Cartoon Against Ultra-Zionist Inquisition

Here’s another bit of art I’ve made. This time it’s a cartoon lambasting the current purging of left-wingers in the Labour party, and particularly those critical of Israel, all under the pretence that it’s about combating anti-Semitism. It isn’t. It’s Starmer, Evans and the Blairite right trying to silence and expel anyone who stand up from real socialism and decries the Israeli state’s persecution of the Palestinians. And there’s more than a bit of anti-Semitism in it. Jewish Voice for Labour only the other day submitted a report to the Forde Inquiry and the Equalities of Human Rights Commission pointing out that four-fifths of those purged have been Jewish, and Jews are more than 300 times more like than gentiles to be smeared as anti-Semites and purged.

I realise that there’s no better way to flatten a joke than to explain it, but to make sure there are no misunderstandings, this is what it all stands for. This is my particular view of what is going on, and in my opinion what is going on is comparable to a medieval inquisition by the Blairites on behalf of the Israeli state. The figures in Klan robes represent just such bigoted, inquisitorial justice. I chose their robes rather than the real costume of the Holy Office or Spanish Inquisition because they are more recognisable but have the same religious overtones in my view. David Evans, who is charge of this perverted kangaroo court justice, also wears them. This is because I regard him as chief inquisitor. I am not saying that he is personally anti-Semitic, although the witch hunt over which he presides certainly is. In my opinion, that is.

The figures at the bottom are supposed to be Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein and Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, who represents Jewish Voice for Labour. They are all Jewish. Walker and Greenstein have been purged as part of this witch-hunt. I think Wimborne-Idrissi is still a member, but she and her organisation of real Jews have suffered the same accusations of anti-Semitism. Grotty individuals like Neil Coyle have tweeted demanding JVL’s expulsion along with other ‘commies’. And before anyone claims that it’s anti-Semitic because it attacks Zionism, Zionism has never been solely a Jewish movement. It arose in the 19th century among Christians, who wanted the Jews to return to Palestine in order to hasten Christ’s return. It has also been popular amongst real anti-Semites, like the composer Richard Wagner. Wagner had Jewish friends, but he wanted the Jews to move back to Palestine so Germany would be rid of them. See Karl Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship. And as I’ve said very many times, in terms of membership the biggest Zionist organisation in America is Pastor Ted Hagee’s Christians United for Israel. I’d also like to point out that I do respect the opinion of left-wing Zionists, who believe in Israel but want humane treatment for the Palestinians. I should really have called it ‘the ultra-Zionist inquisition’, but this is too much of a mouthful.

And finally, the caption is, of course, a parody of the famous Monty Python sketch. Unfortunately the inquisition in the Labour party isn’t offering anybody comfy chairs Except, of course, for the backsides of those in charge of this corrupt, compromised ‘justice’.

Jewish Voice for Labour Sends Report on Real Labour Anti-Semitism to EHRC and Forde Enquiry

Starmer’s continuing purge of the Labour left, and especially left-wing Jews critical of Israel, is meeting resistance. As Mike put up yesterday, Pamela Fitzpatrick has put the bargain basement Stalin on notice that she may take legal action against the Labour party for her ‘autoexclusion’. Starmer wants to expel because last year she gave an interview to Socialist Appeal, one of the four groups he wants to expel from the Labour party. But this was at a time when Socialist Appeal was still perfectly acceptable. This is retroactive justice, the criminalisation of individuals and groups for actions that were perfectly legal at the time they were committed. It’s a hallmark of tyrannies and dictatorships from Nazi Germany to Stalin’s Russia, as Fitzpatrick herself has pointed out. She tweeted

I am starting to wonder, given my line of work, as to whether the practice of introducing laws with retrospective effect, the presumption of guilt until proven innocent, the denial of appeal rights and lack of fair process is to be future Labour policy for our justice system.

This is, of course, grossly hypocritical coming from Starmer. As Steve Sammut pointed out, between 1986 and 1988 Starmer was editor of Socialist Alternatives, a magazine published by the International Marxist Tendency. Labour Party Marxists are another group Starmer has decided to expel, despite the fact that, unlike Militant Tendency in the 1980s, I’ve seen zero evidence that they are an entryist group trying to take over the party. Indeed, many of the socialist societies that came together to form the Labour party were either Marxist or Marxist influenced. And when the scandal about Militant hit Labour in the 1980s, the Swedish Social Democrats responded by saying that they had absolutely no problem with the Marxists remaining in their party, providing that they didn’t engage in those tactics. These tactics, used to subvert democracy in the party, have been taken over and applied wholesale by the real entryists, the Blairites now headed by Starmer and David Evans in the NEC.

And let’s be clear – this is an inquisition. Starmer is actually using the language used by the Christian and Roman Catholic church to excommunicate heretics. The concept of ‘autoexclusion’ was devised in the fourth century to justify the excommunication of the Donatist schismatics of north Africa. The argument was that the Church isn’t excommunicating them. Rather they are excommunicating themselves through their beliefs and actions. It’s a doctrine that isn’t confined to the sphere of religion, however. Andre Breton, the ‘Pope of Surrealism’, used it when he wanted to throw dissident artists out of his artistic movement. His victims included a group of Christian artists interested in using the techniques of Surrealism to explore their religion, which caused the militant Marxist atheist to go berserk.

But Jewish Voice for Labour are also showing the real anti-Semitism behind these purges.

They have just submitted a report to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the ongoing Forde Inquiry showing that the vast majority of the witch hunt are Jews. Four out of five of those accused of anti-Semitism are Jewish. If we had a decent media in this country, this would be reported and more than demonstrate that these accusations have nothing to do with real anti-Semitism. Instead, it’s all about protecting Israel and presenting the Board of Deputies as the real representatives of Britain’s very diverse Jewish community. Of course, the Board are nothing of the sort. Tony Greenstein and other great Jewish activists and bloggers have demonstrated that the Board really represent only the United Synagogue, who seem to be the Jewish members of the Conservative party at prayer, just as the old adage said that the Anglican Church is for Christians.

Mike reports that JVL’s statement, submitted on the 24th August 2021, runs

“We have become aware of seven new investigations of Jewish Party members. Notifications of new investigations and auto-exclusions are arriving on a daily basis.

“This means it would appear that over four times more Jewish than non-Jewish Labour Party members have faced actioned complaints of antisemitism.  The disproportion is even greater in relation to JVL Committee members and officers. The staggering numbers suggest that these Jews are nearly three hundred times more likely to be investigated than non- Jewish Labour Party members. In all these cases the charges of so-called antisemitism are deeply offensive.

“Dozens of Jewish members are now being targeted by Labour as antisemites, for voicing an understanding of antisemitism that is a direct product of our Jewish political and personal heritage.

“The effect of rejecting or ignoring complaints made by JVL members of antisemitism; our experience of bullying and harassment; and the refusal to consult or involve JVL in, for instance, the EHRC required Action Plan; all show disdain for our status and roles as Jews.”

Their personal understanding of real anti-Semitism appears to me to be absolutely incontrovertible and corresponds to what the founders of modern anti-Semitism actually said. Slugs like the Austrian anti-Semitic politico, Carl von Schoenerer, stated that they hated Jews simply for being Jews. Their religion or other opinions were immaterial. Indeed, there was a nasty little rhyme they sang that said that Judaism wasn’t the issue. The ‘swinishness’ was in the blood. This is quite different from the verbose, convoluted and extremely flawed definition of anti-Semitism formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and used to chill criticism of Israel, as one of its authors, Kenneth Stern, has admitted.

And Jewish Labour members like Andrew Feinstein have pointed out the massive injustice in smearing decent, anti-racist Jews as anti-Semites when so many of them have been personally affected by the Holocaust. He regards their persecution by a reactionary Labour party leadership as indefensible.

And he’s right. I’ve read that half of the British Jewish population lost family members in the Shoah. And the victims of the NEC’s and now Starmer’s witch hunt has included proud, decent Jews, who have personally experience anti-Semitic abuse and violence, as well as anti-racist gentiles who have also suffered the same for their activism in support of the Jewish community.

The overwhelming preponderance of Jews as victims of the anti-Semitism witch hunt should absolutely put the lie to any claim that these people are really self-hating and anti-Semitic.

This is all about silencing criticism of Israel, and particularly Jewish critics, because their simple existence refutes the lies and propaganda by Netanyahu and his British supporters that all Jews everywhere are proud Israelis, and that the British Jewish community uncritically supports Israel.

And the witch-hunt against left-wing Jews in the Labour party is part of a strain of political anti-Semitism stretching back to the wretched Protocols of the Elders of Zion. One of the accusations levelled by the right against their opponents on the left is that they follow the classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories by confusing Jews with capitalism and the control of the government and the economy. But the Protocols of the Elders of Zion also claimed that Jews were also responsible for socialism and communism. A little while ago I blogged about a letter from Craig Ferguson published by the JVL at their site, which pointed out that British anti-Semitism was originally targeted at left-wing Jews. The British newspaper magnate who published the Protocols in the 1920s himself drew a distinction between loyal, patriotic British Jews, and radical, communist Jewish immigrants flooding in from the continent. The witch-hunters clearly seem to be guided by that kind of anti-Semitism in their attacks on JVL. The Labour MP Neil Coyle even called for their expulsion along with other ‘commies’.

And Michelle Laufer clearly showed Starmer’s personal hypocrisy in targeting entirely decent left-wing Jews considering his own dismal record of lies and intriguing as party leader in this tweet:

I’ve just heard Starmer on the radio saying he and Labour need to be honest with the British public so they can learn to trust the Labour party again. As a Jewish member of the Labour party who has had to watch other Jewish members abused, suspended and expelled as anti-
Semitism has been weaponised, I’d like to know if he’s going to be honest about this. Is he going to be honest about the fraudulent way he in which he became leader, his broken pledges, the gerrymandering of Party democracy, the silencing of members of criticise apartheid Israel, his fawning obedience to the Board of Deputies who do not represent the views of the majority of Jews in this country and the imposition of antisemitism training by the Zionist Jewish Labour Movement.

Well no, of course Keef Stalin isn’t. He’s an authoritarian liar, and this would destroy him and the other Thatcherite entryists driving this witch-hunt, as well as his attempts to ingratiate himself with all those Tory voters out there.

Mike concludes his article with these comments

And the problem isn’t anti-Semites; it’s him – and the entryists who are supporting him because they know falsely accusing Labour socialists (the people for whom the party was originally created) of a heinous offence will make the party unelectable, leaving the way clear for the Tory corruption that we have seen under Boris Johnson.

I think it’s just a matter of time until this particular house of cards comes crashing down around Starmer and his allies.

I hope so. And I hope it brings down everyone else who was involved in this vicious vilification and persecution of decent people, including David Evans and the woefully misnamed Jewish Labour Movement.