The Inquiry Was Set Up at the Instigation of Racists - Labour should have told the EHRC to Investigate the Windrush Scandal and the Hostile Environment Policy
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| This is an example of the CAA's racism |
The so-called investigation by the Equalities & Human Rights Commission into Labour ‘anti-Semitism’ is a direct political attack on the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party. Never, not once, has the EHRC campaigned against state racism. It did nothing about the Windrush scandal, the hostile environment policy, the detention of migrants or any other form of state racism. The EHRC is a useless body which acts as a soft cop.
It is no wonder that Gideon Falter of the far-Right Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, an organisation set up in 2014 at the height of Operation Protective Edge, with the express purpose of labelling opposition to Israel’s campaign of mass murder as ‘anti-Semitic’ was crowing about his success.
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| A sample of the 317 articles attacking Corbyn on the CAA site |
Ever since Corbyn was elected as Labour leader the CAA has made it its prime objective to remove him as leader. At the time of writing there are no less than 317 articles on its website attacking Corbyn.
By way of contrast there were just 10 references to the BNP, nearly all which were in passing and 11 references to the EDL, again nearly all of which were in passing. There was just one reference to Tommy Robinson and that was not about him. But since Robinson-Yaxley Lennon is overtly pro-Israel the CAA has no interest in him.
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| If this were a Jew then it would undoubtedly be called anti-semitic |
Falter didn’t disguise what his agenda was. He was reported in the Guardian as saying that Labour ‘has now become a home for hatred in British politics’ and that the Labour Party ‘now finds itself in the company of the BNP’. Falter went on to say that ‘Jeremy Corbyn himself is an antisemite and unfit for any public office, and though few have acted, most Labour MPs seem to agree with us.”
The CAA is the body that the EHRC has listened to and it beggars belief that Corbyn’s office and the Labour Left, including what's left of Momentum have not yet woken up to the danger of this politically inspired attack on Corbyn’s leadership.
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| One of the CAA's Islamaphobic patrons |
As far as the CAA is concerned, any support for the Palestinians is, by definition, ‘anti-Semitic’. You would search in vain for any criticism ever of anything Israel does to the Palestinians. The CAA however never hesitates to attack the Palestinians and their organisations as ‘anti-Semitic’.
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| The CAA have shown no interest in the anti-Soros antisemitic campaign |
When Netanyahu’s ex-aide, Aviv Bushinsky called the American Ambassador Dan Shapiro, a ‘Jew boy’ the CAA refused to say anything despite me mailing them twice.
Even the timid and cautious Palestine Solidarity Campaign is demonisedas ‘anti-Semitic’ by the CAA. Yet if there is any group that deserves to be investigated it is the CAA itself which is virulently Islamaphobic.
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| This racist pamphlet is no longer available on the CAA site |
In its Report British Muslims and Anti-Semitism (the full version of which is no longer on the CAA’s website) they deliberately do their best to stir up Jewish-Muslim tensions. Accompanied by an openly racist stereotype of a Muslim the CAA wrote:
‘building bridges with British Muslims has become the focus of outreach work by British Jews.... the gradual buildup of understanding and friendship between Britain’s Jews and Muslims has been utterly eclipsed by growing antisemitism amongst British Muslims. On every single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British population to hold deeply antisemitic views. It is clear that many British Muslims reserve a special hatred for British Jews, rating Jews much less favourably than people of other religions or no religion, yet astonishingly British Muslims largely do not recognise antisemitism as a major problem.
It has long been suspected that sections of the British Muslim population harboured hatred towards British Jews. This survey goes some way to identifying pockets of prejudice, but it also shows that the prejudice is horrifyingly widespread.’
This was no less than a call to arms. The CAA then went on to indulge in what, in any other circumstances, would be described as stereotyping:
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| It would be interesting to see a poll by Jewish people on their attitude to Muslims! |
‘Antisemitic British Muslims are more likely to be men, to be older than 35, to be social renters, to be in employment, to have been born outside Britain, to live south of the Midlands in England, or in Scotland, and they are overwhelmingly likely to sympathise with terrorism, violence and extremism.’
In 2015 the CAA conducted a thoroughly unscientific poll of British Jews in order to find ‘proof’ that most Jews were thinking about leaving Britain for Israel. It found that:
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| Even the right-wing Jewish Chronicle crossed swords with the CAA over their absurd proposition that nearly half British jews were thinking of leaving |
The CAA also conducted a thoroughly unscientific poll of British Jews in order to find ‘proof’ for the Zionist wish that ‘anti-Semitism’ was that bad that most Jews were thinking about leaving Britain for Israel. It found that:
· 58% of Jews believed that they had no future in Europe.
· More than half of all British Jews feel that antisemitism now echoes the 1930s
· 1 in 4 British Jews has considered leaving the country in the past two years because of rising antisemitism.
· 45% of Jews questioned feel their family is threatened by Islamist extremism.
· 77% of Jews questioned have witnessed antisemitism disguised as a political comment about Israel.
· 84% of Jews consider boycotts of businesses selling Israeli products to be intimidation and 82% say that media bias against Israel fuels persecution of Jews in Britain.
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| The clear implication of this photograph is that all or most Muslims support Hitler's final solution |
These were loaded questions putting ideas in the heads of people in order to gain an answer. No attempt was made to put countervailing opinions to the audience. For example it would have been equally possible to put a question such as ‘Is it legitimate to boycott settlement goods in order to pressurise Israel into a political settlement?
Even the Jewish Chronicle of 14.1.15. poured cold water on these ‘findings’ with its own Survation poll. JC poll reveals 88 per cent of British Jews have not considered leaving UK
The CAA poll was junk but it had served to attract the headlines and make Jewish people feel more nervous about their position in this country. Zionism is nothing if it isn’t based around the idea of getting Jews to feel insecure in their own country in order that they emigrate to Israel.
The CAA had an agenda and conducted an opinion poll with the intention of getting people to say what CAA wanted to hear. As a letterfrom 33 Jewish people in the Guardian the following week made clear ‘Accusing critics of Israel and Zionism of antisemitism merely devalues the currency.’
The Institute of Jewish Policy Research’s ‘Researching antisemitism’ [14 Jan 2015] was damning in its criticisms of the CAA’s findings concerning Jewish attitudes. It said:
‘unfortunately, the organisation’s survey about antisemitism is littered with flaws,… its work may even be rather irresponsible.’ It was ‘based on an open web survey that had very limited capacity to assess whether respondents were in any way representative of the British Jewish population. So the percentages quoted are of survey respondents, not of Jews in the UK. The findings might be representative of the Jewish community in some way, but it is at least equally likely that they are not. Unfortunately, due to quite basic methodological flaws and weaknesses, there is absolutely no way the researchers or any readers of the report can really know.
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| The CAA routinely fiddle their figures knowing that the lazy right-wing British press will never call them out |
The IJPR stated that the claim in the report that “more than half of all British Jews feel that antisemitism now echoes the 1930s” verges into irresponsible territory – it is an incendiary finding, and there is simply no way to ascertain whether or not it is accurate.’ It conclusions were damning: ‘Professional social researchers build credible surveys and analyse the data with an open mind; the CAA survey falls short both in terms of its methodology and its analysis.’
For the IJPR this was a damning criticism. Regarding the Yougov survey into the attitudes of British people, which the CAS tried to spin the JPR said this:
‘A far more accurate and honest read of the YouGov data would highlight the fact that between 75% and 90% of people in Britain either do not hold antisemitic views or have no particular view of Jews either way, and only about 4% to 5% of people can be characterised as clearly antisemitic when looking at individual measures of antisemitism.’
Which was somewhat different to the CAA claim that nearly half of British people were anti-Semitic.
Such is the CAA’s Islamaphobia that they even attacked ‘Hope not Hate’ a group which had Ruth Smeeth MP as its Deputy Director. In an article Hope Not Hate condemns those who fight Islamist extremismthe CAA attack HnH for its report on “The Counter-Jihad Movement: Anti-Muslim hatred from the margins to the mainstream”.
The CAA agree with those like Melanie Phillips who deny the very existence of anti-Muslim racism. They belong to the far-Right of politics and the so-called Equality and Human Rights Commission have swallowed their bait, hook, line and sinker.
Why the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism Cannot Be Trusted
There are three examples which prove, conclusively that the CAA are not an anti-racist but a pro-Zionist group.
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| This post accusing Jackie Walker of being a Holocaust justifier was quickly withdrawn once they realised that her quote was by Israel's first PM Ben Gurion! The MSM never ever mention this and similar incidents! |
1. The Case of Jackie Walker
Jackie Walker is a Black-Jewish anti-racist activist, a former Vice-Chair of Momentum, who has been demonised by the Zionist movement. Both the CAA and the Jewish Labour Movement, the other group involved in complaining to the EHRC are guilty of this.
On 7th February the CAA put up a post Jackie Walker has now posted a text on Facebook which asks whether Hitler can be blamed for the the (sic!) Holocaust, and leaves open the possibility that he was justified.’ This was widely circulated on Twitter.What was this text?
‘If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal. We have taken their country. It is true G-d promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our G-d is not theirs. There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?’
It is difficult to understand the mental gymnastics which led to the above statement being interpreted either as a denial of Hitler’s responsibility for the Holocaust still less Holocaust justification.
What the CAA did not realise was that the quote came from The Jewish Paradox by Nahum Goldmann, founderand first President of the World Jewish Congress and President of the World Zionist Organisation! He in turn was quoting David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister. Ben Gurion was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of ¾ million Palestinians but even he understood why the Palestinians rejected Zionism and their argument that what Hitler had done was not their fault. But to the CAA any attempt to understand the Palestinian or Arab point of view is anathema.
When they realised their mistake the CAA quickly removed the article. No apology was ever offered to Jackie Walker.
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| This viciously racist article went up on the CAA site and is still there - with Expel being highlighted in red and a deliberately dark background being chosen to make Malakha appear sinister |
2. Malaka Shwaikh Mohammed,
Malaka, a 26 year old Ph. D. Student at Exeter University was an ideal target for the CAA, despite her involvement in anti-fascist and anti-racist work. Malaka came from Gaza. She was traumatised by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when 66 of her family and friends were murdered.
The CAA engaged with Malaka in their normal courteous style. One post was headed Exeter students invite terrorist-supporting antisemite to reassure Jewish students after spate of antisemitism. It was accompanied by a video titled ‘Expel Malakha Schwaikh’. The CAA could only justify their attack on Malaka by quoting what she said out of context.
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| The Mail and Express apologised to Malakha but not the racist CAA |
The CAA harvested tweets and social media posts by Malakha, in particular one where she apparently said
‘If terrorism means protecting and defending my land, I am so proud to be called terrorist. What an honour for the Palestinians’
In fact this comment was a response to Malakha made by another student who was in conversation with her. As she explained:
these kind of statements by Palestinians in general are most commonly in response to efforts by Israel advocacy groups and the Israeli government to demonise and dehumanise Palestinians.
In other words when Palestinians are accused of being ‘terrorists’ for resisting Israel’s Occupation they respond that if resistance means that they are terrorists then so be it. That wasn’t an admission of terrorism still less anti-Semitism. This is a rhetorical figure of speech. The CAA’s accusations are political terrorism from McCarthy’s handbook.
The press, which on the back of CAA’s campaign, had maligned Malaka, realised their error. The Daily Express acknowleged its error and admitted that:
‘In fact this tweet was one of a series of tweets in which Ms. Shwaikh was quoting responses made to her in a conversation with a student.
Following a complaint an investigation was undertaken by the Exeter Student’s Guild which cleared Malakha of any wrongdoing. The Daily Mail and Devon Live Radio printed similar retractions. The full story is told hereCharacter Assassination as a Tool to Silence a Palestinian Woman, Statement by Malakah, 2 March 2017.
The CAA demonised and ridiculed a vulnerable female student. After a spate of antisemitic incidents at the University of Exeter, students decided to organise a protest march. Malakha was involved in this activity and was asked to speak, as a student who had herself experienced racism. D chose to mock Malakha’s participation in the demonstration by casting aspersions on the Exeter student body:
They did what came naturally to them and asked Malaka Shwaikh, exposed by Campaign Against Antisemitism as a terrorist-supporting antisemite, to address the crowd and make Jewish students feel safe. Whilst professing an admirable desire for solidarity, Shwaikh took the opportunity not to renounce any of her views and to instead berate those “attacking” her as simply venting their “Islamophobic” prejudice.
Alone among her detractors the CAA hasn’t apologised for their despicable behaviour. It has simply moved on to denigrating other victims.
3. Rowan Laxton
In 2009 Foreign Office diplomat Rowan Laxtonwas accused by Gideon Falter of having shouted out, whilst exercising by himself in a gym, ‘fucking Israelis, fucking Jews’ after having seen on a TV screen footage of an elderly Palestinian man killed by Israel in Gaza. Laxton, who is now Britain’s High Commissioner to the Republic of Cameroon, was prosecuted for using ‘"threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour …’ in a public place. The Police were not inclined to prosecute but Falter leaked it to the Daily Mail and this racist rag put the Police under pressure. Laxton was convicted at first instance by Westminster Magistrates Court and was suspended by the Foreign Office.
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| If Jews in England faced being unable to rent places because they were Jewish then they could cry 'antisemitism' |
Laxton appealed to Southwark Crown Court who acquitted him of using the phrase ‘fucking Jews’. In other words Gideon Falter was a liar who had tried to ruin someone’s career for expressing their emotions about Israel’s attack on Gaza which killed 1,400 civilians including hundreds of children. The death of Palestinians is not something which disturbs Falter in the slightest. As Professor Geoffrey Pullum noted in The diplomat, the bishop, the bomber, and the fruit bat the Daily Mail which reportedthe initial conviction did not report Laxton’s successful appeal.
Despite some disagreements with this articleby Ifnotnow(it uses some anti-Semitic tropes) the information in it is still invaluable. The CAA fiddles its statistics on anti-Semitism with gay abandon as Eve Mykytyn explains in her article ‘Exposing the Vigilantes’ in The Anti-Semitism Warsand Exposed! How Britain’s anti-Semitism Scaremongers Operate.
For example it bases its statistics on anti-Semitic incidents by using Freedom of information requests to Police Forces to search their files using key words such as ‘Jew’ despite being warned by the Northumbria force that not all mentions of the word ‘Jew’ were anti-Semitic incidents. They also described the request as a ‘fishing expedition.’
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| The Jewish Labour Movement is the 'sister party' of the racist Israeli Labor Party |
The other group involved in making the allegations of anti-Semitism is the Jewish Labour Movement. This is a group, some 2,000 strong the majority of whose members are not Jewish. They are by their own admission the ‘sister party’ of the racist Israeli Labour Party.
This is the same racist party which, when Netanyahu decided to expel all 40,000 Black African refugees from Israel last year supportedthe deportations. It is the party that expelled the Palestinian refugees and kept Israel’s Arab citizens under Military Rule for the first 18 years of Israel’s existence It is a party which openly wants to segregate Arabs and Jews. In other words it is a thoroughly racist group and it is noteworthy that when, on Channel 4 last night, Karl Sabbagh raised the question of the JLM’s relationship to the ILP, that Mike Katz was forced to lie and claim the ILP was a fellow member of the Socialist International. In fact it left because the SI now supports BDS!
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| The JNF is quite open about the fact that it supports a Jewish rather than a democratic state and this is what Falter has signed up to |
Gideon Falter himself is a Director of the JNF Charitable Trust. This is a 'charity' which with JNF Israel owns 13% of all state land and administers another 80%. Not only has it been used to plant forests on Palestinian villages raised to the ground but to this day will not lease or rent its property to non-Jews. In other words it is a thoroughly racist body. When Israel's Supreme Court, in the Kadaan case (now reversed through legislation) made it illegal to refuse to lease property to Arabs the JNF complained bitterly that
'A survey commissioned by KKL-JNF reveals that over 70% of the Jewish population in Israel opposes allocating KKL-JNF land to non-Jews, while over 80% prefer the definition of Israel as a Jewish state, rather than as the state of all its citizens.
So the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is conducting an investigation into racism in the Labour Party at the request of 2 racist groups! It doesn't look promising.
Tony Greenstein
For more reading about the CAA see: