Dodgy language and political debate.

George Galloway - Sacked For Alleged Antisemitism

IN a recent posting, Brian Bamford, referred to what he saw as the misuse of language in political debate.  He argued that it is extremely stupid or foolish to equate Tommy Robinson and his 'basket of deplorable's' in the English Defence League - ardent supporters of the state of Israel -  with the political systems of Italy and Nazi Germany, by describing them as Nazi or Fascist.   Likewise, while many find Donald Trump equally deplorable, he's no Fascist either.  The terms have been robbed of their real meaning of totalitarian national socialist dictatorships and are now merely used as  term of abuse. 

The same can also be applied to the term antisemitism - hostility to or prejudice against Jews.  The word is now used to conflate criticism of the state of Israel with anti-semitism and to silence and bring down critics of Israel such as George Galloway, Ken Livingstone and Peter Willsman. 

Galloway was recently sacked by talkRADIO for an allegedly anti-Semitic tweet.  He praised Liverpool's win, before adding:   'No #Israel flags on the cup! - appearing to reference Tottenham's strong links with the Jewish community.  On Monday, talkRadio terminated his weekly show. Galloway later said:  "I love Jews.  I don't like Israel.'

While Galloway holds pro-Palestinian sympathies and refuses to recognize Israel as a legitimate state, it is difficult to see how his remarks are anti-Semitic.  Historically, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. has had a significant Jewish following and Tottenham supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, refer to themselves as the 'Yid Army' and have adopted 'Yid' as a badge of pride. The football club accused Galloway of being a racist despite their fans using the term 'Yid'! Are Tottenham fans also Antisemites?  Mr Galloway hit back at his former employer, tweeting:  'See you in Court guys.'

Although Ken Livingstone was accused of antisemitism, he eventually resigned from the Labour Party denying that he was anti-Semitic or had brought the party into disrepute. Livingstone's crime was to have referred to the Haavara agreement signed by the Nazi government and Zionist leadership that aided the relocation of Jews to Israel and to claim that this showed Hitler, supported Zionism.  Livingstone, also held pro-Palestinian sympathies and like Galloway was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.

The case of Peter Willsman is equally intriguing.  Labour suspended the NEC member over antisemitism when he claimed that the Israeli embassy had 'almost certainly' whipped up the antisemitism row within the Labour Party, which some see as a ploy to bring down the current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.  How this remark can be construed as anti-Semitic strains credulity to the limits.  In 2017, the Labour shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, called on the government to launch an immediate inquiry into 'improper interference in our democratic politics' after the disclosure that an Israeli embassy official had plotted to "take down" UK MPs regarded as hostile.  Yet, Thornberry, was not accused of antisemitism for alleging that the Israel embassy was improperly interfering in the political affairs of this country, only Willsman, who was saying much the same thing.



If Jeremy Corbyn had even a modicum of leadership ability or even a backbone, he could have laid much of this fake antisemitism to rest long ago.  Yet he continues to bend the knee and kowtow to his detractors and those who seek undermine him. Corbyn and the public school school communists who advise and surround him, thought they could draw a line under this, by adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, yet they were totally wrong as many predicted.  If Corbyn wants to be the next Prime Minister, he needs to grow a backbone and show some leadership.