I have accepted an offer from Sky News tomorrow to discuss anti-Semitism in the UK, where I shall argue that opponents of Israeli policy are being tarred with anti-Semitism in an witch-hunt.
I do this with some trepidation, because the media hype has become so hysterical that I am certain to face accusations of anti-Semitism myself for daring to question the narrative that has gripped the corporate media and political elite. But witch-hunts succeed because not enough decent people have the courage to stand against them; I imagine Sky contacted an awful lot of people who refused to do it before they worked all the way down to me.
Nor am I expecting to get a level playing field from the Murdoch media on which to argue my point. As I doubt I shall get a chance to put my case without interruption, this is what I am going to be trying to say.
Real anti-Semitism does exist and is to be deplored without reservation. Thankfully it is much rarer in the UK than in many other European countries.
There is a deliberate ploy by Israel to brand Palestinian sympathisers and critics of the Israeli state as anti-Semitic, in order to delegitimise criticism of Israel, as the settlements programme makes any two state solution completely non-viable.
Support for Israel is a clear dividing issue between Corbynites and Blairites. The Blairites are hopeless and defeated, so are seizing on the meme that critic of Israel equals anti-semite as a means to undermine Corbyn and create a leadership crisis
They have the tool to amplify this as the corporate media, like the political “elite”, are massively more pro-Israel in their sympathies than the great bulk of the population.
I think the chances of my getting to say much of that on air are pretty limited!
We need to be courageous and refuse to be bullied by Israel. It is not anti-semetic to speak up against the atrocities Israel commits. In fact not to speak up is letting down all those brave Jewish peace groups who speak up themselves and are maligned for it. Let this be the time that we say, enough. Enough of being told we are not allowed to discuss Israel. So be brave when you speak on Sky news, you will be speaking for many of us and leading the way to honesty.
I am beginning to think parts of British establishment and especially a faction of the Labour party have been ‘occupied’ in mind and tactics by the supporters of occupation and colonization of Israel. Looks like a dark coalition has been formed to serve different but converging purposes ie. to oust the Labour leadership that is a challenge to the neoliberal PLP politics and economics and at the same time crush critique of Israel and support for BDS by using the charge of anti Semitism. The Labour leadership have been long supporters of the freedom of Palestinians from occupation and colonization.
The ones who may well suffer due to this are British citizens and the Palestinian cause. I am disgusted by some of the usual suspects in PLP and shocked at their naivety or is it self serving political ruthlessness?
“… supporters of occupation and colonization of Israel.”
Major error there, of course I meant the ‘supporters of the occupation and colonization of Palestinian territories’ not Israel!
Well said, Sandra.
Best wishes in the endeavour. This needs to be said.
You were on TV not the radio! Sartorial disaster!
watched your interview on Sky news and yes you were right you didn’t get a chance to express your views without the ridiculous abuse from the other party. You are also right about the real motives behind this witch hunt but hopefully this will eventually be exposed for what it is. As you say those who believe in the rights of the Palestinians or any other oppressed group need to stand up and be counted. We can shout as loud as those who are in denial and we must make our voices heard even if we are called names. As my mother always told me ” Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me.” If Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky can take being called antisimetic then so can the rest of us. Keep up the good work and fight against this deplorable establishment.
Marie Tornes, while the witch-hunt MUST be opposed, lest the West descend into a dark age of complete serfdom and rule by a hostile elite representing a tiny, racist, fascist, terrorist state, those who dare stand up to the Judeofascists are taking real risks. The Judeofascists are driven by a fanatical hatred of those who dare oppose them, utterly refuse to compromise, and have NO moral compunctions, whatsoever, in acting with hostile, even murderous, intent. They have murdered hundreds of Palestinian and other leaders over decades, up to and including Arafat, and have often threatened to use their nukes if they feel ‘threatened’. And their bestial repression of the Palestinians has been so viciously sadistic as to almost defy belief. I think that the only possible way out without catastrophe lies in not being cowed by the bullying thugs, and calling, unremittingly, on decent Jews to call out their fascist brethren, before they bring some unimaginable catastrophe down on everyone’s heads.
‘…before they bring some unimaginable catastrophe down on everyone’s heads.’
And good old Jerry supplies six diesel powered nuke cruise missile capable subs, so the Israeli ‘Samson Option’ has even more credibility.
Out of the mouths of babes, here the innocent describe the inhumanity, the barbarism of the human race:
They took a guy, gathered a crowd, put him on his knees and cut his head off!
They held him by his hair…
and kept sawing…
That’s how they cut it off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=565&v=WOERUP9miZ4
Mark Golding, I agree. White phosphorus, high explosive, DIME munitions, cluster bomblets, depleted uranium, Po 210 and a bullet to the brain, for the wounded or, by sniper for the child daring to throw stones, are all so MUCH more civilised.
Where was this quote referring to? Because if it was Syria, Libya or Iraq it was almost certainly done by the Western, Israeli, Saudi, UAE and Turkish-backed ‘Daesh’, or ISIS/ISIL/IS thugs put together and intentionally unleashed in the Middle East and Africa to further ‘Regime Change’ and to break up large countries seen as blocks to the Western NWO and/or potential threats to Israel.
The Israeli ‘Hornets Nest’ concept, denied but all too plausible.
” Conspiracy ” comments about Israel somehow orchestrating Western Media is in itself highly racist. It reads like an article on Stormfront. Where are your sources? How did you come to these conclusions that you so vigorously assert?
It is basically swords and pens.
Those who vehemently deny any linkage between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader crisis must pull their heads out of the sand.
Mainstream reporting of the conflict itself rarely goes much beyond superficial details of failed diplomatic initiatives and intercommunal violence in the field leaving the British public without important contextual information about why the conflict remains intractable. What can be understood from reporting on Israeli settlements and their supporters or opponents within Israeli society to the virtual exclusion of the status of the settlements according to international law and concensus, as well as their effect on Palestinian lives and the course of the peace process?
Following the recent money we note while Egypt and Jordon receive tens of billions of $aid while aid to the Palestinians is a few hundred million in which $50 million of this sum was carved out for high tech ‘processing terminals’ to control movement of people and goods between Israel and the Palestinian enclaves.
It sucks and this British government knows it.
A fair point, but one that is easy to answer with a bit of serious homework.
I would highly recommend “The Holocaust Industry” by Norman Finkelstein as a starting point.
Chomsky has weighed in on this numerous times and has written fairly extensively on the subject, too.
It’s well documented that the Israeli government has gone to great lengths to take attention away from their ongoing crimes by trying to smear dissenting voices with the brush of anti-Semitism. The information is available, yet rarely appears in MSM.
Funny, P. Renan, how on one hand various Jews brag of their influence and control in the Western MSM (which is there for all to see)then others, or even some of the same, furiously denounce it as-what else?- ‘antisemitism’ if some goy dares say just the same. The hypocrisy is stupefying, but familiar.
Not a fraction as racist as Israeli actions on the ground against Palestinians.
I admire you for making the attempt.
Who decides on the definition of antisemite?
Why do the Israelis and their friends accuse even well known Jews who are anti Israel of being anti semite?
There are thousands of young American Jews who belong to the Jewish Voice for Peace and you tell me all those Jews are anti semites because they criticize Israeli actions and support the Palestinians ?
Does this mean no one should dare supporting the human rights of the Palestinians or criticizes Israeli army for the killing of the Palestinians children, destroying Palestinian homes and building settlements and occupying their land and restricting their freedom because one is afraid of being accused of anti-Semitism.
Welcome to the world of cowards.
omar, ‘antisemitism’ is a complete propaganda fabrication. Judeophobia, the hatred of all or most Jews, solely because they are Jews, is, like all such racisms, stupid, vile and dangerous. But ‘antisemitism’ today is simply a device for vilifying and intimidating anyone who defends the Palestinians or who dares mention, describe or criticise Jewish political control of the West. It posits the lunatic thesis that ALL criticism of any Jew, anywhere, is ALWAYS simply bigotry, born of envy or malice, no matter how universally the behaviour in question would be condemned if committed by a goy. It explicitly asserts that Jews, uniquely, are incapable of crime or even error or negligence, thereby proposing that they are, indeed, unique among human types, just as their religion has always asserted. This racket relies crucially on goy moral cowardice in letting them get away with it, as Corbyn appears to be doing, but, perhaps, Livingstone, is bravely refusing to do.
Re. the Blairite vs Corbynite aspect of this, the Guardian (eminently pro-Blair, prints his vapourings on demand) has resurrected this very old story today:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/28/tony-blair-chinese-leaders-saudi-princes-oil-firm-middle-east-envoy
Somehow it fails to mention the Malaysian input to the Petro Saudi operation, which is another can of worms, and skates over other aspects of PetroSaudi’s business which might have led even Blair not to get involved. It’s serves only as reminder of what Blair’s capable of, and its only possible purpose is to distance Blair from the news of the day which is #antisemitisminthelabourparty. Astonishing, since the division being promoted is between evil antisemitic Corbynites and squeakyclean Blairites? Not really. The aim is not to get Blair back as PM, after all. He’s much too important to want that now. The aim is to separate New New New Labour from Blair himself, in the inescapable -if belated – realisation that when Blair lends his weight to an issue, it loses public support. The waiter in the wings is Andy Burnham, who is also not invoking the ghost of Blair, but hammering away at #antisemitisminthelabourparty.
More support for this interpretation may be found in the recent total silence of all Blair’s charidee/corporate outlets on #antisemitisminthelabourparty. Notwithstanding Blair’s sinecure chairmanship of the Zionist front European Congress on Tolerance and Reconciliation. Notwithstanding the vocal input of Blair’s old fundraiser, dual citizen ‘Lord’ Michael Levy. Macavity’s not there…
And see:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/an-apology/comment-page-26/#comment-590229
Sharp analysis.
And some telling details for you here:
https://electronicintifada.net/content/how-israel-lobby-manufactured-uk-labour-partys-anti-semitism-crisis/16481
Good read. Though admittedly not written by Mark Regev.
Excellent article, recommended reading for anyone who wishes to really understand what’s actually going on within Labour.
Thanks for the link, BZ.
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Thank goodness for good people who will stand up and try. Well done and good luck. What you propose is spot on and so obviously true that it raises the question about how you will be countered. Not being a watcher of Sky, I don’t know their front-men or their favourite guests, but I would expect you to face some mindlessly aggressive mud hurling, backed up by requests to you to ‘condemn’ things which are nothing to do either with you or probably even with the topic.
As you say they have their own agenda…but you can but try to get as much of your point across in as calm a way as possible and hope for the best! They will talk across you and try to get you off track but stick to your guns and get your point across come what may! Good luck!
No one is above the law and exempted from criticism. If Israel has done the extermination of Palestinian on a massive level.Being a history buff I can’t keep my eyes off ,not only Israel but world community on the whole has not played the due role in this ever burning issue.Hope in future some body would be brave enough to do justice with Palestinian. I also can hope that no body would label me Dawkins or antisemitic.
I have a question. If someone would claim that all British Indians should go back to India would he be referred to as an Indian Nationalist or a racist who wants to ethnically cleanse the UK?
Israel, and what would you say if Indians suddenly claimed eternal ownership of the UK, based on some ancient myth, and began moving to England in large numbers, then launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the English, keeping them in internment camps for generations, while spreading Indian settlements, populated by Hindutva fanatics, across the country.
Peculiar to find an apologist for Israeli actions daring to talk of ‘ethnic cleansing’, something the Zionists have had in mind, and have been doing since they set up the State of Israel, driving Palestinians out of their homeland by terroristic massacres, land takeovers and Apartheid laws and actions.
I have a question. If a high ranking British politician were to suggest that Indians are the cause of the worlds problems and that all British Indians should go back to India, would he be referred to as a supporter of Indian Nationalism or a racist who wants to ethnically cleanse the UK?
Please can someone explain to me how Ken Livingstone’s comment might not be understood as trying to shed a positive light on the abhorrent intentions of one of the most evil men of the last century?
1. The Avigdor Lieberman de notre pays?
2. Somewhere above there is a request from Craig not to go into this one. It attracts antisemites. so, no. Reluctantly.
Israel, that might become an interesting question once Indians take over the UK MSM, and politics, through ‘Friends of India’ cabals in the major parties, and massive political bribes-sorry, ‘contributions’- from Indian billionaires.