Woah. Genuinely surprised to see this - guessing Keir Starmer was waiting for an opportunity like this to show he is genuinely different to his predecessor and zero tolerance to antisemitism means just that. I wonder if she was asked to apologise and refused
I think the reason I am genuinely surprised is there was such a high tolerance for this kind of stuff under the previous leadership. The “hand of Israel” being responsible for all of the world’s woes, it is a genuine surprise to see conspiracising taken seriously
I am pretty sure, nonetheless, that if Long Bailey had said she was sorry for tweeting the article because of that part of it, she would have kept her job. Surprised she didn’t, but perhaps she also didn’t think any action will be taken because it hasn’t for a long time
Interesting
Here is @RLong_Bailey's more detailed statement, just posted. Note she still does not directly disclaim the part of the article which has been criticised as a conspiracy theory twitter.com/RLong_Bailey?r…
On the issue itself, the claim made in the article which @RLong_Bailey retweeted with approval, and hasn't explicitly rejected, is this:
"The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services."
"The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services."
It is fair to say the Israeli army, police and intelligence services have been responsible for many human rights abuses during the 50+ years of occupation of Palestinian lands. But as far as I can find, there is no direct evidence for the claim above.
The article which people have been citing to support the claim ('The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services") is this from Amnesty USA... but amnestyusa.org/with-whom-are-…
the article doesn't make the claim Peake made. It describes various US police departments being trained in Israel. But it doesn't mention the Minneapolis, Minnesota police (who murdered George Floyd) and also doesn't cite any evidence of the content of the training. It speculates
There is also this which appears to show a number of Israeli soldiers using knee on neck technique. These are photos of clear human rights abuses. But they don't in themselves support the claim made in Peake's article which Long-Bailey hasn't disclaimed
Personally, I don't think the claim is impossible (I'm not an expert in Israeli policing techniques) but for a shadow cabinet minister to amplify it, without any clear evidence it is true, and then not comment on it specifically, is bad.
Criticising Israeli policy is not antisemitic. But there is a strain of antisemitism (sometimes described as 'tropes') which seeks to blame Israel, the Jewish State, for things it has no responsibility for.
A conspiracy theory usually has a grain of truth but extrapolates too far, and in an antisemitic direction:
e.g. Israel trains US police > Israeli police sometimes abuse human rights > US police killed George Floyd > Israel is responsible for George Floyd's death
e.g. Israel trains US police > Israeli police sometimes abuse human rights > US police killed George Floyd > Israel is responsible for George Floyd's death
The above tweet is not what Peake said - but it is where these fact-free assertions lead. Why else are they so popular? Because they transfer responsibility to a mendacious external actor (and, unforgivably actually, away from the real perpetrators - the Minneapolis police)
