
The villagers came out again.
One Evening around 6 o’ clock,
A real wolf fell upon the flock.
“Wolf!” cried the boy.” A wolf indeed.”
But no one paid him any heed.
Although he screamed to wake the dead,
“He’s fooled us every time.” They said.
And let the hungry wolf enjoy
His feast of mutton, lamb and boy.
The moral is this:
A man who is wise,
Does not defend himself with lies.
Liars are not believed forsooth,
Even when liars tell the truth.
Something the Jews bang on about ALL the time and nobody else actually ever thinks or cares about?
Because – oddly – we’ve all moved on from the time of Exodus…
And don’t mention the H word. It’s hard to know what really went down, but the irony of it all is Israel… the 51st US apartheid state and UN-proof nuclear bunker in the middle east.
Dame Hodge, as Normal Finkelstein beautifully describes her, is, frankly, not very bright.
Being bright is no longer a requirement for high political office.
In fact it is screened out at an early stage of a neophyte’s career.
Atzmon is anti-Semitic. So is fellow Jew Ron Unz, who publishes everything that Atzmon writes. Here’s something I wrote about Atzmon 8 years ago: https://louisproyect.org/2011/09/29/the-gilad-atzmon-controversy/
I read your pathetic piece 8 years ago and looked at it again just now. You indeed manage to parrot other people’s slander, yet the one thing you failed to do is to point exactly where in my work do i express hatred or call to discriminate Jews for being Jews. I certainly am critical of certain aspects of Jewish politics (in consistance with my opposition to all forms of biologically oriented identiterianism) . In my work I prove beyond doubt that Jewish ID politics is not merely a Zionist symptom but far wider phenomenon. In my work i insist that Jewish poliyics (left, right and centre) must be subject to criticsm…I am indeed an opponent of Jewish Marxism as you pointed out in your article … My criticism of this tribal phenomenon is identical with Lenin’s criticism of the Bund (1903) ,,,I am about to go for a gig but will be interested to see whether you can produce an argument..I expect something slightly more profound that calling Unz or Shamir ‘antisemites’ or ‘white supremacist’ I hope that you are up for the challenge …
I am indeed an opponent of Jewish Marxism as you pointed out in your article.
—
I imagine that you are referring to Groucho rather than Karl who was actually a Christian. I have to admit that the scene in “The Marx Brothers go West” was a bit troubling when Harpo smashed his harp over the head of a Catholic nun played in this film by Margaret Dumont.
I actually have no issue with Karl Marx but I have a serious issue with the Bund and Bundists and I make this point clear in my work on tribal marxism.. you obviously didn’t do your homework …
Karl Marx was a Christian? That’s a new one for me. Care to expand?
His family, as I recollect converted to Christianity. He was, thus, born Christian.
Thanks for that Bevin. It still doesn’t quite mean that Karl “was actually a Christian”. But hey, you can’t stop Louis when he’s on a roll!
Thanks for clearing that up, guys …
Life is so simple, when you understand it, fully 😉
Sorry, Louis those 5,000+ words haven’t aged very well.
Apart from anything else bandying serious allegations for the sin of exploring emotionally laden or controversial ideas suggests, somewhat ironically, that you may not fully understand what real antisemitism is, unless the term has become so elastic that all and any any utterance can be deemed questionable (a conclusion implied by recent evidence, your own casual use of the term and one driving the climate of fear that has emerged).
Such labelling is often designed to invalidate those accused, which has been the experience of a growing number of individuals who run the risk of seeming all the more suspect if they try to defend or explain themselves (because they will be accused of being in denial).
It is also important to recognise how such allegations are often entwined with an array of ulterior motives such as suppressing the truth about Palestine, or undermining any figure representing a threat (real or imagined) to the politics of the right.
At least that is what is happening in the Labour party – a development made somewhat easier by the kind of tarring you seem to have a penchant for, although more often than not those making accusations, such as Margaret Hodge, or Tom Watson, are themselves morally compromised, a not insignificant consideration when trying to fathom their motives for resorting to the nuclear option without a willingness to first give someone the benefit of the doubt.
If you look up prosaic facts (like numbers of crimes, etc) you will soon learn that antisemitism although real is generally an infrequent occurrence outside the realm of the Guardian or within Watson’s inner circle.
I know what anti-Semitism is. Just read the crap on UNZ Review. If there’s anything that shows where Atzmon is coming from, it is his willingness to be listed as a columnist that can best be described as the carriage trade version of the Daily Stormer.
Oy vey, goy! The truth is anti semitic!! Shut it down!!!
Get lost numpty. Just a question before I dismiss you from my mind: do you get paid for your drivel? if so, what, by the word, rhe post, or the number of gullible fools who read it?
No one is interested in what others have to say about Atzmon, anymore. We read Atzmon and decide for ourselves.
It predictably contains something as shallow as your comment, that he is antisemitic. The world, save for a very small group with a sinister agenda, are bored with this stupidity.
And what if Atzmon is ‘anti-Semitic’? I’m not saying he would claim to be; but it stands to reason that he would suit at least some people’s definition of an anti-Semite–certainly your definition. So what about it? If Gilad is critical of Jewish identity (identities?), maybe it’s because he knows what he’s talking about. Not only was he born in Israel and raised in a very Zionist family, but he has made it his lifelong avocation to study up on the history of Jewishness and Jewish identity. Even if you say his is just an opinion, you still have to admit that his is an extremely well-informed opinion. This is not Dr. Goebbels banging away on his Schreibmaschine here. Gilad certainly has a right to his views. And what if it were to turn out that he’s right, Louis? What if there are real problems with Jewishness that have historically caused gentiles–first Christian and now Moslem–to view Jews generally with suspicion if not contempt? In short: what if the rest of the world isn’t just ‘crazy’? What if? I have read Gilad’s books and followed his blog for some time now (even before he appeared at Unz), and while I may not agree with every last little thing he says, I find his writing in general very lucid and enlightening. But most of all, I have a lot of respect for the guy because of his integrity and courage; because of his determination to look in the collective mirror, as it were, and honestly report what he really sees–rather than what he wishes he saw. (Oh: and he blows a mean stax, too! If any of you people here are into the old John Coltrane-style jazz, you really ought to check out Gilad the next time you get the chance.… Read more »
I encountered Gilad’s horn – at two live UK gigs – long before I was aware of the ‘antisemite’ brouhaha around him, and fully concur. He’s an amazing musician, a player of rare subtlety and sensitivity. Sadly, I missed the santa gig in Islington …
Wow! Did you write all that by yourself?
And you are a racist Zionist apologist. Who has no clue at all WHY the ‘jew’ has had such a bad press throughout history, staring from day 1…
Day 1! Would that be when Abraham first got the word or when the Sanhedrin stuck it in to Jesus?
Who can say for certain when Abraham got the ‘word’? According to Joshua 24 He came from a long line of idol worshippers?? According to ”Steven” Acts 7:2 “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham (born 1945BC) while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran” Abraham was allegedly told by God; to leave his father’s house, but he took his father’s house with him. Abraham’s leaving was not his own decision, but the decision of his father.. Gen. 11:31 “And Terah (the idol worshipper) took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there” So -The one who did not receive the calling became the initiating party, while the one who received the calling became the follower! Right, who told us all this? ”Stephen” who was one of the great men of faith in the early church. He was also the first ‘Christian’ martyr. Stephen was able to work miracles among the people?? He began to preach and some of the Jews would argue with him about his beliefs. These evil men persuaded some others to say that Stephen was speaking against Moses and even against God. They took hold of Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish rulers. These were powerful men who were able to make life and death decisions about people. He told about the whole history of the Jewish people beginning with Abraham. Then he accused the men, and their fathers before them, of hurting and killing the prophets, and even of killing the Righteous One, Jesus. They became angry with him, rushed… Read more »
The second video should have been this:
Dani Dayan – Argentinian, born of Ukrainian descent, believes that he has a right to go live in Palestine while kicking out the indigenous people living there? Amazing. Typical cretin.
Hello everybody, Gilad Atzmon here,,, Just in case you missed it, Here is an expose of caricature Lord Falconer reading a Zionist script in front of a BBC’s camera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fATmjCFckRs
You think that anti-semitism violence (vintage 1941-45) was bad enough in Ukraine, try the Baltics, now our glorious NATO ally. As far as I know SS Waffen Units still had their reunions in Riga and Vilnius. Given the age profile it would seem that only few of the mass murderers are still alive. But the fact that they were still allowed to parade in an EU country at that late date is extremely disquieting. And it is a fact that the record past and present is studiously unreported. Censorship by omission. You see, Nazis are okay as long as they are own our side. Of course the Baltic locals played their part in the mass murder, one in particular the Kovno garage massacre was so abominable that even the Germans were shocked. Check it out if you have the stomach for it. In spite of Latvia Prime Minister’s Maris Kučinskis disapproval, Riga authorized the March 16 march to honor Latvia’s Waffen-SS Volunteer Legion established on that date in 1943. International protests have failed to prevent the march, just as they failed earlier. During WW2, some 150 thousand Latvians served on the side of the III Reich. They served in the so-called Volunteer Legion of the SS consisting of the 15th and 19th Grenadier Divisions of the Waffen-SS (or 1st and 2nd Latvian Divisions), the Latvian Luftwaffe Legion, German divisions and police battalions. They are responsible for many war crimes. One of them took place in Podgaje on February 2, 1945. During the breakthrough of the Pomeranian Wall, SS-men of Battle Group Elster which was part of the 15th Waffen SS Grenadier Division murdered 32 Polish POWs from the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 1rst Infantry Division of the Polish People’s Army. They were bound by barbed wire and burned alive… Read more »
One of the problems with this campaign is that it has come to be seen as being, basically, about Corbyn and the Labour party whereas in fact it is about expanding the Israeli state’s license to kill Palestinians while being rewarded by taxpayers in the UK. The real issue, which particularly interests the UK which is, in historical terms, largely responsible for the existence of this European colony in the Holy Land, is that the peoples of Palestine have been subjected to a series of injustices without parallel in the modern world. And that, at almost every stage of Israel’s seventy year descent into fascism-for that is what it is and who Likud and its allies are- it has been supported by the UK and the UK’s political master, the United States. It is this matter- the snipers killing ambulance attendants in Gaza, the burgeoning and appalling crisis caused by the Israeli siege, the inhumane treatment of prisoners, the contempt shown for established international law, a contempt which has been an important factor is reducing the post-war UN system to wreckage and allowing the serial aggressions of imperialist states- it is this matter which ought to be exercising the media, Parliament and, most particularly, the Labour Party. Members of the party cannot dodge the fact that, when the UK left Palestine, abandoning its mandates and withdrawing its police forces it handed the people of Palestine, whom it had systematically disarmed, over to the offices of the terrorist organisations which formed the Jewish state and perpetrated the Naqba. And the government of the UK at the time was dominated by the Labour Party. Israel was created by the Labour Party’s actions and irresponsible inactions. It weighs on the collective conscience of the party and of the, now shattered remnants of, the… Read more »
I’ll say it again, bevin. You should be writing above the line …
Hear, hear to Philip’s comment! Your level of knowledge and perspicacity – with a central core of steely moral honour – isn’t all that common in the world. Please don’t hide you light, b! Let’s hear more of your analyses.
This anti Semitism smear campaign serves two purposes.
1. To criminalise any and all criticism of Zionist atrocities and war crimes, no matter how egregious.
2. To vilify Corbyn and “drive him out of public life”, as openly declared by the Board of Deputies and the Israeli embassy.
Eloquent! Thanks for the comment.
Excellent contribution bevin.
“The real issue, which particularly interests the UK which is, in historical terms, largely responsible for the existence of this European colony in the Holy Land, is that the peoples of Palestine have been subjected to a series of injustices without parallel in the modern world. And that, at almost every stage of Israel’s seventy year descent into fascism-for that is what it is and who Likud and its allies are- it has been supported by the UK and the UK’s political master, the United States.” You seem to be linking Israel’s “descent into fascism” with the timeline of the current state of Israel. You need to extend your timeline. There are many Jewish fundamentalists who thoroughly oppose and opposed the formation of a Jewish state, in Israel or anywhere else (e.g South America or Uganda…), based on their interpretation of (mainly) the Torah (which you might know as ‘the first five books of the Bible’). When, they claim, it is time for any such gathering together then God, not men, will recognise the time, and He, not men, will organize the event. “Political” Zionism has, from Herzl’s original impetus onwards, contained both those who were for and against the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine, as distinct from facilitating the “return” of individual Jews, and or so the early efforts of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and its predecessors concentrated on the latter. However, in political Zionism there were always those on the side of the former and some of those were aggressive and expansionist enough to be right at home with the most expansionist and exclusivist of today’s Israeli politicians and their supporters. A stream of what you call “fascism” has been running in modern Zionism since its first formal expression. A key player in securing its… Read more »
There is a semantic discussion to be had on definition but that is something not even the keenest minds can yet agree on – more importantly, and germane to Phil’s article is the weaponisation of antisemitism as a means of exploiting political opponents, in other words hasbara.
One of its chilling effects of hasbara is to always put critics of Israel on the backfoot now matter how egregiously Israel or their supporters behave, such as disproportionate violence inflicted on Palestinian civilians, or Labour MPs working hand in glove with Israeli operatives to subvert left wing elements within their own party.
Stephen Sizer discusses the manual explaining how certain hasbara techniques are applied at different stages culminating in accusations of antisemitism designed to bring about personal or professional ruin.
When consider motive amongst those Labour MPs screaming for the head of Chris Williamson and by extension Jeremy Corbyn several possibilities come to mind.
MPs may be afraid they might be net to be accused so identify with the aggressor rather than the person being vilified (even though those being tainted are invariably left wing with a strong record on anti-racisim)
It may be that some of them are simply ignorant, an idea that cannot be entirely be dismissed given how indoctrianted some of our political class are.
Or it could be they are complicit: in other words they understand how useful hasbara can be, especially as a device to purge the Labour party of socialists and as a means of ushering a new age of Blairism.
Incredible as it may seem some Labour MPs still go all misty eyed when the views of Anthony Charles Lynton Blair come up, rather like right wingers in the tory party who still have attachment issues with Pinochets former girlfriend, Baroness Thatcher.
Number 4 is the most interesting tactic.
All racism is wrong and hate Speech can be a criminal offence.
If the anti semitic accusations are true how is it that, as far as I know from within the Labour Party, no Court cases have ever troubled a Judge?
The answer is simple – that would require proof/evidence.
The MSM are Judge and Jury and their required standard of proof is zero.
Just add ” allegedly ” to a quote or ” he said/ she said ” and that’s all they need to bamboozle the masses.
I’ll hazard a guess that no-one from the Labour Party will end up in any court on any antisemitic charges in the future either.
Hasn’t it got to the point of self-parody? The zionists have even managed to make remembrance of a genocide well overdone. That takes some astonishing exploitation.
IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism. Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities. This definition of anti-semitism doesn’t define semite. If semite is held to be a synonym or euphemism for Jew, [all semites are Jews, all Jews are semites] then the word is redundant and can be removed from the definition of antiJewishness. If this isn’t the sense intended, as is implied by characterising “non-Jewish individuals” as potential victims, then a definition must include procedures for discriminating who is and isn’t a semite, to answer such questions as: Is an Ethiopean Jew a semite? Is an Ashkenasi Jew a semite? Is a convert to Judaism a semite? and can non-Jews be semites?. Can a semite be identified by depictions of their facial features, such as the shape of the nose? If so Yasser Arafat was a semite. In this definition, it seems that semite is an imaginary type or set, with indeterminable tokens or instances. Thus “rhetorical antisemitism” has indefinable, non-existent victims. So any allusion to tabu speaking about Jewishness will be accepted as antisemitic, with no possibility of refutation or defence. The only victim required is the accuser. So the definition is a prejudicial nonsense, as is manifested in its current usage. Incidentally: Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People 1 — Basic principles A. The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established. B. The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. C.… Read more »
” If so Yasser Arafat was a Semite.”
Yes, as are the Palestinians .I am surprised that Israel , it’s occupants ,zionists and all have not been taken to task as to whether they are actually Semitic .
It is a canard and we have all fell for it.
Palestinians are the real descendants of the Jews of the Bible. The fake Jews like Nuttyyahoo or Mielkevic, or whatever his name is, all hail from the Khazar kingdom near the Caspian Sea. That is their homeland.
I first came across this information many years ago in reading the book “The Thirteenth Tribe ” by Arthur Koestler .I have since read much about this hidden peace of historical information from other sources and some from Jewish archives.
http://www.fantompowa.info/koestlerindex.htm
Cheers.
You stumble when you say “if so Yasser Arafat is a Semite” because of course ALL Palestinians, in fact all Arabs are semitic. The term Semite and the slander antisemite have been stolen-just as they stole and continue to steal Palestine- by the Jewish zionists and their willing accomplices in the Christian west.
Tony Blair was asked at an Israeli University if he believed Jeremy Corbyn himself was anti-Semitic, Blair said yes.
Blair’s false accusations while presenting no evidence are deeply damaging to Mr Corbyn and hugely damaging to the Labour Party, in fact it brings Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party into disrepute in blatant contradiction to Labour Party rules. A false accusation of Anti-Semitism is just as obnoxious as a genuine accusation, the former made with the intention of harming Jeremy Corbyn and to bring both Corbyn and the Labour Party into disrepute is met with a shrug of the shoulders ‘nothing to see here, move along’ Similarly Margaret Hodge can say Corbyn is “ A fucking Anti-Semite and racist” and nothing happens to her. Hypocrisy of the highest order. Is it any wonder the Party has lost nearly 100,000 members in the past couple of years.
Sooner rather than later Hodge will have to be sued for defamation
“Formerly an anti-Semite was somebody who hated Jews because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an anti-Semite is somebody who is hated by Jews.”
Hajo Meyer (born August 12, 1924 – 23 August, 2014) holocaust survivor
Another word for a post truth politics is the psyop. Using the mind as a weapon against itself. My response is to go deeper than the baiting reaction of emotional reaction or rational opposition. The ability of the mind to make special or indeed sacred is to set apart in order to set over and against – with the key being in the ability to seed, set, and enforce a framework of narrative identity. Working the polarised identity is not unique to power seeking through Jewish influence but is part and parcel of power set apart and over life as the mind of cunning contrivance or cleverness. Gilad Atzmon mentions in his book that for around 2000 years, the richest daughters were married to the cleverest sons, and that this worked a measurable eugenic outcome in the population as a whole. Irrespective of the specific historical context of any particular development of cultural identity is the underlying matrix or mechanism of its assertion and substitution of relational being by managed conflict. I write to illuminate this towards our re-cognition and re-membering in true relational being and not within the framework of problems that predefine the terms of their own ‘answer’ such as to protect the problem from resolution and release by means of packaged presentations of complex instruments. There is another facet of relational being that needs to come in here and that is of resonant communication as distinct from coded symbols and association. Attention focussed within its own ‘special’ thinking is diverted and in a sense bubbled off from its true relational being. Narcissism in this sense is built into the idea or image of self along with threat of extinction that invokes both terror and rage as polarities of division that generate a progeny of reactive containment under… Read more »
Tom Watson put this letter together endorsed by 80 Labour Party MP’s
After implying that the changes to the composition of the NEC panel involved corruption. The letter goes on…..
“It is clear to us that the Labour party’s disciplinary process remains mired by the appearance of political interference, this must stop, we need an independent process”.
Then unbelievably in the very next sentence he contradicts himself by calling for political interference.
“We call on Jeremy Corbyn to show leadership by asking for this inappropriate, offensive and reputationally damaging decision to be overturned”.
In his last sentence, after Williamson is allowed back into the party by a properly constituted and legal administrative process overlooked by two Barristers, he throws due process under the bus. People like Margaret Hodge who called Jeremy Corbyn “A fucking Antis-Semite and racist” and who called upon any CLP who minimised Anti-Semitism “that we should just close them down” these people reveal their true nature on free speech, democracy and due process, they are against all three. Here is his last sentence…
“Ultimately, it is for Jeremy Corbyn to decide whether Chris Williamson retains the Labour whip, he must remove it immediately if we are to stand any hope of persuading anyone that the Labour Party is taking Anti-Semitism seriously”. Can the Labour Party be taken seriously?
Since writing this I’ve happened on an interview Roger Waters – an exception, alongside Brian Eno, to the rule that rock stars shall not rile the Israeli lobby – gave in 2016 to the Independent. The header says it all: Pink Floyd star on why his fellow musicians are terrified to speak out against Israel
It’s mostly British rock stars who have spoken out against Israeli policies and actions that terrorise Palestinians. That may say something about the nature of the music industry in Britain as opposed to its American equivalent. The US music industry, indeed the entertainment industry generally since major record labels these days are owned and run by the same corporations that own and run television and movie studios, book and magazine publishers, and news media, is one where the power of money and to make and break careers is highly concentrated among a few companies and individuals.
Antisemitism is actually a very silly term since it means ‘the state of opposing semites and their values’. The first question to ask is who, exactly, the Semites were and are? The definition broadly given is ‘those people who speak the semitic languages’. So here is a list of Semitic languages: 1. ARABIC – 300 million speakers. Ho hum, so being anti-semitic means hating arabs does it? Should I call Bibi Netanyahu antisemitic for hating the Palestinians? NAUGHTY BOY! SPANK! SPANK!! 2. AMHARIC – 22 million speakers. This is a bunch of Ethiopians who you may or may not choose to like. But they are most certainly not Jewish. 3. TIGRINYA – 6.9million speakers. Another Ethiopian group. 4. HEBREW – 5 million native speakers. So rather less than one in sixty Semites are actually Hebrew-speaking Jews. Do 59/60 semites really wish Bibi Netanyahu et al to corral,them all under one umbrella with him at the helm? I have my doubts, you know…. 5. TIGRE – 1 million speaker. A third small Ethiopian sect. 6. ARAMAIC – 0.5 to 1 million speakers from Assyria. 7. MALTESE – around half amillion speakers. So Jews have appropriated a term for themselves when they represent less than two percent of Semites. What arrogance they possess! So before we go any further, I suggest Jeremy Corbyn uses as one defensive strand that he likes many arab semites….that should cause unrest with Miluds given orders by the Mossad, Downing Street and GCHQ. Secondly I suggest that Jews coin a new term referring solely to them as they are not, nor will they likely ever be the overwhelming majority of semites on earth. How about JEW HATER? Finally I call on all non Jewish semites to disavow the use of the term antisemitic when referring to Jews,… Read more »
Erratum: final sentence of the para beginning “I myself have not encountered …” should read “But this reflects the demography of my [social] world rather than the non existence of Atzmon’s third category of Jews.”
I think I’m an antisemite, where can I go for help & do I really need it ?
Anti-semitism is just a game to control who gets into power & gets listened to.
There is nothing genuine about anti-semitism……………someone is laughing at you when you take the bait as it means they get what they want.
Dr. Freud can see you next Tuesday at 4. 😉
You have until Friday 5th July to nominate your choice for MP of the year, I suggest you do so.
https://patchworkfoundation.org.uk/our-work/mp-of-the-year-awards/nominate-an-mp/
It has to be Chris Williamson.
What not patchwork doll, Gavin Williamson ? 😉
Did you check the sleaze in the video link ?
looking at all the sponsors of Patchwork, Bevin, your suggestion seems perfect:
if you don’t mind being on various bodies’ list of ‘deplorables’ . . .
**********************************************************
So, just for fun i followed your suggestion, Bev & where it requested reasoning for their services to which community, i wrote the following:-
“Assisting the community at large, in coming (very slowly) to terms with the political propaganda sponsored by ‘The Lobby’, that appears to have successfully wholly misinformed the whole British people on the meaning of words in their own English language. Some might suggest with malice aforethought !
Specifically the term anti-semite, which in order to understand me correctly, you at Patchwork might like to consider the true meaning of a Semite, first & foremost.
It should be clear to you by now, that a true literal example of an ‘Anti-Semite’ is somebody like Margaret Hodge, given her ignorant slanderous accusations & insults permitted publicly towards Jeremy Corbyn and her poisonous propaganda attempts & toxic position on the Palestinians, who are truly Semites, like many Jews, today.”
Thanks to ‘lundiel’
& greetings, Bevin
on a roll 😉
Just as a matter of interest, how many millionaires has Dame Hodge grilled since she pounced on the “Oh I’m so offended by anti-semitism” bandwagon? Not many, I’ll bet.
It means “Na Na Na Na Na, can’t touch me”
Antisemitism: perhaps indicated by an obsession with Israel’s actions in Palestine, by those with an otherwise lack of interest in foreign affairs.
You really don’t earn that pay do you?
What an ignorantly flippant remark! It’s true many who otherwise don’t follow international affairs are uniquely outraged by the barbarous injustices done to the Palestinians. In this they have their counterpart in the many who, decades earlier, were singularly offended by apartheid South Africa and didn’t pay much attention to the many other moral eyesores of the day.
It’s one thing to (gently) urge Palestinian supporters to deepen as well as broaden their perspective, and see this moral eyesore in the context of an imperialised world (middle east in particular). But that, I suspect – do tell if I’m wrong – is not what you have in mind.
As for me, like many others on this site, my interest – far less my “obsession” – is by no means confined to “Israel’s actions in Palestine”. If you check my writings on this site and my own (linked to my byline above) you’ll see I’ve written more on Russia, Syria, USA and EU – and as much on Venezuela – than on Palestine and Israel.
In my humble judgement, as usual the Hebrews ( I understand that the designation Jew is and ugly and redundant designation for those religionists and their associated activites harmful or otherwise ) have illogically and illegally assumed ownership of an anomaly ?
And it is more than obviously pertinacious that in so doing so, that their acts here-so-far are intended to mislead, and add confusion for Hebrew non-peaceful means !
William do you realise what you are defending here? Do you realise how much power Israel is accumulating? Are you comfortable with the fact that the perpertrators of the crimes listed below have enormous influence over the British government?
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-video-shows-palestinian-shot-in-the-back-contradicting-israeli-account-1.6725588
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-without-saying-a-word-israeli-troops-beat-up-a-blind-man-in-his-bed-1.6980517
Israeli Occupation Forces Spray Palestinian homes with Raw Sewage… What a disgusting tactic.
Is he comfortable with that?
Of course he is.
The goyim are just insects.
This is normal behaviour for our Hebrew friends.
It is their standard calling card and party piece.
In Lebanon, Gaza and elsewhere, they routinely break into private Arab homes and defecate all our the place.
They did this a few years ago when the EU built a shiny new airport with EU taxpayers money.
They occupied and trashed the place and left it covered with excrement.
Jew settlers routinely do this in the West Bank.
Gives an entirely new meaning to “The Dirty Jews.”
My old grandad used to say when a dog did that you should rub its nose in it.
STOP using racist language to discuss political actions. Racism is unacceptable when the Israelis practice it, and unacceptable when you practice it.
‘Our Hebrew friends’ is exactly the reductionist divisive language the people using antisemitism as an excuse for censorship love to see. Well done, you’re playing their game for them.
Stop.
Okay, I’ll call them cockroaches instead.
That’s what they call Palestinians.
Did you upvote yourself? No, of course Proyect would agree with you. The now 100 year and unending dispossession of the Palestinians by vicious and increasingly fascististic “nation state of the Jewish people” is a stain which will not wash despite the tactics of defenders of inhumanity, of which you are clearly one. Obsessed? just another term designed to deflect from the Palestinian lived reality. Daily, Palestinians are shot, beaten, arrested and held without trial, their houses demolished or in its own way worse, handed over to Jewish chancers by use of legal fictions. The ongoing March of return, where Palestinians approach the fence-NOT “the border” since borders define countries; has seen hundreds of people killed and many thousands wounded,many by carefully aimed sniper shots, you can find video of these not so brave men laughing about their work. By the way where are Israel’s borders? Ah don’t tax what passes for your mind, I’ll help. Israel has never agreed where the borders of the state are and the reason for this is obvious. It’s because they haven’t finished stealing other people’s land. A while ago someone, I think in the US caused outrage by talking about Palestine from the river to the sea. Ironically this is a term coined not by some ginned up “antisemite” but by the zionists themselves. The river they have in mind is the Litani which if you check a map is and always has been in Lebanon. I write this with zero expectation of changing your mind since as some droll wit put it: “it is difficult to change a man’s mind when his salary depends on not changing it”.