Sunday, April 12, 2015

Which British Political Party is the most anti-semitic?




Update: The range of views offered by British political parties

In response to claims before the European elections in 2014 that Jewish voters must not vote for UKIP since it was 'antisemitic' I produced a summary of the extent to which antisemitism is rampant in all the main stream parties (and note that I consider anti-Zionism as an example of antisemitism) awarding a number of Arafats (rather than stars) to each (where in the spirit of Debbie Schlussel, 5 Arafats is the worse possible). Here is an update of that summary. (Further Update: UK Pro-jihad Muslim group boasts: “negotiating with Tory & Labour leadership”and note that Baroness Warsi is part of the gig).

The Labour Party
"due to pressure that had been placed on the courts by .. Jewish friends who own newspapers and TV channels". He added: "My case became more critical because I went to Gaza to support Palestinians", something that these Jews "opposed".
Over a third of its MPs in Parliament (i.e. with real power unlike UKIP) are committed to the total destruction of Israel and actively push for a total boycott of Israel to achieve this aim. These MPs include the likes of:
  • Paul Flynn who accused Britain's first Jewish ambassador to Israel of having 'divided loyalties'; 
  • Martin Linton,  who spoke about the "long tentacles of Israel" reaching into British politics; 
  • Gerald Kaufman who stated that "Just as Lord Ashcroft owns most of the Conservative Party, right-wing Jewish millionaires own the rest," and said "Here we are, the Jews again" when pro-Israel MP Louise Ellman rose to speak in the Commons;
  • Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan, and Andy Slaughter (the latter who even holds the position of Shadow Justice Minister) who not only campaign obsessively for the destruction of Israel, but have a long history of support for Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists, and they have all shared platforms with members of terrorist organisations, and notorious anti-Semitic, homophobic Islamists.
  • Former Foreign Minister Jack Straw who claimed that "Unlimited Jewish funds control US policy, and block Mideast peace" while also demanding respect and sympathy for the aspirations of the Islamic Republic of Iran
  • Shabana Mahmood who in 2014 led a fanatical mob of anti-Israel demonstrators who forced the closure of a Sainsbury's store in Birmingham for selling Israeli produce.
  • John Prescott who in 2014 compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
The above is just the tip of the iceberg. The Labour Party has hundreds of elected local councillors and thousands of grass-root members whose antisemitism is channelled into their obsessive hatred of Israel and their belief in an international Zionist conspiracy.
Rating






The Conservative Party
The ambivalent, and at times openly hostile attitude of the Cameron government to Israel has been extensively catalogued on this blog (where I have argued it is the most anti-Israel government since Ted Heath - another conservative antisemite - was PM in 1973). This includes:
  • Taking the lead in the EU initiative to boycott Israeli goods from the "occupied territories"
  • Selling arms to just about every despotic Arab state yet maintaining an arms embargo against Israel.
  • Taking the unprecedented steps of expelling Israeli diplomats from the UK 'in retaliation' for the death of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai that was never proved to have any Israeli involvement. 
  • Threatening to break off all diplomatic relations with Israel because Israel had the audacity to issue planning permits for building new homes in its capital city.
  • Taking the lead in condemning Israel for defending itself against terrorist attacks. Cameron also voiced the most bitter and irrational condemnation of any world leader after the Gaza Turkish flotilla fiasco.
  • Taking the lead in vicious condemnation of Israel for daring to build anywhere in its 'settlements'
  • The appointment of William Hague - the most anti-Israel Foreign Secretary in living memory; a man seemingly obsessed with Israeli 'aggression' and 'settlements', since he was rarely heard to speak about anything else.
  • Massively increased funding for the 'Palestinians' which has been proven to have been widely used to directly fund terrorism and antisemitic incitement; requests to investigate this funding have been continually ignored (the standard response I have received from politicians is that withdrawing this funding will lead to increased terrorism!)
  • Britain taking the lead in the EU in 'lawfare' against Israelis and Israeli owned businesses. Leading Israeli politicians (including even Tzippi Livni) and military leaders continue to be stopped from entering the country for fear of arrest under the 'Universal Jurisdiction' law that has been applied only to Israelis on trumped up charges by the antisemites of the Palestine Solidarity Committee. Cameron promised he would stop this happening but, despite claims that the law has been changed, it has failed to make any difference
  • A number of trials in which the defendants who have admitted to physical attacks and destruction of Israeli owned businesses have been found not guilty and even been praised by judges for their heroic activism. (Update: see amie's comment below about the Government having no power over judges, but note that not a single Conservative MP has publicly expressed any condemnation of this and indeed there have now been numerous cases where violent 'anti-Israel' demonstrators have been let off on the basis of being merely 'political protesters').
  • The introduction of policing policies which enabled anti-Israel 'demonstrators' in 2010, 2012 and 2014 to run riot in the streets of London attacking what they believed were Jewish owned businesses as well as Jewish counter demonstrators without fear of arrest (in fact the policy was instead to focus police manpower on confining the smaller numbers of peaceful pro-Israel demonstrators); 
  • The introduction of policing policies which enable anti-Israel 'demonstrators' to violently disrupt every public event (without fear of arrest or prosecution) in which an Israeli appears
  • An environment of such increased hostility to Israel in all walks of life that the campaign to boycott and deligitimize Israel and to equate Israel with apartheid are more firmly in the main stream than any other country in Europe.
  • The appointment of the anti-Israel Muslim supremacist Baroness Warsi to multiple positions of authority, which has resulted in many negative ramifications for Britain's Jewish community.
  • The banning from the UK of American bloggers for being 'too pro-Israel' and hence 'likely to antagonise Muslims'. At the same time antisemitic Muslim hate preachers are allowed in all the time.
  • The introduction of laws on 'hate speech' that have been primarily used to silence the voices of those who highlight the dangers of Islamic terrorism. In April 2015 they even promised that 'Islamaphobic attacks' (the bulk of which appear to be comments and articles on the web complaining about Islamic terrorists) will become a specific 'hate crime' under new legislation if they are re-elected.
  • The refusal to replace - or even reprimand - the openly Hamas supporting Consul-General in Jerusalem Alastair McPhail (Britain's highest ranking official in the Middle East).
Remember also that Cameron - before he was elected - actually tried to establish his 'pro-Muslim' credentials by bragging:
 ‘Unlike a lot of politicians from Britain who visit Israel, when I went I did stand in occupied East Jerusalem and actually referred to it as ‘occupied East Jerusalem,’ he says. ‘The Foreign Office bod who was with me said most ministers don’t dare say [that].’
And to prove that he meant it one of his first appointments in Office was Simon Fraser as the new head of the Foreign Office. Fraser had been sacked from his job in the last Conservative Government under John Major for cohabiting with an official of the PLO (which at the time was still officially designated as a terrorist organisation). 

There are many current and former members of the Conservative party in parliament and the House of Lords who share the same obsessive 'Zionist conspiracy', anti-Israel world views of their Labour colleagues. In addition to Baroness Warsi, these include people like David Mellor who has a long record of antisemitism cloaked in 'anti-Israel' rhetoric and who recently described Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich as an 'Israel-obsessed Russian' and Chris Patten the anti-Israel campaigner who also happens to be the Chairman of the anti-Israel BBC.  There are also many good old-fashioned antisemite Conservative MPs like Patrick Mercer who was caught on camera describing a female Israeli soldier as a “bloody Jew” in 2013. And there are MPs like Aidan Burley who hosted a Nazi-themed stag party (although as one commenter points below out he is not an antisemite). And then we have the openly antisemitic Islamist Conservative politicians like Gulzabeen Afsal, a Tory council candidate in Derby who wrote in Arabic (about Ed Miliband): “Nah bro! never ever will I drop that low and support the al yahud [Arabic for Jew] lol.” 
Rating 







The LibDem Party
While Labour's Ken Livingstone may be the most well-know main stream antisemitic politician, he is not the most antisemitic. That honour goes to Baroness Jenny Tonge who is so committed to the belief in a world-wide Zionist conspiracy that she is convinced that Israel steals the organs of disaster victims all around the world. She also famously expressed a desire to murder Israeli civilians as a suicide bomber. Yet Tonge is very popular in the LibDem party because her world view is shared by others MPs and most of the Party's grass-roots activists. She is not even the most senior LibDem to demand the destruction of the State of Israel since that is the wish and policy of none other than the Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, and there are few MPs more viciously antisemitic than David Ward, who equates Israel with the Nazis and who tweets about the power of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Not surprising therefore that the LibDems officially promote the campaign to boycott Israel.

 Rating 






The Green Party


While the Green Party attracts support from harmless (but brainless) environmentalists, there is no longer any dispute that antisemitic anti-Zionism is one of the core defining features of Green Party politicians in the UK. Comprehensive evidence of this can be found in this report. The Green Party is represented in Parliament by the MP and fanatical Israel-hater Caroline Lucas. She is not only one of the most active campaigners of the "Israeli apartheid" lie, but she has blamed Israel for most of the world’s problems, including bizarrely the Mumbai terrorist attack of 2008 in which Pakistani Muslims massacred nearly 200 people including the Chabad Rabbi and his wife. Not content with the Party's official and total boycott of Israel, Lucas also supports violent action against Israeli interests in the UK
A former member of the Green Party has explained in detail the extent to which the Party is  institutionally anti-Semitic. Lucas is certainly not alone. The Greens deputy leader since 2014 is Shahrar Ali who, as can be seen from the report here, is an anti-Israel fanatic and Islamist. The Green Party is closely aligned with the antisemitic Palestine Solidarity Campaign and some of its leading activists (like the insane Deborah Fink) are now standing as Green Party candidates. The Green Party is also increasingly aligned with the antisemitic socialist-Muslim party Respect (see below) - during the 2010 General Election the Green Party stood down in favour of Respect candidates in Birmingham Sparkbrook and Manchester, Blackley and Broughton.
 Rating 








Respect
The Party (led by George Galloway) whose only three objectives are sharia law, socialism, and the destruction of Israel. Galloway's evangelical hatred of Israel is legendary, but he has plenty of competition in the Respect Party for the honour of being the most antisemitic. Yvonne Ridley (Respect's parliamentary candidate in the 2012 Rotherham by-election) said that "any Zionists in the Respect Party ... would be hunted down and kicked out. We have no time for Zionists." Many others in Respect have been less careful in saying "Zionist" when they meant "Jew".  Abul Hussain, a former member of Respect's national council, posted antisemitic comments on Facebook about "chopping off a Jewish person's sidelocks and confiscating their kippah". He also wrote about Jews, "Here's a penny go put it in the bank and [you] just might get a pound after ten years interest!".  Following her appointment as Respect's women's officer in Bradford in October 2012, it emerged that Naz Khan had recently commented on Facebook that "history teachers in our school" were and are "the first to start brainwashing us and our children into thinking the bad guy was Hitler. What have the Jews done good in this world??” Carole Swords, the chairwoman of the Respect Party in Tower Hamlets, was convicted for a public order offence after an assault on a Jewish man in 2011. Inside a Covent Garden Tesco Metro supermarket she had struck him in the face while he was protecting Israeli goods from unlawful damage (a subsequent appeal cleared her of the offence). At one rally she described Zionists as "cockroachs ... bugs [which] need to be stomped out" and at a different rally, Swords had told a Jewish protester to "go back to Russia"

 Rating  










SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party)
This party's attitude to Israel is even worse than the Greens. Its leader Nicola Sturgeon is a fanatical Israel hater who has been happy to share speaking platforms not just with Hamas members and supporters but also with open antisemites. To give a feel for its policies, in 2011 the SNP-led West Dunbartonshire Council banned all Israeli books from its libraries.

Rating 








Welsh Nationalists  (Plaid Cymru)
All you need to know is that their leader is Leanne Wood who is actually a member and activist in the antisemitic Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

 Rating  







UKIP
In 2014 after every major media outlet in the country spent months trawling through the background and social media activity of every one of the thousands of candidates and also tens of thousands of supporters of UKIP the 'antisemite' they managed to come up with was  Anna-Marie Crampton, a candidate in East Sussex, who apparently posted a blog article claiming that Zionists conspired with the Nazis to kill Jews in the Holocaust  (a viewpoint, incidentally, that is widely shared by leftists including some of the MPs cited above who continually equate Zionism with Nazism; it was also  the main claim of PA President Mohammed Abbas's doctoral thesis).  In fact, if you criticise someone on the left as being antisemitic for making the Zionist-Nazi collaboration claim you will be told that anti-Zionism has nothing to do with antisemitism. In fact, she told the party her account had been hacked and she was not responsible for the posts. Nevertheless, she was suspended from the party pending an investigation. If only the other main stream parties would take the same approach to their genuine and proud antisemites.
My owns views of UKIP, based on attending a meeting with Nigel Farage, are described here.

Rating




So there you have it....




Monday, April 06, 2015

UK media continue to ignore the elephants in the room


The massacre of nearly 150 Christian students in Kenya, who were separated from Muslim students  by their Muslim attackers before being slaughtered, was presented in British media headlines as a story of unspecified Africans militants killings unspecified African victims. Any media outlet presenting the story in any kind of detail, however, was unable to avoid the fact that this was a terrorist attack by Muslims targeting non-Muslims, so they had to be especially creative to ensure that Muslims were still seen in a positive light or even as victims (update: see Telegraph report below).

Typical of such a report was that by Lisa Holland on Sky News, which started with scenes of female students in hijabs comforting survivors. Holland then stated that the area that was targeted was one of the poorest parts of Kenya whose population was almost exclusively Muslim, without any explanation as to why so many Christian students were there and why they alone were singled out. She went on to explain that the 'militants' came from Somalia (even though survivors had already said that most were Kenyan Muslims and one was actually the son of a Kenyan government official) and that they were simply protesting the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. She ended with the obligatory reference to the poor local Muslims fearing a 'backlash'.

With the Kenyan massacre coming at the same time as numerous other stories of British Muslims joining (or attempting to join) ISIS, there was no shortage of discussion about terrorism on the TV and radio.  The notion that Muslims were again the real victims because of the potential 'backlash' was also propagated by the usual talking heads on these chat shows. The commentators on these shows also stated without exception the standard diatribe that the attackers not only had nothing to do with Islam but were actually anti-Islamic. This was inevitably followed up by talk of Western imperialism and support for Israel against the Palestinians as being 'root causes' of Muslim anger. And there were the absolutely obligatory statements about 'right wing extremism' being as great a threat as Islamic terrorism.

Just in case people do not understand that Muslims must always be classified as the real victims of Islamic terrorism, the Conservatives have promised that 'Islamaphobic attacks' (the bulk of which appear to be comments and articles on the web complaining about Islamic terrorists) will become a specific 'hate crime' under new legislation if they are re-elected. I can therefore look forward, no doubt, to being charged with such a hate crime for this posting if Cameron is re-elected.

Update: Compare the way even 'conservative' UK newspapers like the Telegraph reported the Kenya massacre with the reality below.

Muslim woman centre stage among victims. No mention of Muslim killers and Christian victims

Compare with photo of some of the murdered Christians. This appeared in an Indian newspaper but was curiously missing from all UK coverage, presumably because it neither shows Muslims in a positive light or as victims. Had there been a hijabed victim it would have been shown in every UK media outlet.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Southampton University's disgraceful statement on cancelling anti-Israel hatefest



Southampton University statement in summary:  
"We are sorry but we have had to cancel this excellent unbiased event due to threats from the Zionists"

Southampton University has cancelled the planned anti-Israel hatefest. That ought to be a cause for a small celebration. However, the statement the University has issued is a disgrace, and probably far more damaging than the planned conference itself would have been. It does not mention any of the multiple arguments explaining why the University should never have supported the event in the first place, but instead justifies the cancellation on the grounds of public safety, implying that the planned protest by those opposed to the event (i.e. 'Zionists') posed too great a risk to University personnel and visitors.

The University is effectively promoting the idea (already prominent in the main stream media and not just among Israel haters)  that threats from 'Zionists/Jews' have put a stop to free speech. But it is even worse. Instead of criticising the blatant bias and antisemitism of the organisers of the conference (almost every single one of the scheduled speakers was an advocate of boycotting Israel) , the statement goes out of its way to actually praise them and invert reality:
"The University ... has been impressed by the commitment of the organisers to include a broad spectrum of views, and indicated to the organisers that it will work with them to find a venue suitable for a conference of this nature at a later date."
The University's statement is a disgrace which compounds the original error of supporting such an event. It was issued on 1 April but sadly it was not a joke. It is now time to challenge the statement as hard as we challenged the conference.

Jeremy Bowen in new BBC interview surprise


Following Jeremy Bowen's cosy BBC interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (in which they agreed that Israeli extremism ruled out the possibility of a two state solution) the BBC today released rare footage of Jeremy Bowen's fireside chat with Adolf Hitler in 1944.

In the interview Bowen asked about Mr Hitler's well-known vision of a post-war Germany in which Jews lived safely and prospered in all professions. When Mr Hitler pointed to recent acts of appalling Jewish extremism (such as their defiance during the Warsaw Ghetto destruction) Bowen agreed with Mr Hitler that, despite his best intentions, the Jews had ruled themselves out of playing any useful role in a future Germany.

See also: Pimping Hamas Propaganda: BBC's Bowen Blows Khaled Meshaal's Trumpet