{"id":185828,"date":"2019-03-27T06:57:03","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T06:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=185828"},"modified":"2019-03-29T07:50:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T07:50:38","slug":"while-all-eyes-were-on-chequers-a-tig-mp-travelled-3000-miles-to-smear-jeremy-corbyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=185828","title":{"rendered":"While all eyes were on Chequers, a TIG MP travelled 3,000 miles to smear Jeremy Corbyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tracy Keeling \u2013 The Canary March 25, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Joan Ryan. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

While the Brexit chaos continued at Chequers on 24 March, an Independent Group (TIG) MP travelled over 3,000 miles to smear Jeremy Corbyn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) chair<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>Joan Ryan spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee\u2019s (AIPAC) 2019 conference in Washington, DC. During her contribution, she repeated a weak and debunked smear about the Labour leader to the 18,000-strong audience<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. She was also very candid about the issue she has with Labour\u2019s current direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the choir<\/h2>\n

AIPAC is a powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the US. This year, a number of progressive politicians decided not to attend its conference. Bernie Sanders\u2019 policy director Josh Orton said<\/a><\/strong><\/span> he wouldn\u2019t attend because it platforms \u201cleaders who have expressed bigotry and oppose a two-state solution\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ryan, however, said<\/a><\/strong><\/span> she was \u201cproud\u201d to attend as a \u201cZionist\u201d who\u2019s a \u201cstaunch supporter of the world\u2019s only Jewish state\u201d. But the MP tried to paint a dire picture of the party she\u2019s just left to the adoring crowd. She said<\/a><\/strong><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Over the past four years, Britain\u2019s Labour Party\u2026 has been transformed”.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Labour, Ryan asserted, has been \u201ctaken over by the far left\u201d and is \u201criddled with antisemitism\u201d. She claimed it\u2019s no longer a \u201cclose friend of Israel\u201d, but \u201cnow seeks to demonise and delegitimise\u201d the state. Ryan also claimed<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0the party is now led by someone who:<\/span><\/p>\n

“proudly declares Hamas and Hezbollah to be his friends.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A tabloid smear<\/h2>\n

Corbyn has tackled and debunked this smear against him on a number of occasions. As Corbyn has explained<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, he used the word \u2018friends\u2019 to describe Hamas and Hezbollah during a meeting in parliament. This was \u201cinclusive language<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u201c, chosen to encourage dialogue about the peace process.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a fiery 2015 interview on Channel 4 News<\/em>, Corbyn also said the media\u2019s obsession with the word \u201cfriends\u201d was an attempt to \u201ctrivialise\u201d the issue of how peace can be achieved in the Middle East. He accused Krishnan Guru-Murthy of doing \u201ctabloid journalism\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n