Controversy as UK right-wingers try to stir up HATE against the ‘wrong kind of Jew’

Last Updated: April 3, 2018By


I thought it would come to this.

Right-wingers in politics and the UK’s mass media are trying to split British Judaism by dictating to the nation what they say we should all consider the right and wrong kinds of Jew.

Many of the people making these claims are gentiles – non-Jews – who may reasonably be asked why they think they have any right at all to stir up such a discussion. It isn’t the same as the debate on anti-Semitism, in which we must all have well-defined standards and stick to them.

We know why it is happening: To undermine Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The bad news, for those who are vainly (in both senses of the word) trying to topple him, is that Mr Corbyn is more secure in his post than ever – with supporters performing the “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” chant at Liverpool and Everton football matches, and at the recent boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker.

The latest stage of the row started when Mr Corbyn attended a Seder – a ceremonial dinner at the start of Passover – organised by the left-wing organisation Jewdas.

The group’s website (which was not responding when This Writer tried to access it this morning – April 3. How curious…) states that “nearly all of us in Jewdas are synagogue-going Jews, most with either paid or voluntary positions within our communities. With members across the country, for the last thirteen years we have been the only place many people could come to be both left-wing and religiously Jewish”.

It seems an obvious choice for Mr Corbyn to reaffirm his support for – and solidarity with – the Jewish community by spending time with Jewdas, then.

This is amplified by the group’s attitude to the recent attacks in Mr Corbyn. From the same website: “What has happened over the last week is anything but an attempt to address antisemitism. It is the work of cynical manipulations by people whose express loyalty is to the Conservative Party and the right wing of the Labour Party. It is a malicious ploy to remove the leader of the Opposition and put a stop to the possibility of a socialist government. The Board of Deputies, the (disgraced for corruption) Jewish Leadership Council and the (unelected, undemocratic) Jewish Labour Movement are playing a dangerous game with people’s lives.

“This is about people of a certain age, class and political persuasion who have no idea how to function in a system where every political party isn’t pandering to their views exactly. It is about the threat that the possibility of nationalisation, rent caps and redistribution of wealth poses to the people whose ‘philanthropy’ funds our community. We have allowed our community to be dominated by middle- and upper- class people who are actively opposed to our material interests for way too long.

“The next steps from here are usually predictable. A non-Jew like Wes StreetingLuke Akehurst or Stephen Pollard will appear on TV and claim to be the sole representative of the Jewish community, who they will say will settle for nothing less than the sacking of the entire shadow cabinet to be replaced by their friends… Then our communal leaders will rally together and tell all the Jews who disagree to shut up. And denounce all the Jews who continue to disagree as traitors. And proclaim all the Jews who still disagree are not really Jews. That only the Jews who agree with them are Jews. And, because only the Jews who agree with them are really Jews, the whole community is unanimously united behind the vomit-inducing ‘progressive Zionist consensus.’”

Isn’t that exactly what has happened?

But it seems the non-Jew claiming to be the sole representative of the Jewish community was John Woodcock, who said the following about Mr Corbyn’s appointment with Jewdas:

Jewish Voice for Labour (another organisation not approved by the likes of the BoD, JLM and so on) has said that this statement from a non-Jew borders on anti-Semitism in itself. And it has certainly stirred up a strong adverse reaction from the Jewish community.

Here’s children’s poet Michael Rosen, who happens to be Jewish:

Here’s Twitter stalwart Tom London:

And here’s Corbyn supporter Tom Pride, who was subjected to appalling anti-Semitic abuse by the anti-Corbyn brigade for revealing that his own family were murdered in a Nazi concentration camp:

How about Jewish Voice?

https://twitter.com/J_VoiceUK/status/981102532922454016

Here’s Jon Lansman, Jewish founder of Corbyn-supporting organisation Momentum:

Yes it is.

Finally, here’s Jewdas itself, commenting directly to Mr Woodcock:

Young Labour Women’s Officer Charlotte Nichols attended the Jewdas Seder. She wrote, on LabourList:

“It is not for non-Jewish people, in criticising Corbyn’s attendance, to determine what is and isn’t a legitimate expression of the Jewish faith. Many of the criticisms I’ve seen are themselves anti-Semitic. For those in the community who want to paint Jeremy’s attendance as an act of provocation, rather than an attempt to listen, engage, and share our festival with us, it’s actually just alienating many young Jewish people further and validating Jewdas’ very existence.

“The Jewish community is not one monolithic bloc; part of its beauty is in its plurality and diversity. It’s absolutely right that, particularly when some community gatekeepers are refusing to meet with Corbyn, he nonetheless shows willingness to engage with the community at all levels, to listen and to learn, and be a gracious guest. If you want to see this for yourself, do as Jewdas did and simply invite him.”

The public has rallied against the transparent attempt to manipulate national feeling by Mr Woodcock, who has been supported by the right-wing blog Guido Fawkes and BBC News:

https://twitter.com/Angry_Voice/status/981117011165106177

https://twitter.com/James4Labour/status/981067686519214080

Considering the fury on my Twitter feed, I could carry on quoting the outrage against Mr Woodcock and his fellow travellers forever.

Oh, and in case anybody has forgotten, the real enemies are Theresa May and her vile Tory government. Here’s what the news media haven’t been using as their headline for the past few days:

As a person who has been wrongly accused of anti-Semitism by exactly the kind of people who have now outed themselves as anti-Semitic in their attack on Jewdas, I intend to complain to the Labour Party’s complaints team, [email protected], in the strongest possible terms.

The party has a new general secretary in Jennie Formby, who said in an email today that party unity “requires recognising and tackling problems in our own party, above all in relation to antisemitism… The stain of antisemitic attitudes must be completely eradicated within the Labour Party”.

Is it too much to hope that she will start with Mr Woodcock and his cronies?


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No Comments

  1. NMac April 3, 2018 at 12:59 pm - Reply

    In the absence of any policies which will benefit working class people the right-wing reactionaries have only got confrontation and division (divide and rule) and they use it, unfortunately very successfully, time after time. This is obviously their latest nastiness.

  2. Lynn Dye April 3, 2018 at 1:10 pm - Reply

    I certainly hope so, Mike. Jenny Formby did send a good email today. Good luck!

    • Mike Sivier April 3, 2018 at 1:32 pm - Reply

      I know. I’m writing a letter to her.

  3. joanna April 3, 2018 at 1:17 pm - Reply

    I am so sick of hearing about anti-semitism! why not focus on more urgent problems, by giving the the anti-semites attention it is going to go on and on,but every single day it is going on and on!

    Don’t get me wrong I despise discrimination in all it’s forms but this is giving the idiots all the air time and publicity they want, which can and is making it worse by trying to be more hateful then the last person!

    Now I delete emails mentioning anti-semitism because there is enough c**p in this world, it makes me more depressed than ever!!!

    • Mike Sivier April 3, 2018 at 1:31 pm - Reply

      There’s a reason this is happening – to rid the country of the chance to have a Jeremy Corbyn-led government. That’s why you’re being bombarded with nonsense and lies. And if all you’re doing is deleting anything that mentions it, rather than reacting against it, then aren’t you helping the villains?

      • joanna April 3, 2018 at 4:41 pm - Reply

        I didn’t think of it that way, I was only thinking of the depression I struggle with at the moment is getting worse.

        I don’t have any reaction outlet, if that makes any sense? I live alone, I have one really good friend, because I can’t trust anyone not to hurt me, had way too much and can’t cope anymore!

        I didn’t mean any offence Mike! I hope you had a lovely Easter!

        • Mike Sivier April 3, 2018 at 7:56 pm - Reply

          Likewise.

          The way forward is to stand up for ourselves. Otherwise these people will walk all over us.

    • rollo57 April 3, 2018 at 4:47 pm - Reply

      Joanna, fight back, deleting wont help. Corbyn has been fighting these people for years, he needs our help to expose what’s really going on. For them to be so forceful they must really be scared and panicking. They see Labour winning the next election and it wont be far away.
      I believe May will be forced into an apology to Russia, then resign. This is why the attacks are thick and fast!! So, come on knuckle down, it’s not antisemitic to criticise Israel for violations against Human Rights and it’s not antisemitic to criticise Zionists, for pushing their NWO!

  4. Dave Rowlands April 3, 2018 at 2:48 pm - Reply

    All those that continue to use false accusations for political reasons should be held accountable, including the media that tries hard to make people believe in the lies. Accusations without evidence, guilt without proof, seems to be the government way.

  5. John R April 3, 2018 at 3:24 pm - Reply

    I may well sound like a broken record but it has to be repeated until the penny drops.

    There is a very clear and distinct definition that must be understood and appreciated before any of this can be properly understood. Zionists are not interested in Judaism beyond using and abusing it as a device to acquire, own, assimilate, and ultimatelty expand their murderous cult and the lands belonging to others they’ve stolen and plan to keep stealing.

    The historic suffering of Jews has been used and exploited for material, political and financial gain by a criminal cult of political agitators and terrorists, Zionists. Historically nothing more than communist political agitators and terrorists, who succeeded in their Russian revolution, killed millions and exanded their cult to became a global malignancy.

    Norman Finkelstein, a most hated and vilified dissident Jew, as all who oppose the zionist cult and their distortions and lies are, is the son of holocaust survivors and has detailed the Zionist’s holocaust industry. Used to cynically exploit historic sufferring, in no small part caused by Zionists, to embezzle, misappropriate and acquire monies. Simultaneously peddling fear, used to align and assimilate global jewry in support of their murderous colonial expansion project built on and being expanded into others lands and resources

    Endless Zionist terrorism, war, occupation and annexation directed against the indigenous populations in Palestine and beyond, which began long before the great excuse, means that anyone, anywhere who opposes or dares to speak out and expose the expanding abomination, propped up with vast sums embezzled, syphoned and gifted from ignorant and brainwashed, sympathetic western taxpayers via political quislings and lickspittles in western governments and media, must be silenced.

    Since the disgraceful invention of the Zionist abomination, the process of instigating and fomenting hatred and violence against Jews has been relentless by the Zionists, it is their entire reason for being and used to fund, fortify and legitimise their murderous cult, the abomination and the many crimes they commit.

    Their enemies are all those who oppose the abomination, be they Jewish, especially Jewish, or not. For this reason and this reason alone JC has incurred their wrath and the wrath of all the useful idiots inside and outside the Labour party who toe the Zionist line, in just the same way anyone else in a prominent position who opposes the zionist cult and their murderous abomination have done and will continue to do so, until enough people wake up to what all this hysteria is really about.

  6. welcometothedarksideweb April 3, 2018 at 3:36 pm - Reply

    Just seen someone on FB claim that the “only credible Jewish left wing organisation is the Jewish Labour Movement”. Would this be the same “credible” organisation that invited people to a ‘safe space’ discussion of anti-semitism and the Holocaust and then recorded those discussions and leaked them to the press as evidence of antisemitism. Also, by claiming to be the “only” credible Jewish organisation does that not make them anti-semitic – the inference being that other Jewish groups (JVL were mentioned) are not credible and their opinions should be ignored?

  7. Karl Greenall April 3, 2018 at 4:12 pm - Reply

    Thanks for another excellent post, Mike. I hope that the new regime at the top of the Labour Party bureaucracy can stamp a new direction quickly. As ever, Jeremy’s opponents have completely overlooked his strength of character. They will never learn. The way things are now developing reminds me of the fate of Robespierre, who, after initiating the Terror in the French Revolution, eventually became a victim of Madame Guillotine as the Terror turned on him!

  8. Barry April 3, 2018 at 5:04 pm - Reply

    I must be thick, I didn’t realise you had to be right wing the able the Jewish but can’t be if you are left wing, or is this just more cobblers?

    • Mike Sivier April 3, 2018 at 7:54 pm - Reply

      Your comment seems to be, inasmuch as it doesn’t make any sense at all.
      Please clarify.

  9. Zippi April 3, 2018 at 7:12 pm - Reply

    I say, again; if we get rid of the concept of anti-Semitism, this won’t be able to happen! Anti-Semitism divides peoples and sets them at odds with each other. Racism allows people who are discriminated against, because of their race, to be treated as equals, which is what we want for all peoples, no? If we continue to treat different ethnic groups differently, we will end up in conflict with each other, that way we will be easier to pick off. Stop this unnecessary labelling, which fuels the politics of identity, which I though we were trying to avoid.

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