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This week @johnmcdonnellMP is coming to Barnet to help JVL Chair Jenny Manson's campaign to become a Labour MP. What kind of MP would Manson be for Britain's largest Jewish community? The kind who gave evidence in Ken Livingstone's defence. Here's how she did it /1
Manson appeared as a witness for Livingstone in his Labour Party disciplinary hearing last year. I've read the transcript. She said Livingstone's claim that Hitler supported Zionism - for which he was found guilty of bringing the party into disrepute - was "true" /2 
Manson said that Naz Shah's "Relocate Israel into United States" Facebook post - for which Shah was suspended, and which Shah accepts was antisemitic - was "quite funny" /3
Manson called for "much more freedom of speech than we are currently having on the subject of Israel and the Jews." NB "the Jews" /4
She repeated this point: "My non-Jewish [sic] are saying they don’t dare say a single word at Labour Party meetings anymore about anything to do with Israel or the Jews. They are terrified of saying anything." NB again: "the Jews" /5
Manson said you can't be antisemitic about Israelis: "Nothing that you could say about Israelis is anti-Semitic. It might be nasty to say nasty things about the Israelis, but Israelis are a group of Jews. They’re not all Jews." /6
So you could say that "Israelis" have a secret conspiracy to take over the world, are behind ISIS terrorism, drink the blood of Christian children - and as long as you only claim "Israelis" do this, not "all Jews", in Jenny Manson's world you aren't being antisemitic /7
According to McDonnell "Jenny is a fine socialist and a splendid advocate on behalf of our movement... I strongly support her candidacy and hope that party members also give her their support. Jenny will make an excellent candidate." Hmm. /8
(I wrote about this in the updated edition of my book, if you are interested). /End
