NOVANEWS
Posted by: Sammi Ibrahem,Sr
Jeremy Corbyn will be cheered by racists and terrorists
Labour’s commitment to standing against all bigotry is being slaughtered on the altar of political ideology
Jeremy Corbyn
By Dan Hodges
On August 12, the Jewish Chronicle published a front page article headlined “These Are The Questions Jeremy Corbyn Must Answer”. The questions related to the Labour leadership candidate’s association with several well known anti-semites. They included the Holocaust denier Paul Eisen, an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist called Stephen Sizer, representatives of the proscribed terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, and Sheikh Raed Salah who carries a conviction for racist incitement in Israel after preaching Blood Libel.
Initially the Corbyn campaign refused to answer the questions. But eventually, following repeated questioning from a number of media outlets, he confirmed the following details.
Corbyn knew Paul Eisen, though he did not regard him as a close associate. Corbyn condemned his views on the Holocaust – views which Eisen had been expressing since 2008. Corbyn admitted he had attended numerous public events hosted by Eisen (the most recent being in 2013), and may well have donated money to a charity he had established. Corbyn had indeed intervened on behalf of Stephen Sizer, praising his “excellent work” in “highlighting the injustices of the Palestinian Israeli situation”. He had met representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, and had called them friends “in a collective way”. He initially denied meeting Dyab Abou Jahjah, a pro-Palestinian extremist who had written about “rejoicing” in the death of British soldiers in Iraq. But then a photo emerged of them sitting together at a speaking event in the House of commons. He also confirmed he had met Raed Salah prior to his conviction, but said Blood Libel had never been discussed in his presence.
Dyab Abou Jahjah (centre) and Jeremy Coirbyn (right) Photo: twitter.com/Aboujahjah
These are facts. Not smears. Nor inventions of the Tory media. Or some malign concoction of the Blarites. As the Labour Party is about to learn to its cost, Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents have no need to manufacture anything. All they have to do is faithfully reproduce what he says and what he thinks.
Which is why I’m happy to acknowledge that those of his supporters protesting vociferously that their champion is not an anti-semite are correct. Jeremy Corbyn does not personally indulge in prejudice.
But he does indulge prejudice. He associates with anti-semites and other extremists. He provides a platform for anti-semites and other extremists – Dyab Abou Jahjah is on record as saying Corbyn helped make his recent visit to the UK possible. And he shares platforms with anti-semites and other extremists.
Corbyn and his supporters have attempted to defend his actions in a number of ways. One is to scream “smear” a lot. A second is to claim no anti-semitism or extremism was expounded by these men in his presence. And I suppose it is conceivable he may have been duped by the odd Holocaust denier or Blood Libeler. But it is odd he has only become aware of their duplicity just at the point when he is running for the Labour leadership.
Their third justification is that Mr Corbyn feels it necessary to sit with people with a range of views (some of them unsettling), in his search for a solution to the decades-long Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Fine. Let us set aside the salient point that the events in question were not debates or seminars, but campaign rallies and steering meetings. And ignore the fact that no one from the pro-Israeli side of the argument appears to have been invited along to assist Mr Corbyn in his tireless quest for peace.
And instead let’s consider this. Imagine if an MP attempting to understand growing public sensitivities around immigration invited Nick Griffin to the House of Commons, along with a member of the fascist-terror group Combat 18. Imagine if he greeted these guests as friends while admitting that even though he didn’t agree with everything they said, he wanted to keep a dialogue open on this vital issue. What would the reaction be? What would Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters do?
But he does indulge prejudice. He associates with anti-semites and other extremists. He provides a platform for anti-semites and other extremists – Dyab Abou Jahjah is on record as saying Corbyn helped make his recent visit to the UK possible. And he shares platforms with anti-semites and other extremists.
Corbyn and his supporters have attempted to defend his actions in a number of ways. One is to scream “smear” a lot. A second is to claim no anti-semitism or extremism was expounded by these men in his presence. And I suppose it is conceivable he may have been duped by the odd Holocaust denier or Blood Libeler. But it is odd he has only become aware of their duplicity just at the point when he is running for the Labour leadership.
Their third justification is that Mr Corbyn feels it necessary to sit with people with a range of views (some of them unsettling), in his search for a solution to the decades-long Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Fine. Let us set aside the salient point that the events in question were not debates or seminars, but campaign rallies and steering meetings. And ignore the fact that no one from the pro-Israeli side of the argument appears to have been invited along to assist Mr Corbyn in his tireless quest for peace.
And instead let’s consider this. Imagine if an MP attempting to understand growing public sensitivities around immigration invited Nick Griffin to the House of Commons, along with a member of the fascist-terror group Combat 18. Imagine if he greeted these guests as friends while admitting that even though he didn’t agree with everything they said, he wanted to keep a dialogue open on this vital issue. What would the reaction be? What would Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters do?
The Labour party used to be clear on this stuff. Zero-tolerance of racism. Zero-tolerance of apologists for racism. No platform for racism.
And now that’s gone. It’s all gone. Holocaust deniers. Blood Libelers. Anti-semitic conspiracy theorists. Terrorist sympathisers. Terrorists. We are Labour. How wide and how high would you like your platform to be?
I have been one of the Labour Party’s fiercest critics. But I never thought I’d see this day: the day Labour started to launder prejudice. The day its commitment to standing against all forms of bigotry was so casually slaughtered on the altar of political ideology and expediency.
Soon Jeremy Corbyn will become Labour leader. When he does, his supporters will cheer his victory. And Paul Eisen and Stephen Sizer and Raed Salah and Dyab Abou Jahjah will pause a while from Holocaust denial, and conspiracy theories and Blood Libel and dreams of dead British soldiers. And they will stand at the very top of their platforms. And they will cheer his victory too.
