Let’s be clear: if you read the mainstream media claims that anti-semitism is a problem of both the Right and the Left, you are being hoodwinked. Anti-semitism is a right-wing problem full stop. The Left is not anti-semitic.
Since it is common amongst my friends on the Left to be sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian people, we object to the hostility of the current Right-wing Netanyahu regime, but not Israel itself. The establishment, however, like to minimize the complexity of these positions into a simple claim that many of us hate Jews.
Our views on the human rights abuses by the state of Israel against the Palestinians does not equate to anti-semitism.
The New York Times recently ran a front-page article on anti-semitism that was riddled with so many inaccuracies, the fact that it showed no real balance in its thesis was not even the main reason that it should not have been published. Under the headline “Extremes of Right and Left Share Ancient Bias,” the article goes on to list dozens of instances of real terror towards Jews perpetrated by people espousing global right-wing, white nationalist principles. Many of instances resulted in physical violence towards and murder of Jews.
In order to justify their inflammatory headline, they needed examples of left-wing extremes. They offered two examples:
- A few Gilet Jaunes protesters angrily ranting at a despicable, racist, right-wing philosopher, a vocal Zionist who happens to be Jewish.
- Tweets of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, for which she has apologized. (The New York Times has already needed to publish two retractions on factual errors in the way the reporter characterized Omar).
I’d love to ask the many who take the reporting of the New York Times as gospel: how can this be accepted as a reasonable parallel?
When a Conservative member of the UK parliament stood up and said that it would be disgraceful for the Government to allow the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a voice in Brexit negotiations because “he is a Marxist and anti-semite,” I was stunned by the idiocy of this statement. Those without historical blindness will recall that the U.S. McCarthy witch hunts largely targeted Jews under the catch-all of being Communist sympathizers. Many Jews were leaders in the socialist movement before McCarthy, Nixon, Reagan and Thatcher succeeded in silencing discussion on socialist principles.
Does anyone else see this tragic irony?
I have followed the so-called accusations of Mr. Corbyn and none of the reasons cited give me any reason to believe he hates Jews. To their disgrace, the British news services have seemed to give in to the repetition of the accusation and simply report it as if it were fact.
Rachel Riley is a TV gameshow presenter in the UK and she has been very vocal attacking the Left, because of the abuse she is getting on Twitter as she engages in an active campaign to discredit the Labour party for institutional anti-semitism. She is grossly misinformed, using her celebrity to spread lies, and actively asking people to leave the Labour Party. Well, for supporters of the Labour Party, Riley’s style of attack is incredibly personal. She is campaigning against the party fighting to improve the lives of workers, the NHS, and human rights to name a few of their priorities. These are life and death issues for many in the UK, where the situation has gotten gravely dire during the ten years of Conservative-inflicted austerity.
I image such matters of survival might not be issues of concern for someone with a privileged Essex upbringing. But Riley needs to accept that her campaign to discredit Labour is directly damaging people. And while targeting Labour, she is silent on the horrifying hate rhetoric of the British Right. She ignores the studies that show anti-semitism is much more prevalent in the Conservative Party, including its leaders. She has also aligned herself with groups using aggressively questionable and sometimes violent tactics.
Moreover, while publicizing her victimhood, Riley has been very irresponsible and borderline abusive herself. She fights to shutdown any who disagrees with her, not to engage or “inform”, but to silence. She has called Jewish dissident and one of the word’s leading intellectuals Noam Chomsky an anti-semite, and repeatedly did the same to any who challenge her false assertions, publicly naming people on Twitter. This included two incidents of teenage girls who have in turn been subject to death threats by Riley’s “supporters.”¹
- Riley was gleeful following an assault on Jeremy Corbyn a month ago, when he was punch in the head while meeting constituents.
- This is the same country in which Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a ‘Britain first’ white nationalist in 2016.²
- Just this week, British Army soldiers used a picture of Jeremy Corbyn for target practice.
Yet the British media continue to give her victimhood a platform without challenging the bias in her position.
Did Riley offer the Labour Leader an apology when she said Corbyn deserved the assault, or even take a moment to consider how she is contributing to this hate vitriol and possible outcomes because of it, if Ms. Cox’s murder is not a good enough example?
It’s very common for Left wing politicians to be the target of smear by establishment media. After all, the establishment benefit from the status quo and fear changes proposed by the Left—they have a clear interest to vilify anyone on the Left, and it seems that rhetoric once uttered becomes a truth, and is repeated, and repeated.³ This is why we have to stop this discussion now. The Left wing is NOT anti-semitic. These claims are nothing short of simple McCarthyism to discredit dissent.
² https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/16/labour-mp-jo-cox-shot-in-west-yorkshire
³ As an aside: if you are an NYT reader, do not read the racist rhetoric of Bret Stephens. It is a disgrace that the NYT would publish his propaganda.
sunnyingeneva 