It is not customary for me
to write about foreign political parties or get involved in their policies.
However in the case of the British Labor Party some very worrying developments
have occurred amongst some of its members that gives grave cause for concern. Individual
members of this party have come out with statements that go beyond anti-Zionism
and moving towards delegitimizing Israel.
 |
| Jeremy Corbyn |
We must bear in mind that
this phenomenon has been latent in the post-Tony Blair years especially. It has
given expression in party members electing Jeremy Corbyn as their party leader
by a sizeable majority. He has made some very problematic statements that point
in a direction of affinity for Hamas and Hezbollah.
The following comes from The
Guardian 13th August 2015:
“There
is Corbyn’s apparent proximity to anti-Semitism. While I genuinely believe that
Corbyn does not have an anti-Semitic bone in his body, he does have a
proclivity for sharing platforms with individuals who do; and his excuses for
doing so do not stand up.
Take
the fact that Corbyn once described it as his “honour and pleasure” to
host “our friends” from Hamas and Hezbollah in
parliament. According to Corbyn, he
extended his invitation to the aforementioned groups – and spoke of them
glowingly – because all sides need to be involved in the peace process.
 |
| Ken Livingstone |
So far,
so reasonable. Yet negotiation is not on Hamas’s agenda, as Corbyn ought to
know. In its charter Hamas states:
“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences,
are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…
There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad.”
Most of us in Israel are in favor of negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah in order
to reach a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in the widest possible
terms. This unfortunately is not the case of Hamas and Hezbollah. They have
closed every door to any possible negotiation with Israel on any form of
solution to the conflict. Their actions of hostility and terror towards Israel
over the years are proof of that. Describing
these two terrorist organizations as “friends” of Jeremy Corbyn in his own
words is cynical and raises many questions of the Labor leader’s understanding
of the dynamics of irreversible hate for Israel. Gorbyn’s attitude towards
Israel has many questions that remain unanswered. Much is left to
interpretation by many of his own party members, who have taken it a step
further towards anti-Israel statements that have also slipped towards an
anti-Semitic direction.
Anti-Zionists have always existed amongst the
Jewish People. They have given many academic arguments against Zionism. Some
points that Jewish anti-Zionist philosophy academics have made are certainly
not anti-Semitic even though the methodology that they have used in arriving to
their conclusions is questionable, including their sources of information.
However having said this, there is a trend
within the Labor Party for anti-Semites to climb the band wagon of anti-Zionism
for delegitimizing Israel for its so-called human rights abuses against
Palestinians under occupation and settler expansion in the territories. Israel
is by no means perfect and criticism of the Israeli Government attitude towards
the occupation is legitimate and desirable. PM Netanyahu’s statement that
Israel must be recognized as the nation state of the Jewish People rather than
the state of all Israel’s citizens does add a question mark as to the status of
the non-Jewish minorities and sounds very exclusive, rather than including them
as an integral part of Israel. It does not mean that those who criticize Israel
Government policy towards the Palestinians are anti-Semitic or even
anti-Zionist and delegitimize Israel’s right to exist.
Jeremy Corbyn has opened the anti-Semitic
Pandora Box within the Labor Party and the anti-Semitic genie has jumped out. He
realizes that it will boomerang against the Labor Party.
He is now applying a band-aid by suspending 50 Labor members suspected of
anti-Semitism.
It boggles the mind how many Labor Party
members are going down xenophobic street, punting for the Palestinians and
making comments against Israel that have anti-Semitic overtones as well. A
party that claims to fight racism seems to be going soft on anti-Semitism. How
can the Labor Party support a Palestinian leadership that is enriching itself
on the tragedies of the Palestinian People? Hamas
wealth is well documented. The leader, Khaled Maashal is a multimillionaire;
Ismail Hanniyeh and Musa Marzook are all in comfortable, luscious exile. They
use their people in fighting wars and committing terrorist acts against Israel.
During
the Gaza War in July-August 2014, they were not in Gaza to be near their
people. They were either in luxurious hotels in Qatar or in bunkers. The long
suffering Palestinian People took the flack as their wealthy, despotic
leadership led them to disaster. Their rhetoric during the war was conspicuous
by its total absence. Only when the war was over did this cowardly enriched mob
surface as if they were victorious over Israel with their hateful rhetoric and
mantras based on nothing but their fantasies.
Is this the kind of despotic, undemocratic Palestinian
regime that the Labor Party supports in order to get at Israel? Are these
wealthy Hamas despots “friends” of Jeremy Corbyn? Are they going to lead the
Palestinians to a democratic state where human rights exist? Many of these
so-called double-standard left wing hypocritical, human rights activists will
say that any truth written about Hamas, Hezbollah and their Islamist terrorist
allies is nothing but Israeli and Zionist propaganda. It does not suit their
ideology. They believe that if you tell a lie often enough it becomes a truth.
In this, the “socialist” ideology of Labor resembles the Stalin-Hitler tactics
of deception.
The downhill slide of the British Labor Party into an abyss of anti-Semitism bodes evil for the party and it does not
dovetail with its socialist ideology that is against xenophobia in all its
forms. Jeremy Corbyn must be held accountable for this negative development
within the party. If the Labor members do not work to replace him, the
anti-Semitic stain will remain in the party for many years and their chances of
winning an election will be remote.
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