{"id":176244,"date":"2018-09-13T04:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T04:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=176244"},"modified":"2018-09-15T03:45:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T03:45:04","slug":"how-israels-bogus-definition-of-anti-semitism-shuts-down-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=176244","title":{"rendered":"How Israel\u2019s bogus definition of anti-Semitism shuts down free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Garside — The Electronic Intifada Sept 12, 2018<\/h1>\n
\"Jewish<\/a>

Jewish Chronicle front page on 20 July 2018. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

The fierce campaign to cajole, bully and shame the UK Labour Party into adopting a controversial definition of anti-Semitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) \u2013 along with its 11 working examples \u2013 has been waged all summer long by pro-Israel lobby groups inside and outside the party.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has finally come to a head with Labour\u2019s official acceptance<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>of the document at a meeting of its ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on 4 September.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most insidious tactics employed by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) \u2013 the two organized vocal Zionist campaign groups inside the Labour Party \u2013 has been to claim it is an innocuous and uncontroversial document.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is, in the words<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of John Mann<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a Labour parliamentarian and arch critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, a \u201cvery humdrum, mundane definition of anti-Semitism that left parties across the world have been happy to accept along with everyone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It would have no impact on the right to campaign for Palestinians, Mann has maintained<\/a><\/strong><\/span> as, after all, the IHRA \u201chas got absolutely nothing to do with the rights of Palestinians \u2026 It\u2019s got to do with abuse, attacks and racism against Jewish people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This lie has been repeated time and again. Labour Friends of Israel lawmaker Jess Phillips \u2013 who once infamously laughed about \u201cstabbing\u201d Corby<\/strong><\/span>n<\/a> \u201cin the front\u201d \u2013 also flippantly waved away<\/a><\/strong><\/span> any free speech concerns before the crucial NEC vote:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want the IHRA adopted in full. I think the current Israeli government are racist [sic] who are currently doing all they can at home and with their allies in the US to isolate and cripple Palestinian lives to the point of both hopelessness and retaliation. Look how easy that was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Influential pro-Israel commentators in the mainstream media have been happy to peddle this dishonesty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s<\/em> Jonathan Freedland<\/a><\/strong><\/span> said the charge<\/a> that \u201cthe IHRA conflates legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism \u2026 makes plenty of Jews want to slam their heads on their desks in frustration.\u201d You can, he argued, \u201cif you want, say everything the state of Israel has done since its birth has been racist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Against free speech<\/h2>\n

Suddenly, things have changed. The decision of the NEC to adopt the IHRA definition and examples in full on 4 September while at the same time issuing a statement claiming that those examples will not stop criticism of Israel has brought howls of outrage from the Jewish Labour Movement<\/a>,<\/span> Labour Friends of Israel<\/a> <\/strong>and their supporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

First out of the block, cautiously, was Margaret Hodge, the Labour member of Parliament and former minister who reserves for herself the free speech right to call her elected leader<\/a><\/strong><\/span> a \u201cfucking racist and anti-Semite\u201d without providing any evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The free speech clarification was, she said<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, \u201can unnecessary qualification\u201d that would only \u201cdilute\u201d the adoption of the IHRA examples. It was \u201ctwo steps forward and one step back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More stridently, Simon Johnson, the Jewish Leadership Council<\/strong><\/span>\u2019s<\/a> chief executive, said the free speech caveat \u201cdrives a coach and horses\u201d through the IHRA definition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour Friends of Israel director Jennifer Gerber<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>also waded in<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, calling the NEC\u2019s free speech clarification an \u201cappalling\u201d measure which \u201ctotally undermines the other examples the party has supposedly just adopted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish Leadership Council and Labour Friends of Israel are of course right for once. The IHRA and free speech are \u2013 contrary to the pre-vote dishonesty of the Corbyn haters \u2013 completely incompatible.<\/span><\/p>\n

This much has long been established by independent legal experts<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and affirmed<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by parliament\u2019s cross-party home affairs committee which looked at the issue in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

This stunning about-turn on the compatibility of free speech and the IHRA definition would be amusing if it was not so offensive to the intellect. The IHRA definition clearly attempts to police the discursive boundaries of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a way that places core, foundational issues off-limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

For sure, under it, one can still criticize elements of Israeli government policy and actions. What one cannot do is identify Israel as a racist, settler-colonial project<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the original sin of which was to ethnically cleanse the indigenous population of Palestine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soft Zionist commentators such as Jonathan Freedland can, under the IHRA framework, continue to offer up liberal criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warm-sounding platitudes on the need for a two-state solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Questioning Israel\u2019s claims of a moral and legal right to exist as a Jewish ethnocracy, which denies the right of Palestinian refugees to return, is a different matter altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rays of hope<\/h2>\n

So where does the NEC\u2019s capitulation over the IHRA definition leave the cause of Palestine in the party? After the despair of the vote, it is just possible to discern rays of hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, it would be foolish in the extreme if the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel thought full adoption of the IHRA definition provided an automatic mechanism for a war on pro-Palestine activists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside the ranks of Labour Zionists, the frantic demands over IHRA and the anti-Semitism story have been propelled more by hostility to Corbyn\u2019s leadership and his wider progressive agenda than sentimental attachment to Israel or a principled commitment to fighting anti-Jewish racism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another key variable is the balance of forces in the party beyond parliament and elite political circles, which are strongly in the left\u2019s favor. There has always been far more skepticism of the anti-Semitism hysteria in Labour\u2019s membership \u2013 which has resoundingly elected Corbyn twice \u2013 than has been reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research in March by respected private pollsters YouGov found that 77 percent<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>of responding party members believed the anti-Semitism crisis has been manufactured or exaggerated.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, for all but the most hardcore anti-Corbynites \u2013 now openly threatenin<\/strong><\/span>g<\/a> to split the party \u2013 there is a desire to move on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Transparent attempts to use Labour\u2019s revised code of conduct against Palestine solidarity activists risks antagonizing layers of the party hitherto receptive to the claims made by the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

It could backfire spectacularly<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, the most dramatic evidence of a fightback against Labour\u2019s Israel lobby and the war on Corbyn came within days of the NEC meeting; the no-confidence vote<\/a> by Enfield North Labour Party against Labour Friends of Israel chair and member of Parliament Joan Ryan for \u201csmearing\u201d the Labour leader and \u201cinflaming\u201d his \u201ctrial by media.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The timing of the vote is hugely significant. It comes as the left\u2019s campaign to ensure all sitting Labour MPs face compulsory reselection from local parties \u2013 driven by the relentless attacks on Corbyn \u2013 gains strength. This would mean that a member of Parliament has to win a nomination in a potentially contested primary among party members, rather than automatically being chosen as Labour\u2019s candidate before every general election.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also grounds for pessimism. The move against Ryan does not negate the most likely immediate impact of the IHRA definition\u2019s full adoption: self-censorship. Having a disciplinary rulebook that now conflates anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism can only have a chilling effect on all but the boldest and committed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Corbyn has done little to alleviate anxiety over the code. At the time of its adoption, he made a commendable effort<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to secure a more robust free speech guarantee than actually agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, he has uncritically accepted the lobby\u2019s narrative that there is a major \u201canti-Semitism crisis\u201d in the Labour Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

No time for defensiveness<\/h2>\n

Worse, given the space that has opened up in the mainstream media to talk about Israel, Palestine and Zionism since being elected in 2015, Corbyn has squandered countless opportunities to reframe the debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an example, when recently attacked for saying that a certain group of Zionists present had lacked a sense of irony at a 2013 meeting, Corbyn offered the most minimal<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, unhelpful defense that he used the term \u201cin the accurate political sense and not as a euphemism for Jewish people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Where was the attempt to talk about Zionism? Where was the story of historic and continuing Palestinian dispossession? These maddening silences do nothing to arrest the lobby\u2019s offensive or further the cause of Palestine beyond those already convinced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Continued apologetics after the adoption of the IHRA definition will leave members dangerously exposed and cement self-censorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thwarting the cause of Palestine in the party is for the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel a war without end. It can only be repelled by a muscular, vigorous counternarrative, one based on unqualified support for the Palestinian cause and emphatic denunciation of Israel\u2019s past and present crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

This much was evident before the NEC vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

Margaret Hodge said Labour\u2019s adoption of all IHRA examples on Israel would no longer satisfy her, only Corbyn\u2019s removal<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, Stephen Kinnock, another Labour parliamentary enemy, demanded a show of \u201cremorse\u201d<\/a> f<\/strong><\/span>rom Corbyn at the upcoming Labour Party conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

This echoes former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks\u2019 arrogant demand<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>that Corbyn \u201crepents and recants\u201d for past Palestine campaigning associations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensiveness will no longer do. Minutes after the NEC meeting Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, told Channel 4 News he expects all Labour members who describe Israel as a \u201cracist endeavor\u201d to be subject to automatic disciplinary proceedings \u2013 regardless of any caveats the party has contrived.<\/span><\/p>\n

When pressed if this was so, Tom Watson, NEC member and deputy party leader, cryptically said<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, \u201cthe caveat is what it says \u2013 you can make your own mind up about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson\u2019s response betrays the fundamental unsustainability of the NEC\u2019s linguistic contortion.<\/span><\/p>\n

As members of Labour\u2019s Israel lobby now admit, inside the party either free speech or the IHRA\u2019s \u201cworking definition\u201d of anti-Semitism will have to give way.<\/span><\/p>\n

We must make sure it\u2019s the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steven Garside is a member of the UK Labour Party and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. This article is written in a personal capacity<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the new definition of “anti-Semitism” ANY Labour members who describes Israel as a \u201cracist endeavour\u201d will be subject to automatic disciplinary proceedings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=176244"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176251,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176244\/revisions\/176251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=176244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=176244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=176244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}