Clare Quilty coined ‘Quilty’s law‘. It is when an antisemite runs out of road in an argument and claims Jewish heritage, in a desperate attempt to claim they aren’t racist. It’s a bit like the ‘I have black friends’ argument but more extreme.
From unofficial Labour spokespeople and media like Aaron Bastani and Kerry Anne-Mendoza to common garden Labour supporting racists, many have claimed a jewish relative or loved one in a bid to to prevent their racist comments from being criticised. It is simply a tactic to bait Jews without consequences. And it has become normalised
It gets worse
But there’s a worse, more sinister version. There appears to be a systematic production line of Labour supporting antisemites setting up fake accounts and pretending to be Jewish. These accounts are then fawned over by other Labour supporters, gaining many followers at a quick rate and gaining traction in their tweets.
Labour supporters worship at the altar of fake Jews
First lets look at the lazy ones, who are so shameless they don’t even bother to hide their tracks properly, so get easily caught.
Dickyboy
Dickyboy (@Richardt940) attacked high profile antisemitism campaigner Rachel Riley, pushing forward his Jewish identity. He used a press conspiracy chart by, or inspired by, antisemitic conspiracy theorist Aaron Bastani.
The only problem was Dickyboy was lying and had previously admitted not being Jewish and a simple search exposed him.
Andrew
Andrew (@_gandolfini) trolled high profile antisemitism campaigner Tracy-Anne Oberman. I used screenshots to point out how he uses antisemitic stereotypes and lectures Jews about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
Andrew had no response other than to suggest he was Jewish, as if that would make it ok. Except as someone pointed out, he had previously admitted he wasn’t Jewish and a simple search exposed him.
Lee Iles
The fake jewish identity of Lee (@iles_mr) was used as cover for his racist stereotype about Jewish power. His false identity being unceremoniously stripped away is one of my favourite twitter moments of all time.
Then there’s the ones we all know smell iffy, but require a little more research to uncover.
Female Jewish ‘Jan’, the non-Jewish man
Jan (@jan53981687) got thousands of likes from Corbyn fans, for using her “Jewish” identity to tell us Corbyn is not antisemitic. She’s from Bermuda, has spent time in Nepal & lives in Eastbourne & tweets EXACTLY the same things as an artist called Jan (@janturnerpaints). Coincidentally he’s also from Bermuda, has spent time in Nepal & lives in Eastbourne.
Jill (@jillgore8) claimed to be a floating voter who just happened to love Jeremy Corbyn and conveniently couldn’t see any antisemitism in the Labour Party.
Her first post was to retweet a notorious antisemitism promoting author. She spent the rest of her time denying Labour’s antisemitism issue and demonising those speaking out about it. When challenged after four days of this, she miraculously found her Judaism. However, she repeatedly spelt Rabbi incorrectly.
Coincidentally Jill is the only other person on the whole of twitter to have posted the exact same tweet as ‘feather’ (@oohincensed). They also coincidentally share the same interests and are from the same place.
Jill also seems to be linked to a Holocaust denier from Romania. He also pretends to be Jewish & is a member of the Labour Party
Despite being exposed, Jill is still tweeting ‘as a Jew’. She has simply blocked other Jews because they challenge her. After Jill’s jewish revelation, she suddenly went from 14 followers to over 2,300.
BecauseJew hatred wins the popularity contest among the Labour faithful.
A short history
Glanz
The phenomenon of the far left pretending to be Jewish so they could attack Jews without being labelled racist, started in Germany with Irena Wachendorff and Christopher Glanz
Walker
Christopher Glanz is a virulent antisemite listed by the Wiesenthal centre as responsible for the worst outbreaks of antisemitism. He regularly interacts with and is friends with Jackie Walker, the ex-Vice Chair of Momentum who was expelled from the Labour Party for antisemitism.
Walker claims to be Jewish, which this blog piece skewered, by showing her birth certificate (religion Catholic) and extracts from her own book which details her Catholic upbringing and her mother’s Catholic burial.
Walker is a member of ‘Jewish Voice for Labour’, a small bunch of ageing marxists and racists who spend their time attacking and gaslighting the Jewish community on behalf of the hard left. She also runs ‘Labour Against the Witch Hunt’, who basically do the same thing with the same people
Walker is the partner of Graham Bash, the political officer of Jewish Voice for Labour, who is old friends with Jeremy Corbyn
Eason
Ex-Labour council candidate Sally Eason was friends with Jackie Walker and helped run the Labour Against the Witchhunt social media accounts for her. Eason started her jewish charade shortly after her antisemitism came to light. She is a virulently antisemitic troll and a Holocaust denier who weaponises a Jewish identity multiple time on a daily basis.
Eason is known for making a fool of herself and always getting the basics of Judaism wrong. Like what makes a Jew Jewish…
Eason is supported by ‘Quilty’s Law’ hall of famer and antisemitic Corbyn press mouthpiece, Kerry-Anne Mendoza.
A free antisemitism pass
This trend with Labour supporters just shows the lengths they will go to in order to silence dissent from the Jewish community and abuse us.
‘jew face‘, is not just claiming a Jewish relative or appropriating a culture. It’s stealing our religious and cultural identity to weaponise it against us and abuse us.
The people doing this believe it shields them and other racists from claims of antisemitism.
But it isn’t a free antisemitism pass… A racist is a racist, regardless of their religion or ethnicity.
As time goes on and more and more evidence is amassed of the institutional antisemitism in the Labour Party, expect to see many more of these ‘fake Jew’ accounts popping up to defend the indefensible.
It appears to be the only tactic they have left to deny the reality we are facing.
Labour’s NEC (National Executive Committee) is the governing body of the party. For the second time in 12 months, NEC member Pete Willsman was caught on tape saying things that were, according to any measure, clearly antisemitic – including accusing the Labour antisemitism crisis of being ‘all lies’, party staff members of being linked to the Israeli embassy, and that an article by 68 rabbis criticising Labour’s handling of the scandal had been ‘obviously organised’ by Israel.
A few years ago a senior member of the Labour Party casually making such accusation without so much as a slap on the wrist would have caused outrage.
Not so today
A friend of mine had, like many ordinary members of the public, read and heard some of the news articles about Labour’s antisemitism issue, had become increasingly concerned, but still had little real idea of how widespread the issue had become. She said she had been shocked upon reading about Willsman. I told her that as Labour Against Antisemitism activists we see several ‘Willsmans’ a day; it’s no longer shocking to us, we just have to carry on with finding and reporting these people and keep our heads down.
Many of us in the British Jewish community no longer feel comfortable living in the UK. Granted, the activists among us spend more time than is healthy looking at page upon page of Holocaust denial, extreme antisemitism, even violent threats, all coming from people in the Labour Party and on the left. But even so. There is more hatred of Jews out there than people can even begin to realise. The situation is very, very bad – and getting worse daily.
“How on earth has it come to this?”
…my friend asked, her face a picture of disillusionment. “Please can you explain it to me?” I hope this may help some who, like my friend, would like a basic breakdown of how we got here.
The origins of Labour antisemitism in 12 steps
1. Left-wing antisemitism is not a modern phenomenon
Despite left-wing antisemitism being perceived as a contemporary phenomenon, in reality it is nothing new. Hostility to Zionism began to take on a clear form in post-war USSR in the late 1940s. Its use was political: the Soviet Union would have liked Israel as an ally to weaken British influence, however Israel didn’t cooperate, and was seen to be aligning itself with the ‘imperialists’.
Pre-existing antisemitism
Not wishing to come across like the Nazis, whom they had fought in World War II, the Soviets used antizionism as a cover for the thinly veiled, pre-existing antisemitism that lay just beneath the surface. For example, ‘zionology’ sounded scientific but in reality was antisemitic propaganda using a few token Jews for cover.
What has been coined by David Hirsh as the ‘Livingstone formulation’ today, or the accusation that Jewish people raise false claims about antisemitism in order to silence criticism of Israel, originated in one of the earliest antisemitic tropes: that Jews are essentially untrustworthy and disloyal to their country of residence.
2. Equating Zionism with fascism
Communist antisemitism shared a common characteristic with Nazi and fascist antisemitism in its belief in ‘Jewish world conspiracy’.
Following the war, the Soviet Union suppressed Nazi crimes towards Jews. An antisemitic campaign against ‘rootless cosmopolitans’ followed, and the Soviet press began a widescale anti-Jewish campaign that portrayed Zionism as ‘fascist’ and a bedfellow of Nazism.
3. The Six Day War
Twenty or so years later, the defeat of Soviet-supported Arab troops in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war triggered a massive 20-year antizionist propaganda campaign, which even had its own department.
“Antisemitism was central to this Soviet propaganda.”
Its arsenal was enormous – it included broadcasts, books and articles, and placed KGB agents into key institutions in the West to disseminate antizionist, anti-imperialist ideology. Antisemitism was central to this Soviet propaganda.
During this time top Corbyn advisers Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray were coming of age politically, along with many people on the today’s hard left. They would undoubtedly have been exposed to antisemitic Soviet propaganda.
4. Turning the public against Zionism: key methodology
One of the objectives of the campaign was to firmly turn the public consciousness against Zionism by saying that it was an outgrowth of Judaism, and as such an assertion of Jewish racial superiority. The Soviets repeated this message over the years, including at the UN, as they pushed for the adoption of the ‘Zionism Is Racism’ resolution.
The ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution was adopted by the UN in 1975. It was eventually revoked in 1991 – by which time the ideology had firmly taken root within contemporary left-wing thought.
5. Using a flexible approach: matching the Jews to Public Enemy no. 1
Another key element of the propaganda was its flexibility: at at its centre was the rhetoric of a ‘Jewish threat’, which could then be matched to the location of the place where the propaganda was being disseminated, e.g. for Britain the Jews were US imperialists, whereas in Africa they were apartheid Zionists.
During the 1960s–70s, when post-colonial guilt emerged as another key concern for the contemporary Left, Israelis began to be portrayed as the ultimate white colonialists. Over time this portrayal was extended to all Jews.
6. The human rights movement: how antisemitism became cool
During the post-war years until today, the human rights movement became a strong force for change, comparable with a new religion – particularly within left-wing circles. Mainly due to the Soviet campaign, the ‘Zionism is racism’ slur became embedded within discussions around human rights and antiracism, becoming a conduit for the exclusion of Jews from left-wing circles. This exclusion was especially felt within academia and the arts, where the human rights movement was particularly strong.
Simply put, it’s become cool to be antisemitic, however unknowingly.
Students and young people concerned with social justice have consistently been the specific target of this insidious campaign, leaving the minds of entire generations indoctrinated with a conception of Zionism and Judaism that is intrinsically antisemitic. Simply put, it’s become cool to be antisemitic, however unknowingly.
7. Brothers in arms
The political struggles of the ‘70s and ‘80s – such as the anti-apartheid movement and support for Irish republicanism – were seen as ‘freedom-fighting movements’ with a shared cause.
“Hard-left organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) require enemies to fight to maintain a sense of moral crusade. It is a key part of their recruiting strategy”
As such, many of these movements made easy bedfellows with the pro-Palestinian campaign, absorbing some of its antisemitic dogma (see below).
Hard-left organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) require enemies to fight to maintain a sense of moral crusade. It is a key part of their recruiting strategy. The anti-apartheid campaign, which had proved to be a successful recruiting tool, ended when Nelson Mandela was released. To compensate, much of the rhetoric of the apartheid struggle was simply transferred and transposed onto Israel.
8. The PLO, Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism
In the 1960s, the PLO had begun a campaign to delegitimise and negate the idea of Jewish nationhood by denying the historical and biblical links between Judaism and Israel, erasing it from any ‘peace process’ maps and combining antisemitic motifs such as conspiracy theory, blood libel and Holocaust denial with incitement to violence. Mimicking Soviet propaganda techniques, the PLO alongside other Arab nationalists portrayed Jews as rootless imperialists who invaded Palestine to conquer the land through violence, in order to ‘ethnically cleanse’ it of its natives.
Islamists see themselves as called to fight a war against the Jews, as can be illustrated by Hamas’ charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel.
9. The Western pro-Palestinian movement
Gripped by post-colonial guilt yet retaining the paternalistic attitudes of colonialism, the left tends to view the Palestinian people as without agency – i.e. as victims, rarely perpetrators.
Having adopted the full package of the original PLO movement and largely turning a blind eye to the terrorism, jihadism, and anti-Jewish stereotypes found within, the European/US pro-Palestinian movement appears to be primarily a vehicle against Israel, using the banner of human rights in order to provide cover for antisemitic views and policies such as the BDS campaign – so much so that we now take it for granted that being pro-Palestinian automatically means being against the very existence of Israel, and believing that Israel is an apartheid state.
10. Durban: portraying the Jews and Israel as the enemies of antiracism
In 2001, at the Durban World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), or ‘Durban’ as it became known, campaigners against antisemitism were horrified to encounter a vicious campaign to construct Zionism not only as racist, but as the most racist movement in the world.
“the largest antisemitic hate fest since the Shoah”
At the event, described by Ronald Eissens of the Internet Centre Anti-Racism Europe (ICARE) NGO as ‘the largest antisemitic hate fest since the Shoah’, Jews were called colonists, oppressors and Nazis. Genocidal slogans and banners against Israel, grossly antisemitic cartoons and copies of the infamous ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ were on open display.
Eissens remembers: ‘Organisers of the NGO Forum attached to the conference and the Palestinian and Arab caucuses had decided to use it to launch a global campaign against Zionism and Israel, which “automagically” became an antisemitic event.’ At Durban, Jews were successfully framed as ‘white’; Israel as a racist endeavour. Any support for Jews who supported the existence of a Jewish homeland (i.e. the vast majority) was portrayed as incompatible with antiracist principles.
11. An obsession with Israel at the UN
The UN General Assembly takes an extremely one-sided stance against Israel, in line with many of its own member states’ aggressive anti-Israel agendas. A number of countries hold Israel to a unique standard, use unreliable data to attack Israel, commit far worse human rights violations themselves, and lobby and use the media to demonise Israel very effectively. The effect is skewed perceptions of Israel as the world’s worst human rights violator.
“EU states voted for 16 out of 21 resolutions singling out Israel”
For example, in the current session of the UN General Assembly (2018–2019), EU states voted for 16 out of 21 resolutions singling out Israel. Yet these same EU states failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries. Iran, Syria, North Korea, Crimea, Myanmar, and the U.S.(for its embargo on Cuba) all received only one resolution each.
12. Brexit
During the Brexit debate and shortly after, many Russian and Iranian bots invaded social media with antisemitic, Islamophobic and pro-Brexit messages, ostensibly in order to disrupt and weaken the democratic process by sowing discord in the UK.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing
If we do want to understand today’s situation, it is necessary to return to history and look at the very calculated nature of what we are now seeing. When we do look, we see a frightening picture of how our judgement has been tampered with by those who would have us hate the Jews to serve their own purposes.
If you consider yourself left wing, a free thinker and ‘antiracist’ but hold negative opinions about Zionism, there’s a very strong chance that your perceptions are less independent and more racist than you realise.
See the excellent writings of David Hirsh, Dave Rich, Robert Fine, Nick Cohen and others for more information on this subject.
An article so inaccurate, I just had to take it apart…
This latest attempt at disparaging anti-racists was published in January 2019 by ‘Luis’ and the smears are crude. But since then this piece of vitriol seems to have gained currency – e.g. with Adam Wagner (tweet since deleted), the human rights barrister with 50,000 followers on Twitter who believes that Jewish prayers for their dead (‘Kaddish’) for Hamas was within the ‘range of opinions’ – so lets take a closer look at the allegations within the article.
The article starts off by pinning its colours to the mast,
by denying that antisemitism in the Labour Party is more problematic than elsewhere. This assertion is disproved by the data; antisemitism of Labour officials and bad outcomes is far greater than in all other parties combined.
The author then rolls out his warped viewpoint:
antisemitism is not a problem for him, but instead ‘a major political problem for Labour’. In other words, it’s the reputation of the Party that bothers him, not the racism, which he describes as ‘the stick used to beat the party’ above all others.
Exposing racism is not political
Racist abuse is not exposed out of political malice but because it is wrong. The idea that exposing it is a political plot plays into racist stereotypes of Jews.
Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) call out and report antisemitism in Labour. It’s no exaggeration to say that without their efforts, Labour antisemitism would not be as visible as it is today. And yet, instead of confronting the racism, those seeking to protect the Labour Party instead attack antiracists.
The author accuses the people in the article of failing to ‘heal the rift between Labour and the Jewish community.’ However, it should go without saying that this failure is down to the Labour Party enabling racism, not the people pointing it out.
It’s worth rebutting the lies, so here goes:
1. Luis describes Jonathan Hoffman as:
‘a stalwart of the radical fringe of pro-Israel advocacy.’
As for ‘disrupting Palestinian events’ – to evidence this, Luis has linked to the Palestine Return Centre who sponsored the meeting he wants to cite. According to a report by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the PRC is headed by a number of Hamas activists and has affiliations with the Muslim Brotherhood. The truth about that meeting is here. It was chaired by a trustee of the organisation allegedly representing Hamas in Europe. No wonder Hoffman was asked to leave when he interrupted this gathering of extremist fanatics…
‘Luis’ says
‘Misrepresentation of these debates by those who take their instructions from the Israeli Ambassador is an intimidatory act’.
The idea that Jews exposing antisemitism are being paid to do so by a foreign power, is in itself an antisemitic trope.
S/he goes on to take a potshot at David Collier
‘…who has spent years compiling evidence to support his theory that Palestine solidarity activism — or “Palestinianism” as he calls it — is innately antisemitic’
This conflates those of us who fight antisemitism with somehow being ‘anti-Palestinian’. It’s cynical conflation, designed to deflect from antisemitism and damage the reputation of those speaking out. Being against antisemitism does not reflect on Palestinian people.
2.
‘LAAS and Gnasher activists have worked diligently to keep the scandal in the public eye’.
Why would the author have a problem with Labour antisemitism being publicly exposed? As s/he admitted, s/he’s more concerned with politics than confronting racism. And since Labour are now being investigated by the EHRC it’s clear by this point that the idea of antisemitism being manufactured is preposterous.
3.
‘In August 2017, Philipps accused Jewish journalist Chas Newkey-Burden of being a “Labour antisemite’.
No he didn’t. Euan Philipps was flagging up Newkey-Burden’s reaction as an example of ‘whataboutery’ – deflection away from Labour antisemitism, which contributes to the problem. And Chas Newkey-Burden is not Jewish.
4.
‘In July 2018, Gnasher said trade union advisor Shelly Asquith had “literally called for the death of all Jews.” This was based on her wearing a shirt with the message ‘victory to the Intifada.’ The term refers to Palestinian uprisings. It cannot be reasonably translated as calling for “the death of all Jews.'”
‘In March 2018, Gnasher accused six left-wing commentators including Owen Jones, Matt Zarb-Cousin, and Abi Wilkinson of being “instrumental in bullying Jews”without any substantiation.’
There is plenty of evidence: this for example. Owen Jones’ condemnation of antisemitism stops when it becomes politically inexpedient for Corbyn.
6.
’In January 2018, Gnasher repeated Lady Valerie Cocks’unsubstantiated allegation that Jon Lansman is “the worst antisemite I’ve ever met”and added that “he uses his ethnicity as a get out of jail free card.”’
Thanks to his organisation ‘Momentum’, Jon Lansman has overseen the transformation of the Labour Party into an institutionally antisemitic Party. He not only kept quiet during Pete Willsman’s antisemitic rant but also supported him. He also promoted Apsana Begum of Momentum’s steering committee, who shares antisemitic conspiracies. His organisation is notorious for its antisemitic thugs and has Christine Shawcross as a director (who supported a Holocaust denier).
Lady Cocks had this to say:
7.
‘In March 2018, Gnasher and Philipps accused Jeremy Corbyn of antisemitism for criticising the Israeli army for shooting Palestinians in Gaza.’
Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorists who want to breach its borders to kill Israelis. Not only did Hamas organise these attempts at border incursions with the intention of killing civilians, but almost all those killed were members of terror organisations. Corbyn criticised Israel for exercising that right. Yet every year Corbyn goes to the Cenotaph to pay respects to British War dead, who gave their lives to protect British civilians. Having one rule for British civilians and another for Israeli civilians is blatantly antisemitic (IHRA: ‘Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.’)
8.
‘In March 2018, LAAS branded British author Ben White a “well-known antisemite and Holocaust revisionist.”The evidence for the former claim is speculative, the evidence for the latter is non-existent.’
More than anything else in the piece, this assertion is a giveaway: ‘Luis’appears to stand more closely with Ben White than with antisemitism-fighting activists.
‘Also on the list is Labour MP Stephen Saxby, branded a “toxic antisemitic vicar,”based on bizarre, scattershot evidence such as that he is “a vicar in Walthamstow, a problematic area for extremism”and that he has criticised the government’s Prevent scheme.’
Firstly Stephen Saxby is not an MP. SecondlyRead the thread – Stephen Saxby supports extremists, including genocidal Jew-haters.
10.
‘A recent viral thread on left-wing commentator Aaron Bastani, heavily promoted by LAAS and Gnasher, featured several claims that collapsed under scrutiny. The anonymous tweeter subsequently admitted errors, and one of the central pieces of evidence was plausibly explained as a joke at the expense of a conspiracist.’
*Full disclosure* This was a post by yours truly. Again, read the thread (which includes my responses to Bastani’s criticisms). None of it ‘collapsed under scrutiny’. As well as his many Rothschild tweets, Bastani lauded the execrable Chris Williamson MP, now suspended, and retweeted an article by the equally execrable Asa Winstanley (also suspended). He also retweeted an antisemitic conspiracy by the notorious @lableftvoice account, for which the JLM publicly admonished him. ‘Luis’ makes much of the fact that I interpreted the twitter account @WarmongerHodges as being named after Margaret Hodge, rather than Dan Hodges. But that’s entirely irrelevant to my criticisms of him.
11.
‘Gnasher misrepresented a University of Oslo study on perceptions of antisemitism by claiming it showed the views of Labour officials’.
Nonsense. In order to show that antisemitism is more prevalent on the Left than on the Right, Gnasher first cited a CAA report, which covered statements by Labour officials, and then cited a survey of Jewish people. They never claimed that the survey ‘showed the views of Labour officials’. This is deliberate distortion by ‘Luis’.
12.
‘Philipps has suggested that Labour’s slogan “For the Many, Not the Few”might be a dog-whistle attack on minorities.’
Philipps was suggesting that the rhetoric of left populism can lead to antisemitic scapegoating. This suggestion was based on the work of two academics quoted in the Jewish Chronicle.
13.
“There hasn’t been a political party as racist as this since the 1930s”, one typical Gnasher post reads. Another notes the “similarities between Labour and 1930s Germany.”’
86% of UK Jews think Corbyn is an antisemite. Has there been any other UK Party since the 1930s with a membership as large as that of Labour where there has been such agreement among a minority about the racism of its Leader towards them? Apart from the BNP, the Labour Party are now the only Party to have the EHRC begin proceedings into investigating them
14.
‘Both Philipps and LAAS recently retweeted a comment branding Bastani “scum”.’
‘LAAS activist Saul Freeman routinely sends abusive messages to Labour supporters, including hundreds to Jones. One typical offering labelled him a “deranged and nasty twat.”’
Luis is playing the usual trick of making victim into perpetrator – the definition of institutional racism. Look what Freeman found out about Owen Jones’ student days editing Wikipedia entries on Israel. His description of Jones as a “deranged and nasty twat” is arguably far too mild. A four-syllable word beginning with the letter ‘A’ might be viewed as more appropriate.
16.
‘When Wolfson’s friends expressed solidarity with her in the face of racialised abuse, Philipps piped up again to say she didn’t deserve it.’
Rhea Wolfson was present throughout Pete Willsman’s rant at NEC when he claimed that Jewish “Trumpfanatics” were making up some of the allegations of antisemitism in the party. Silence in the face of blatant racism is akin to complicity, hence Philipps’ tweet. She also wrote an article endorsing a definition of antisemitism that excluded the Jew/Nazi comparison and supports Jeremy Corbyn despite the vast majority of Jews considering him to be an antisemite.
17.
‘During the Gaza ‘return marches’of 2018, during which thousands of Palestinian protesters were shot and around 200 were killed by the Israeli army, the Gnasher account promoted IDF propaganda. The account sought to justify extreme violence against protesters, coordinated with Israel advocacy groups such as StandWithUs, and accused critics of the IDF of antisemitism. LAAS activists also sprang to the army’s defence.’
’Gnasher has promoted Collier’s justifications for the IDF killing civilians aboard the Mavi Marmara in 2010, and Philipps has criticised companies for pulling out of illegal West Bank settlements.’
David Collier’s undercover exposure of ‘Palestine Live’ revealed Greta Berlin giving an entirely different account of the Mavi Marmara affair than the one she had given in public. In public she had said that the IDF commandos had fired first “on sleeping civilians at four in the morning”. But in Palestine Live she admitted that the violence was initiated by Ken O’Keefe who grabbed a gun from one of the commandos. This was exposure of a lie, not a ‘justification’.
‘Luis’ twists the Philipps tweet in a similar manner. Philipps simply pointed out that Airbnb was acting inconsistently by ceasing to take bookings for rentals in Judea/Samaria but continuing to take bookings for other conflict areas.
19.
‘The watchdogs have leaned heavily on the research of David Collier, a citizen journalist who embodies the erasure of any boundary between the two causes of fighting antisemitism and pro-Israel advocacy. The majority of Collier’s work has been concerned with seeking to discredit pro-Palestinian advocacy, which he refers to as “Palestinianism”, and a “disease”that is inherently antisemitic’.
Another unevidenced statement from ‘Luis’ – unevidenced because it’s a lie. David Collier’s work (particularly in exposing Palestine Live but also in other blogs) makes it clear that much of what passes for pro-Palestinian advocacy is deeply antisemitic – moreover not solely in terms of calling Israel a racist state but in terms of Rothschild conspiracies, Jewish power, Holocaust denial and the like.
20.
‘Collier once described his mission as “showing everybody how toxic our enemies are”. Collier rarely distinguishes between criticism of Israel and antisemitism, to the point that he considers human rights groups that document mistreatment of Palestinians, such as Amnesty International, to be antisemitic’.
‘While any Labour member should be willing to take reports of antisemitism in the party seriously, it is too much to ask them to embrace the cause of a state practicing a 50-year occupation, a dual legal system that non-partisan observers have called Apartheid, and a brutal siege of Gaza that has caused a dire humanitarian crisis.’
In order to expose antisemitism against British Jews, LAAS does not need to first comment on a foreign conflict in order to be evaluated as worthy. Secondly, the clue is in the name – Labour against Antisemitism – comments are purely about antisemitism in the Labour Party, not the perceived unfairness of foreign conflicts.
22.
‘Conversely it is asking too much to expect Labour members to consider solidarity with subjugated Palestinians to be illegitimate or racist.’
‘Gnasher and LAAS activists have repeatedly attacked Jewish comedian and campaigner Marlon Solomon, who performs a popular show on antisemitism, for maintaining ties with Labour and Momentum.’
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the exchanges. See for example here and here. They are legitimate and valuable debates about the appropriate way to confront antisemitism in Labour and about the motivation for conversions to Judaism. And see tweet below – hardly an ‘attack’!
24.
‘David Schneider has become a favoured punchbag, including for non-Jewish LAAS activists, despite a long record of challenging antisemitism on the left’.
First – why is the religion of LAAS activists relevant? It isn’t. Second – has Luis read this article by Schneider written nearly a year ago? (‘But I do believe that now, finally, the leadership realises it has a serious problem and is prepared to tackle it’). The word ‘punchbag is pejorative and completely inappropriate for reasoned criticism.
25.
‘Jewish lawyer and commentator Adam Wagner also become a persona non grata for diverging from the groups’hardline positions’.
‘LAAS’Hoffman often works with with far right-friendly Islamophobes such as Ambrosine Shitrit and Sharon Klaff.
Standing in the same demonstration as someone does not imply an endorsement of all their views. If it did then thousands of Remain supporters would be tarred with the same brush as Anjem Choudary.
27.
‘Both Gnasher and LAAS activists have a long working relationship with the pair (Shitrit tweets as @AntisemitismEye).’
The tweet that ‘Luis’ uses to evidence this ‘long working relationship’ is reproduced below.
The truth (see redacted Facebook conversation below) is that Gnasher was warning Shitrit that a violent threat had been made to her, and that she should go to the police.
LAAS has no relationship with either of the people inferred by Luis and s/he provided no evidence to substantiate the claim.
This is nonsense and there is not a shred of evidence to support it. Moreover it is offensive – the founder of LAAS, Denny Taylor, is of mixed race Arabic heritage. He has suffered racist abuse from the far Right and allegations of involvement with Tommy Robinson are very upsetting for him.
29.
‘Philipps praised James Goddard’s thugs for abusing Owen Jones on College Green, equivocated when the commentator was attacked again by the same movement, and has taken to attacking Hope not Hate’s work exposing fascists.’
Philipps didn’t praise these people. He tweeted a tweet by someone saying that a crowd on TV had chanted that Owen was a ‘wanker’. This was before it was revealed who they were. His tweet said that ‘The people have spoken’. He later deleted it and apologised.
As for Hope Not Hate, Philipps and many others have pointed out that Hope Not Hate focuses disproportionately on far-Right antisemitism as opposed to far-Left and Islamist antisemitism. Their recent report entitled State of Hate 2019 was over 100 pages long; only 4 or 5 of those pages were devoted to antisemitism on the Left and a similar number to Islamist extremism.
30.
‘The Gnasher/LAAS approach has little chance of actually reducing antisemitism. By demonising Labour members and the movement as a whole based on poorly-sourced denunciations, they merely force warring factions back into their trenches, with no hope of education or understanding where it is sorely needed. False accusations of course undermine genuine grievances. These groups’approach entrenches a hugely dangerous and divisive narrative of Labour against Jews, and they appear determined to make the struggle against antisemitism a battlefield rather than a dialogue.’
Gnasher/LAAS have been outstandingly persistent and successful in documenting and identifying antisemitism in Labour and have submitted over 1200 reports. The failure to reduce antisemitism in Labour lies with the leadership, the broader party establishment and the party’s structural processes – which is why the EHRC has initiated an enquiry. And what on earth does ‘Luis’ mean by suggesting that the fight against antisemitism should be a dialogue? With what other racists does ‘Luis’propose having a ‘dialogue’?
The blog post by Luis is disingenuous and mendacious
It’s seemingly designed to protect the Labour Party from committed volunteers who have dedicated their time, energies and, on occasion, personal security to challenge the racial hatred against Jews that appears to be institutionally embedded within the party.
Plastic Fantastic 