Stating, “I Lost 39 Members of My Family in the Holocaust, Jeremy Corbyn is No Antisemite” Andrew Feinstein’s Video makes a passionate statement in Corbyn’s defence. In the Counterfire Article entitled, “Defend Corbyn: Counterfire statement on Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension,” they try to rally, “The whole of the left must unite to defend Jeremy Corbyn from this outrageous attack.” They insisted “We strongly condemn the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party pending investigation. This is an outrageous attack on the whole left. The EHRC report published today does not uphold claims that Labour under his leadership was institutionally antisemitic and provides no justification for this action taken against him. Jeremy Corbyn’s statement in response to the report which is being used as the justification for his suspension clearly acknowledges that there is antisemitism in the Labour Party but that ‘the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents’.” This is backed up by solid evidence.
Counterfire contend that, “The decision to suspend him only clarifies further that allegations of antisemitism have been weaponised to attack Jeremy Corbyn and the left, and that Keir Starmer’s leadership is trying to bury the legacy of Corbynism and the left in the party. The whole of the left must unite to defend Jeremy Corbyn, a life-long anti-racist, from this witch-hunt. The task is obviously to organise and defend the Corbyn movement. But equally obviously it cannot limit itself to an internal Labour Party operation. It has to be the whole progressive social movement and trade union movement. This is where Corbynism came from, this is its best defence.”
In the Counterfire Article entitled, “EHRC report: a green light for further attacks on Corbyn and the left which must be resisted,” there was a sence of bracing for the coming onslaught. In Lindsey German’s statement, posted ahead of the EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party, he warned, “We will know shortly the results of the report by the EHRC into antisemitism in the Labour Party. The rumour is that it will not be too critical of individuals but will use ‘strong language’ in its conclusions. Keir Starmer has already said he will accept its conclusions – which may include complaints being dealt with by a body outside of the party, an incredible concession for any organisation to make. We should examine these claims closely before accepting them. Whatever the exact phrasing of the report, we all know that criticisms will focus on one man, Jeremy Corbyn, and some of his closest advisers. This will be a green light for further attacks on Corbyn and the left which must be resisted.”
In a move that is classically against procedural norms regarding Corbyn’s right of rebuttal Counterfire say that, “Already he has been refused early sight of the report, which is almost unprecedented (those named in the Chilcot report had weeks to digest it and prepare their defences). Jeremy Corbyn will find out about it at the same time as the rest of us. This is only one small aspect of a process which has been utterly unedifying from start to finish.” They say that, “The EHRC itself has the power to investigate especially where equality law has been broken, but to the best of my knowledge has never investigated a political party. Indeed it decided earlier this year not to investigate the Tories over Islamophobia, despite numerous instances of remarks by elected representatives and a poll which showed widespread Islamophobia among Tory members.” ‘One rule for them’ protects the Tories from scrutiny’ they control the funding of EHRC so it would be unwise to bite the hand that feeds…
In the day EHRC published the report Counterfire stated that, “Today is about giving official imprimatur to the idea that Labour under Corbyn was antisemitic. It is a lie, but one which has been established through constant repetition, highlighted in a mainstream media which routinely perpetrates racist myths, including about Jews, and viciously weaponised by Labour’s right. Antisemitism in Labour existed and still exists, but it was a problem with a small minority of members. Much of the complaints concerned individuals who weren’t members of the Labour Party, and over whom it had no control. Dealing with it was often slow, but improved when Jenny Formby became general secretary, and was, I know, taken seriously by those in and around the leadership. Shami Chakrabati produced a serious report to try to deal with it.”
Counterfire point out the mistakes the progressive Left should have seen coming saying, “The issue was used as a political attack from the beginning, and the Labour left’s mistake was not always to see this or to deal with it. The adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism was a mistake, and was used to further attack the left and raise many charges against them which were found to be without foundation. The left is further constrained from speaking out about this report as it may lead to their expulsion from Labour.” Once again all discussion of a very contentious issue has been prohibited by threats of discipline just as it was when Starmer squandered Party funds making an unwarranted legal settlement with liars! But they say, “We should be clear on what the whole process was about. The very real fear of and opposition to antisemitism was used to weaken the left in general and to prevent speaking out in solidarity with the Palestinians. It is not the left which has equated criticism of Israel with antisemitism, it is the right.”
Counterfire say that, “Opposition to antisemitism, an awareness of the devastating scale of the Holocaust and its impact on Jewish people worldwide, and a recognition of the importance of the Jewish political and cultural contribution to our society are essential for any socialist. Such views do not prevent us from showing solidarity with the Palestinians or criticising the state of Israel. Indeed we have to be able to do all these things. This issue has been weaponised by some to prevent that solidarity and that criticism, but they will not succeed. They will not succeed in silencing Jeremy Corbyn either.” Lindsey German unequivocally proclaims, “My solidarity with him today. He has always been against all racism and in support of Palestinian rights. It shows what a twisted world we live in that someone with such a record should be calumnied in this way. The left needs to stand up and be counted here.”
Other prominent figures are voicing their outrage, rushing to Corbyn’s defence and impressing on us the danger now faced by the progressive Left movement that he led. Today former Labour MP Chris Williamson, a victim of the Labour fantisemitism witch-hunt who was targeted in the EHRC Report, has posted his response to EHRC’s investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Williamson reports that, “Last year, the so-called Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced it was investigating the Labour Party’s handling of anti-Semitism, and they subsequently decided to name me in their draft report. Today, I am pleased to say that, despite an intense campaign of vilification against me, the EHRC has determined that I did not contribute towards ‘unlawful harassment related to Jewish ethnicity’ by the Labour Party. This is despite the fact that the Commission desperately attempted to cobble together such a finding, and initially included an assortment of risible and offensive comments about me.”
Williamson says that, “Although the EHRC still includes some references to me, it is obvious that they have failed in their attempted witch-hunt, even though they had huge establishment backing. Thanks to the incredible support of our grassroots movement, I was able to assemble a top legal team, which exposed the draft report’s monumental flaws. The revised report acknowledges that I ‘successfully challenged’ my unlawful re-suspension from the Labour Party in the High Court last year. The Commission was also compelled to find that the Party’s disciplinary process against me was ‘influenced by external events’ and subject to ‘political interference’.” These statements from EHRC clearly show that those who vigorously fight-back and robustly defend themselves against unjust claims will force spurious accusations to be dropped because they are indefensible in a Court of law. This has been the single greatest failure of Jeremy Corbyn ‘turn the other cheek’ appeasement does not halt those intent on your destruction.
Williamson proudly states that, “This outcome is a vindication of my longstanding record of standing up to racism, which stretches all the way back to the 1970s when I joined the Anti-Nazi League. And as a young apprentice bricklayer, I regularly risked my own personal safety by confronting casual racism on building sites. Furthermore, under my leadership, Derby City Council became one of the first local authorities in the country to formally commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. I am therefore pleased that my commitment to anti-racism could not be impugned, despite the EHRC’s efforts.” His protestations serve to emphasize the massive injustice of vile defamation that Corbyn, Jackie Walker and so many other anti-racists have suffered defamatory persecution in the witch-hunt targeting the progressive Labour Left. This was at the behest of the racist apartheid Government of Israel’s aggressive campaign to eliminate all criticism of their targeted ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as they seek to steal and settle their land.
Williamson states that, “Nevertheless, the justification behind this report is a travesty, and it is essential to understand the function it serves. The EHRC launched its investigation following ceaseless lobbying efforts by two anti-Corbyn and pro-Israel outfits, the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA). To many of us, the motivations were clear: this was an attempt by Zionists and other racists to weaponise anti-Semitism in order to criminalise anti-Zionists and left-wing Jews. It also served another purpose, which was to help derail the Party’s pro-Palestinian leadership, after it had rocked the British establishment when it came tantalisingly close to winning office in 2017. These cynical motivations were facilitated by the EHRC, which itself has been the subject of repeated controversy.”
Williamson correctly claims that, “The Commission has allegedly discriminated against its Black, Muslim, and disabled staff, and many of its Commissioners have links to the Conservative Party (as well as being affected by seemingly endless other conflicts of interest). I had, therefore, anticipated the EHRC would include me in their investigation. After all, I had been a wholehearted supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and had already been subjected to a vociferous smear campaign by the Conservatives, the Israel lobby, and opponents of greater democracy in the Labour Party.”
Williamson points to his, “…opposition to the anti-Palestinian IHRA ‘working definition’ of anti-Semitism – and my support for anti-Zionists and left-wing Jews who had been hounded out of the Party – had brought down an avalanche of smears on me. This smear campaign was not merely an attempt to damage my reputation and unseat me from office, it was also designed to make an example out of me to anti-Zionists everywhere. This Zionist strategy, which takes a maximalist and belligerent approach in its defence of the State of Israel, has largely worked. Many people have been paralysed by the fear of being labelled an ‘anti-Semite’, and deterred from speaking up for Palestinians or even voicing the most basic truths about the ‘anti-Semitism crisis’. It is important to understand the Commission’s investigation in the context of this wider Zionist strategy which, in this instance, saw an arm of the state – the EHRC – being co-opted to serve their perverse aims.”
Williamson asserts that, “The EHRC’s report is an astonishing document, and is flawed in several ways. Firstly, it fails to even consider the approach and motivations of the CAA as a complainant, and the resultant impact on the credibility of the material submitted on its behalf. The CAA has not been shy about making its political motivations clear, and their conduct has been suspect to say the least. In 2018, the Charity Commission required the CAA to amend a petition calling for Jeremy Corbyn to resign. They responded to this by amending the petition title to ‘Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite and is unfit to hold any public office’. The Charity Commission is also investigating the CAA about its campaigning during the 2019 general election and comments made afterwards.” Legitimate Registered Charities are expected to remain apolitical so any publically declared support of a political party or appeal to dissuade voting for a political party violates their charter.
Williamson elaborates regarding their most rabid protagonist, “Joe Glasman, Head of Political and Government Investigations at the CAA, posted a https://www.facebook.com/electronicintifada/videos/524507598192800/ message after the 2019 general election. He offered his personal thanks to ‘every single person out there who actively resisted the anti-Semitism of Corbyn and the Labour Party and say well done – mazel tov – […] the beast is slain’. He also described Corbyn as being ‘slaughtered’. Moreover, the CAA may have committed data protection breaches through its evidence-gathering measures, but all these facts appear to have been disregarded by the Commission.” For EHRC to have openly accepted the accusations of an individual with such clearly professed political motivations to defame and destroy a despised opponent, demonstrates appallingly bad judgement with an investigation built on hate speech. Not exactly a shining example of ‘Equality’ or the protection of ‘Human Rights’ which is why the EHRC must be robustly challenged.
Williamson points out how EHRC have strayed well beyond their remit to define issues that are not within their purview to define. He says, “Throughout the report, the EHRC has drawn conclusions on what is and is not anti-Semitic, in circumstances where it has no legal power to do so. In addition, the Commission fails to give a definition of anti-Semitism in the report itself, and seems to proceed from the assumption that anything it considers to be anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism. This attempt by the Commission to go beyond its own statutory powers illustrates the McCarthyite nature of the report, which has seemingly twisted established legal norms in order to reach predetermined conclusions.” This overreach would be impossible to defend in a Court of law and EHRC must be hoping that they have discreetly averted Chris Williamson’s threatened Judicial Review. I certainly hope that he proceeds or is at least instrumental in persuading other targeted Labour members to do so, as this is urgently needed to restore justice.
Williamson highlights the fact that, “The EHRC also omits one of the most crucial factors in how anti-Semitism complaints have been dealt with in the Party: internal factionalism. The report speaks about ‘a failure of leadership’ but does not properly explore the systematic attacks levelled from within the Party against Jeremy Corbyn. The leaked Labour report from earlier this year laid bare, for all to see, the extent of duplicity and scheming against the Corbyn leadership, including the weaponisation of anti-Semitism. Yet, the Commission does not factor this into its conclusions.” Although Captain of Capitulation, Labour’s new Leader Keir Starmer refused to submit the internal report, as commissioned in direct response to a request from EHRC, they received a full unredacted copy from Craig Murray. Aside from the factional sabotage documented in the leaked report, Starmer’s dire reluctance to include this evidence should have aroused extreme suspicion; although submitted by a third party it was still valid evidence.
Considering the huge membership of the Labour Party, the largest Socialist Party in Europe, Williamson also questions the tiny sample of cases as not representational. He says, “On top of this – despite cries about ‘institutional anti-Semitism’, a ‘crisis’, and a supposed ‘existential threat to British Jews’ – the EHRC bases its report on a miniscule sample of 70 complaint investigation files made over a three-year period. The Commission’s unlawful act notice is based on tenuous examples of ‘indirect discrimination’, as well as the comments of a retired and elderly politician and four other individuals occupying low-level roles whose existence is probably unknown to most of the general public. Whilst I imagine this report will in many ways be a disappointment to the Israel lobby, and anticlimactic for everyone else, it has ultimately served its purpose. It has played a vital role in delegitimizing socialists in the Party, and will now function to encourage the permanent Zionist assault on all those who oppose them.”
In the Skwawkbox Article entitled, “So which is it, Keir? Was suspending Corbyn Evans’s decision – or YOUR ‘difficult decision’ and ‘leadership’?” It is a fair question and one that requires answering honestly as they say, “Keir Starmer can’t seem to make his mind up. On the BBC’s Marr show this morning, he insisted that the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn last week was made by general secretary David Evans – and that the EHRC report forbids Labour’s political leadership from interfering. But on the radio, while he repeated the Evans line initially, when he was offered a chance to boast about how the suspension would be a defining moment (he likes moments) in his tenure, he couldn’t resist, claiming that: ‘I’m not going to shy away from difficult decisions. That’s what leadership is, difficult decisions. We made a very difficult decision.’ So which was it, Keir? Was it you? Was it Evans? Was it ‘we’? Didn’t you really just do what the EHRC says is forbidden and influence a disciplinary decision?“ The public demand to know!
Skwawkbox also point out another really inconvenient fact, that, “the EHRC say that Corbyn has a legally-protected right to say what he said anyway?” Starmer is too cowardly to admit that he had been plotting Corbyn’s shameful demise since the second he managed to con Labour members into voting for him as the ‘unity candidate!’ Just like Boris Johnson he will make false promises, lie and throw anyone who stands in the way of his naked ambition under the bus. Tories chose wisely when were seeking a Trojan horse to destroy the Labour Party from within on their behalf! The progressive Left Labour movement has been forced into retreat, coerced into bit just accepting but endorsing the Tory propaganda that has enabled the Tories to cling to power since the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. The result was not just dubious but totally unfathomable, but it has remained unchallenged emboldening those who used industrial scale fraud to steal the vote. Enough is enough, we must demand a Investigation into the stolen Election. As Williamson says, “Now is the time to fight back.” DO NOT MOVE ON!