2/ I remember when I first started seeing these posts, the awful creeping realisation that I was seeing was hardcore antisemitism from Labour members, activists *and* officials
On my first encounter with some of these, my hands were shaking and my heart pounding
3/ And this wasn't a few bad apples we're talking about there. It was/is a whole section of the left thoughout which this rot has permeated, infesting the Labour party in the process.
4/ The team that collected these have been exposed to a phenomenal amount of this poison. But, they have catalogue and collect evidence, which helped lead to the expulsion of dozens of antisemites and towards a major party-wide enquiry.
Since it is Yom Ha'shoa, and I'm not living in Israel to hear the siren, I want to showcase excerpts from a book my uncle wrote, based on letters he found in a suitcase, after his mother passed away, documenting his fathers escape.
The letters he found were an exchange (in german) between my grandfather, who had managed to exit the Reich in 1938 (at the age of 28), and his mother who was stuck there, and also his sister and niece who had fled Romania.
My grandfather had a letter from a relative here in the UK, which said he was guaranteed a job, thus he was able to obtain an entry visa to the UK. He fought hard and ultimately fruitlessly to get his mother out.
UK's president of the National Union of Students!!
"I just want to start by declaring solidarity with siblings in Palestine who have historically decades upon decades have continued to bear the brunt of a racist system of apartheid"
At the same meeting we have Omar Barghouti stating that Israel enacts a form of "Zionist supremacism" which provides a model state for "white supremacists".
And finally Ben Jamal, of the PSC:
"[Israel] is a problem rooted in process of settler colonialism given initial energy by Balfour declaration, was accelerated under British mandate which oversaw & engineered process of huge Jewish settlement & expulsion of Palestinians"
I've had a massive (and destructive) argument with a friend over whether this is antisemitism. I see a lot of people have trouble understanding this. So let me try to explain:
What you see here is not a criticism of Israel or Zionism. I can pretty much guarantee that Ed has little idea what Zionism is, or what goes on in Israel. Or, for that matter even, what Judaism is (not to mention it's long relationship with Zionism)
A rational critique might go: "I think the excesses of the IDF against Palestinians is a direct outcome of Zionism and even a manifestation of it". This is a rational argument (albeit completely untrue - and falsifiable as well).
1/ It's that time of year again, and Banksy's simplistic, shallow but evocative political art work of Joseph and Miriam being confronted by a giant concrete wall and watchtower.
2/ The image juxtaposes of the mythological image of Yosef trying to reach Bethlehem - called forth by the xmas star (which is on the other side - unreachable). The harshness of a ten-foot concrete barrier is contrasted with idillic pastoral image of local shepherds.
3/ Border watchtower in full view, in order to invoke image of concentration camp. It is also intended to invoke the impression that "Jews were victim but now they're the oppressors"