A frustratingly undiscussed aspect of the Corbyn mess is how ignorant he and many of his followers actually are about the Palestinians they supposedly care so much about. By way of explanation, let's look at the Tel al-Zaatar massacre. Never heard of it? Read on.
Obviously, Israeli policy over decades has caused huge suffering to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel proper. Right from the Nakba, through the Kafr Qasim massacre to the recent executions of unarmed men in Gaza. To say nothing of continued settler thefts in W. Bank.
But it's striking how incurious Corbyn and many pro-Palestinians are about this history - beyond Israel. As an example, let's take Palestinians' relationship with Syria. Plenty of people already know Corbyn's silence over the butchery at Yarmouk, but what about before? 
In 1976, Hafez al-Assad (father to Bashar) invaded Lebanon, a few months after Lebanon's own civil war started. Why the war began, and why Syria invaded, is pretty complicated (and debated). But it's worth giving you a little context before we go on.
Essentially, Syria wanted to protect the status quo in Lebanon. This was where a Maronite Christian minority ruled the country, despite being outnumbered by Lebanese Muslims, and a large number of Palestinian refugees (who fled from Israel in 1948).
By 1976, Syria had fought two damaging wars with Israel in less than a decade, and didn't want more fuss. Moreover, they didn't want leftists - in particular, the PLO - to overthrow Maronite hegemony. What if Israel invaded? What if leftist ideas infected Syrians?
Obviously, Assad couldn't say all this. After all, he was supposedly the great defender of the Palestinians. So instead, he threw around platitudes about supporting the "Palestinian resistance". Here's a bit of a speech he gave in July 1976.
In fact, Assad wanted to cut the PLO and its leftist Lebanese allies down to size. He had said as much to the Maronite leaders.
How did he do this? One of the most shocking examples was at Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp. I can find no reference of Corbyn (or many others) mentioning it. But if you really care about Palestinians, you really should. After all, maybe *2,000* people died.
The camp, near Beirut, housed thousands of Palestinian refugees and hundreds of (now) anti-Assad Palestinian fighters. Syrian troops and their new Maronite allies set about besieging the camp. Some sources even claim Syrian soldiers shelled the camp themselves.
Either way, once the camp fell, hundreds of innocent Palestinians were massacred by the Maronite extremists. The Syrians probably didn't help exactly, but they stood by and did nothing. Here's a picture of the aftermath.
If you know your Lebanese history, this should remind you of another massacre: at Sabra and Shatila, in 1982. After all, at this second atrocity, another foreign army stood by and did nothing while Maronites massacred yet more Palestinians.
Of course, Corbyn is keen to talk about this massacre. You might be able to guess why. That's right: the foreign troops were Israeli. In fact, Corbyn justified attending the infamous cemetery in Tunisia to commemorate the "those who died on that day [at Sabra and Shatila]."
But does he even know about Tel al-Zaatar? Has he ever gone to a memorial of its victims? Has he ever condemned the Assad regime for helping in the murder of Palestinians over the space of 40 years? Maybe. If you find evidence he has, I'd be happy to read it.
But I'd be surprised if you did. As with so much of Corbyn's foreign policy, he only seems to care about the victims if pro-American baddies were involved. Anti-American baddies, like the Assads, get helpfully ignored.
Anyway, all this speaks to the ignorance that infects so much of the modern left when it comes to Palestinians. Loads of groups have contributed to their suffering - Israelis, Syrians, Lebanese, their own leaders.
If you're too lazy to learn about all that, don't bother.
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If you're too lazy to learn about all that, don't bother.
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PS: Obviously, you should bother to learn - I mean don't bother crowing about being a defender of the Palestinians. It comes across as vulgar at best, cynical at worst.
