Spectacular defeat for Israel lobby at Labour Party conference

27 September 2021 — The Electronic Intifada

Ali Abunimah

Man in hat wears Palestinian headscarf and facemask in colors of Palestinian flagThe flag of Palestine is seen on T-shirts and face coverings of Labour Party delegates during the British opposition party’s annual conference in southern English resort city of Brighton, 27 September. Julie Edwards Avalon

In a spectacular defeat for the Israel lobby, delegates to Britain’s Labour Party conference overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Monday condemning the “ongoing Nakba in Palestine.”

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Labour antisemitism allegations: How Corbyn and Starmer are judged by different standards

17 April 2021 — Jonathan Cook

Jewish groups that lambasted Corbyn’s code of conduct as antisemitic are now silent over revelations it is being used by Starmer

Middle East Eye – 17 April 2021

For years, allies of Jeremy Corbyn argued that allegations of antisemitism had been weaponised against the then-Labour leader and his supporters to undermine his socialist programme and stifle criticism of Israel.

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Labour disclosure ‘shows antisemitism was weaponised against Corbyn’, activists say

16 April 2021 — Middle East EyeJonathan Cook

By Jonathan Cook

Former leader’s disciplinary code, which was criticised by pro-Israel groups, is still being used under Starmer, party officials admit after court hearing

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured in London at a protest against proposed new police powers, in April 2021 (AFP)

A group of Labour activists fighting through the courts to discover why they and others were investigated or expelled from the UK’s Labour Party for antisemitism say they have flushed out proof of bad faith from their accusers.

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Was Albert Einstein an anti-Semite?

5 April 2021 — Counter Currents

Written by Neve Gordon and Mark LeVine

Neve Gordon and Mark LeVine explain why the  International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism has been so successful.

Was Albert Einstein an anti-Semite? Was Hannah Arendt? These questions may sound ludicrous. Yet, according to the definition of anti-Semitism that more than 30 countries — including the United States through the Biden Administration  — recently adopted, these  two leading intellectuals could very well be labeled as such. This is due to an open letter they sent on December 4, 1948 to the New York Times, claiming that the right-wing Herut Party in the newly formed State of Israel was “closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.”

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With this flawed antisemitism definition, Britain is closing down academic freedom

9 December 2020 — Middle East Eye

Sai Englert

By forcing universities to adopt the problematic IHRA definition, the government aims to criminalise the Palestine solidarity movement and roll back civil liberties

British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson leaves Downing Street in London on 30 September (AFP)

In October, British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered universities in the country to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism. They are to do so by Christmas or face government sanctions.

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It is the equalities commission, not Labour, carrying out political interference

7 November 2020 — Jonathan Cook

I recently published in Middle East Eye a long analysis of last week’s report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission into the question of whether the UK Labour party had an especial antisemitism problem. (You can read a slightly fuller version of that article on my website.) In the piece, I reached two main conclusions.

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Being Jewish in North Islington Labour Party

3 November 2020 — Red Pepper

Lynne Segal

by Lynne Segal

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to write, yet again, about being a Jewish member of the Labour Party in Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency. So let me tell you at once that it has been terrible, almost unbearable. We have had to watch a wholly false, but soon unstoppable, invention of charges of antisemitism against our MP, with our own views as Jewish members completely ignored.

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Antisemitism report: By suspending Corbyn, Starmer is tearing Labour apart

30 October 2020 — Middle East Eye 

Richard Sanders, Peter Oborne

The EHRC report : the evidence points at culprits other than Corbyn

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and current leader Keir Starmer during a general election campaign meeting in Harlow, UK on 5 November 2019 (Reuters)

It’s 35 years since Neil Kinnock established his reputation as Labour opposition leader with his blistering attack on Derek Hatton and the Militant 

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Guardian-Friendly Omissions – ‘This Land’ By Owen Jones

23 October 2020 — Origin: Media Lens
Jones This Land 1 577x381

In his latest book, ‘This Land – The Story of a Movement’ (Penguin, ebook version, 2020), the Guardian’s Owen Jones charts the rise and fall of Jeremy Corbyn.

Jones depicts Corbyn as a ‘scruffy,’ (p.8), ‘unkempt’ (p.50), thoroughly shambolic backbench MP, ‘the most unlikely’ (p.50) of contenders for the Labour leadership. In May 2015, Corbyn reluctantly dipped his toe in the water of the leadership contest, saying: ‘You better make fucking sure I don’t get elected’ (p.54), only to be swept away on a tide of popular support.

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Labour report reveals how Jeremy Corbyn was sabotaged from within

18 April 2020 — Grayzone

Pushback with Aaron Maté

Labour Party officials undermined Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership by trying to lose races and exploiting an anti-Semitism smear campaign, an internal report shows.

An internal investigation has found that top Labour Party officials sabotaged Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, including by trying to lose the 2017 UK election. The report also suggests that the same people who tried to undermine Corbyn were themselves the ones who were slow to respond to allegations of anti-Semitism — another weapon that was used against Corbyn’s leadership.

Guest: Asa Winstanley, journalist with The Electronic Intifada.
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Zionist Terror in London

1 February 2020 — Gilad Atzmon

Why I have withdrawn from my commitment to play at the Great 606 Jazz Club this Saturday night.

CAA.jpg

By Gilad Atzmon

They destroyed the Labour Party, now they have launched a campaign against the British arts scene. Will they successfully abuse the moniker of anti-Semitism to destroy any place, person or organization where they sense opposition?

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A small victory for free speech on Israel

11 November 2019 — The Electronic Intifada

Chris Knight

Noam Chomsky has described attempts to limit what may be said at a London book launch as an “utter outrage.” Ashraf Amra APA images

When we first began organizing a launch event for a Noam Chomsky book, we suspected it might be targeted by pro-Israel activists.

After all the book, The Responsibility Of Intellectuals: Reflections by Noam Chomsky and Others after 50 Years, was based on a 2017 conference at University College London (UCL) that had been targeted by such activists.

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The Guardians of the Jewish ‘Mainstream’ Have Their Own Questions to Answer Over Jews’ Corbyn Fears

10 November 2019 — Novara Media

JC 1304x400

by Douglas Gerrard

@d_dougle_e

On day one of this general election campaign, the Jewish Chronicle ran an editorial imploring non-Jewish British citizens not to vote Labour. Citing a poll commissioned by the paper which suggested that 87% of British Jews consider Jeremy Corbyn to be an antisemite, the Chronicle warned: “If this man is chosen as our next prime minister, the message will be stark: that our dismay that he could ever be elevated to a prominent role in British politics, and our fears of where that will lead, are irrelevant.” 

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GE2019 Reveals True Purpose of “Antisemitism” Smear Campaign

9 November 2019 — Off Guardian

With the call of the election, we see the early fruition of years of propaganda

Kit Knightly

The centrists really didn’t want this election. The reasons were never made especially clear. I know some people said it was a trick to force through No Deal Brexit, and apparently it means some (as yet unidentified) school had to cancel its Christmas fete.

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Labour Party revokes Electronic Intifada press pass

19 August 2019 — The Electronic Intifada

By Ali Abunimah

Man seen from shoulders up speaks and gesticulates

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech at the party’s conference in Liverpool last September. The party approved and then apparently revoked the press pass for The Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley to cover this year’s conference. Credit: Phil Noble Reuters

Last month, the Labour Party approved a press pass for The Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley to cover its annual conference next month.

But last week the UK opposition party’s press team claimed in an email to Winstanley that “Your application has not been approved.”

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