The Height of Unreality - Sacked by Starmer for offending Zionists LRM Pledged ‘to support Keir in defending and furthering the manifesto we stood on’
I must confess I’ve never had much respect for Lloyd Russell-Moyle, my local MP.
In March 2016 I was suspended from the Labour Party and expelled two years later. I had been targeted by the Jewish Labour Movement, which throughout the Corbyn period operated as an arm of the Zionist movement and the Israeli state.
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| Quoting from a Ha'aretz article was seen as 'antisemitic' - since we mustn't tell the truth about how Israel uses the Holocaust to cover its war crimes and much else |
The allegations against me were motivated by my anti-Zionist politics as became clear when I had my investigation interview with Labour’s hapless Regional Secretary, Harry Gregson. I blogged about it hereand the transcript is here. Gregson asked me about my comment that ‘Israel is waiting for its holocaust survivors to die’, so I handed him a copy of Ha'aretz, an Israeli paper with the exact same headline and asked Gregson if he was suggesting Ha'aretz too was anti-Semitic!
Even at this early stage of the witch-hunt it was criticism of Israel, not hate of Jews, which were behind the allegations of ‘anti-Semitism’.
A motion was put to the District Labour Party opposing my suspension and it was carried. LRM was the Chair of the District Party. Did he then write to Iain McNicol, Labour’s crooked General Secretary to inform him of the local party’s policy? Well yes he did but only to ask that my expulsion be sped up, in the course of which he made a number of false allegations.!
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| Lloyd Russell-Moyle's letter to the witchhunters |
All this was revealed when I did a Subject Access Request. Although Moyle’s letter was blacked out, it wasn’t difficult to work out who had penned it.
Naturally I wrote to oily Moyle asking what he thought he was doing. Lloyd Russell-Moyle – the Double Barrelled Hypocrite who was imposed as Chair of Brighton & Hove Labour Party. Moyle offered me a ‘limited apology’: ‘I believe Point 3 is, in hindsight poorly worded from myself.’ Being a generous soul I accepted the apology. LRM, who makes Uriah Heep seem straightforward and honest wrote:
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‘I am of a firm belief that one should say things publicly which are kind, and if you are unable to say that then one must be quite (sic) and say nothing on blogs and social media, esp about members.’
And who, I thought, could argued with a sentiment which could have formed part of the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount. Clearly Moyle was a kind Christian fellow and I had misjudged him!
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Imagine my surprise when someone sent me a copy of a Facebook discussion with comments about me from this latter-day John the Baptist:
‘‘I am the chair of his clp [District Labour Party in fact] and can tell you he is an abusive, unpleasant little man. I have told him that to his face.’
Leaving aside the small fact that he told me nothing to my face, other than engaging in small talk (and on one occasion apologising for his rudeness), these comments seemed slightly at odd with Moyle’s preaching about speaking kindly of people! Clearly Oily was already in training to be an MP even though he hadn’t yet been chosen as a candidate.
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| Lloyd Russell-Moyle (back right) and David Roger (front right) |
I mention all of this because a friend in Brighton Palestine Solidarity Campaign, David Roger, wrote to Moyle on 14th June after being suspended from the Labour Party, asking for support. In response his secretary wrote 3 days later, telling David that
‘Lloyd believes that anti-semitism has no place in the Labour Party and is pleased to see Keir acting so proactively to demonstrate this.’
The implication being that David is anti-Semitic.
David respondedon 21st June telling Moyle that he found his response
‘chilling and sadly confirmatory of my fears that ambition and career advancement have overtaken principle and ethics.’
Which is as good a description of Moyle as anything I could muster. The fact that false charges of anti-Semitism are being made against activists like David for the sole reason that they support the Palestinians was not something that troubled Moyle in the slightest.
I also wrote a letter to Moyle pointing out that he was happy to attenda Palestine solidarity social with the brave volunteers on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla with David. Moyle was also happy to have his photo taken with David but he is too gutless to take up his case.
Come July and Moyle was himself subject to much the same false allegations of anti-Semitism for commentshe had made in 2009. At that time, unencumbered by office, LRM stated that Jewish claims to Israel were "not progressive in [their] very nature" and that Zionism was a "dangerous nationalist idea".
It’s difficult to disagree with either propositions. Zionism’s bastard offspring, the Israeli state, has been in a state of perpetual war with the Palestinians and its neighbours since 1948 whilst at the same time portraying itself as the victim.
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| A tweet from a JLM supporter |
However instead of standing by his comments Moyle crawled:
“I have now deleted these posts and recognise why they were offensive,” insisting that “I am completely and unreservedly committed to supporting Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner’s pledge to rid the Party of antisemitism.”
Where, I wonder, do they get these people? Is it a condition of being a member of the Campaign Group that you have to agree to having your backbone removed?
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| Divina Levrini (left) |
I reminded Lloyd that amongst those who had sailed on the boat to Gaza was Divina Levrini, a young Swedish woman who, like the others, was badly beaten up and tortured by the Israeli commanders who seized the ship. Divina, who was already ill, died soon after and who knows whether her treatment at the hands of the Israelis, which included denying her medication, played any part in this.
The idea of apologising for describing Zionism, a racist Jewish Supremacist ideology, as nasty’ is abject political cowardice.
One might hope that people like Divina, who went on a boat despite being ill, because of her concern for the people of Gaza might give Oily the courage to stand up to the racist defenders of the Israeli state. Unfortunately not.
The JLM, British branch of the Israeli Labour Party, which pretends to be concerned with anti-Semitism when its sole concern is Israel and Zionism, decided to go for Moyle. The Jewish News headline was Labour’s Jewish affiliate tears into shadow minister after Zionism posts apology
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In an attempt to save his fast disappearing ministerial career Moyle did what come naturally to him, he grovelled.
“I am completely and unreservedly committed to supporting [Labour leader] Keir Starmer and [deputy leader] Angela Rayner’s pledge to rid the party of antisemitism. I have met previously with the Jewish Labour Movement and will be reaching out to them again now,”
This however was insufficient and Starmer gave Moyle a choice – resign or be sacked. Moyle then claimed that
owing to a campaign by right-wing media my position has become untenable. I shall return to backbenches for the time being to support Keir in defending and furthering the manifesto we stood on and to achieve a Labour government
However Joshua Garfield, a JLM operative, was in no mood to be charitable, tweeting:’
Journalists were repeatedly told that Lloyd would be reaching out to JLM. We never heard from him. It appears he opted to step down instead of reaching out to us. This was no 'right-wing media campaign,' it was his own error of judgement.
And in a statement to the Jewish News the Zionists put the boot in:
‘The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) said it had had no formal contact with the MP since the 2017 election when he “spontaneously” joined a planned meeting between its officers and a parliamentarian.
“Lloyd Russell-Moyle has, in his short time in Parliament, managed to attract constant controversy in relation to antisemitism, which has caused deep upset and distress within the Jewish community in Brighton and Hove,”
“In isolation, each event would have at best pointed to a blind spot on anti-Jewish racism. Taken together they appear to be a pattern of behaviour that is simply not acceptable for a front bench member of the Parliamentary Labour Party,”
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As we can see quite clearly, comments about Zionism are called by the liars of the JLM ‘a blind spot on anti-Jewish racism.’ That is the answer to fools like Jeremy Corbyn who speak of ‘denialism’.
It is ironic that someone who has gone along with the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ witchhunt has become a victim of it based on an 11 year old description of Zionism (not Jews).
Of course the obvious thing for Oily to do would have been to fight back and defend his ground saying the evidence that Zionism is a nasty form of nationalism is clear and unequivocal. It is a rather mild description of a state which shoots down children protesting in Gaza
However Moyle wanted to keep his place in the Shadow Cabinet so ambition ruled that one out. Naturally the Campaign Against Antisemitism also joined in
Mr Russell-Moyle has a terrible record on antisemitism,… A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It was deeply disappointing that Sir Keir Starmer appointed Mr Russell-Moyle to his Shadow Cabinet, given his record. Mr Russell-Moyle should still face disciplinary proceedings over his past conduct.”
Their conclusionswere that ‘Mr Russell-Moyle’s statements and actions qualify as antisemitic discourse.’ But then anything critical of Zionism is ‘anti-Semitism’ according to the CAA.
Below is the email I received from Divina detailing her treatment at the hands of Israel. This is the state whose ideology is Zionism. What kind of cowardice is it that makes it impossible for Moyle to stand his ground?
We were taken to Givon prison where we were tortured in different kind of ways. The women were sleep deprived more than the men. We were six women in one dirty cell with a hole in the ground. The guards would come in and yell every one or two hours (it's hard to know how often because we had no watches. Only the clothes we had on us.) They beat at the walls and lockers and made us stand up in the middle of the night, sometimes they just came in and counted the beds with a loud voice or came in with a huge stick and beat the walls. Sometimes they had gloves and handcuffs they showed but never used...
They hit my friend, a 75 year old woman who four months before got a hip replacement surgery. They did not really beat us anytime before or after that in jail so we thought that they are so used to beat Palestinians so they forgot that our embassies were ready to act if something like that would happen
I was deprived of my important medicines for 36 hours. After that my embassy complained, but I got just the half dose of the most important one, none of the other medicines. The embassy yelled at a guard to give me my medicines and he said that I would get an appointment with the doctor. But he told me in perfect English that he doesn't understand English and I have to speak Arabic.
Later the embassy and our Swedish state department sent a doctor to the airport to immediately meet me after my flight home. ...We were stolen of our driving licenses, medicines, phones, money and creditcards. Most of our luggage is gone. I came home with only a small bag with random clothes I found. I was 2,5 months at sea, so I had much more with me.
What is really amazing is that someone like RLM is held to be on the left of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The sad reality is that the Campaign Group of today is just a shadow of what it was 30 years ago when people like Tony Benn and Joan Maynard were members.
The total lack of backbone and principle in the Campaign Group is what makes socialists despair of the Labour Party. Their collective failure to call Starmer what he is, a Blairite automaton, shows how pathetic the group is.
Dear Lloyd,
I received a copy of the following email which you sent to David Roger. I am appalled.
'Lloyd believes that anti-semitism has no place in the Labour Party and is pleased to see Keir acting so proactively to demonstrate this.'
You call yourself a supporter of the Palestinians. You have made a number of fine speeches on Palestine and I remember your attendance at the reception for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, all of whom were very badly beaten up, tortured, when they were captured in international waters by Israel's state pirates. Your presence was appreciated by all those present.
You may recall meeting Divina Levrini, the red-headed Swedish singer, who was already seriously ill. She died soon after returning to Sweden, even though she was no older than her early 30s. Below I have quoted an extract of her experiences when kidnapped by Israel. I published this as an obituary, Divina Levrini – A Star that will forever burn brightly in our memories,
Divina despite her fatal illness devoted herself to the Palestinian cause and gave her life for it. No one expects you Lloyd to do the same. However we also don't expect you to use the Palestinians for the purpose of advancing your own career.
“I do support Zionism I absolutely support the right of Israel to exist as a homeland. My only concern is that Zionism can mean slightly different things to different people, and… to some extent it has been weaponized. I wouldn’t read too much into that. I said it loud and clear — and meant it — that I support Zionism without qualification.”
Zionism is the founding ideology of the Israeli state. It is the ideology of 'Jewish settlement' as per the Jewish Nation State Law which Ha’aretz describes as enshrining discrimination in Israel’s constitution . It is the ideology that dictates that 93% of Israeli land is off limits to the Palestinians. It is the ideology of the demographic fear of having too large an Arab minority in the ‘Jewish State’ and therefore dictates that there can be no marriage between Arab and Jew. Mixed sexual relations are a social taboo in Israel. Zionism is the ideology which dictates that half the villages of Israeli Arabs are 'unrecognised' which means they lack the most basic facilities such as running water and are in danger of immediate demolition. No Jewish villages or communities are 'unrecognised'.
When you say that you support Starmer's 'pro-active' anti-Semitism campaign what you mean is that you support the current suspension of 25 Jewish members of the Labour Party for ‘anti-Semitism’ and the ‘investigation’ of hundreds if not thousands more.
Contrast this concern about ‘anti-Semitism’ with the fact that Luke Akehurst supported Israeli snipers firing on unarmed demonstrators in Gaza killing medics and over 70 children. Akehurst has not been expelled. If someone had justified the murder of Jewish children then their feet wouldn’t touch the floor. I can only conclude that Jewish lives are more precious than Palestinian lives to the racists who are conducting the present bout of expulsions.
I already know that you supported my expulsion because I obtained under SAR the email you sent to Iain McNicol urging that it be sped up. But you also support the classification as 'antisemitic' of people like Divina because I don't know a single Palestine solidarity activist who hasn't been called an anti-Semite. It is trite knowledge that ‘anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism’ is the operative slogan of the Zionist movement.
As Mick Davis, Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, stated in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Antisemitism:
Zionism is so totally identified with how the Jew thinks of himself, and is so associated with the right of the Jewish people to have their own country and to have self-determination within that country, that if you attack Zionism, you attack the very fundamentals of how the Jews believe in themselves.
The above statement is not only nonsense but quintessentially anti-Semitic. The home of British Jews, myself included, is Britain. It is only anti-Semites who tell me to ‘go back to Israel’. Indeed that is why anti-Semites, from Trump to Orban to neo-Nazis like Richard Spencer and Tommy Robinson support Zionism and Israel. Is that so hard to understand?
Starmer’s ‘proactive’ campaign on anti-Semitism has become a campaign against anti-Zionist and anti-racist Jews as well as Black activists such as Marc Wadsworth and Jackie Walker. If Labour’s leaked report is correct then the only people that the anti-Semitism witch-hunt didn’t affect were the handful of genuine anti-Semites in the Labour Party.
That is why when the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign was at its height, the Zionists demanded that anti-Semitism be redefined. Instead of the OED definition of ‘hostility to or prejudice to Jews’ there was substituted a 500+ word IHRA Working Definition which included 11 illustrations of ‘anti-Semitism’, 7 of which referred to Israel. Calling Israel a racist state is an expulsion offence.
The only MP who stood up for his principles and opposed the IHRA was Chris Williamson and he was betrayed. When I challenged you about this at a public meeting you told me that Corbyn had provided a route back to him. This was a lie.
You and the Campaign Group have also been remarkably silent about the Board of Deputies 10 Commandments (Pledges) which, in best McCarthyist fashion, make it a disciplinary offence to be seen with someone who is suspended or expelled. It prohibits meeting with ‘fringe’ i.e. anti-Zionist and anti-racist Jews. Perhaps you could let us know what your position on this is?
You entered Parliament as a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn yet you endorsed a campaign whose sole purpose was to remove him. The ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign was never about anti-Semitism or hatred of Jews. It was always about removing someone who was seen as hostile to the British-United States special relationship and NATO.
It has been suggested to me that compared to Peter Kyle MP, the MP for Hove, whose support for Israel right or wrong is notorious, we should be grateful for your support for the Palestinians. I disagree. I would prefer the honesty of the enemy I know than the fickle friendship of someone whose support is opportunistic and liable to change.
Black Lives Matter in 2016 came out in support of BDS, calling Israel an Apartheid state and genocidal. It was rewarded by accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’ by the usual suspects. Mort Klein, President of the Zionist Organisation of America, urged that BLM be put on a list of hate groups, calling them
‘a Jew hating, White hating, Israel hating, conservative Black hating, violence promoting, dangerous Soros funded extremist group of haters.
According to the Telegraph, which was prominent in the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign, Black Lives Matter protests are a catalyst for anti-Semitism. This is the ‘anti-Semitism’ that Keir Starmer is busy prosecuting and which you are endorsing.
If you sincerely support the Palestinians and oppose Israeli Apartheid, as recognised by all the veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, you will reconsider your facile support for Starmer’s ‘anti-Semitism’ witchhunt.
If you decline this opportunity to put clear red water between you and Sir Keir then the only conclusion that I and other activists can draw is that you are first and foremost an opportunist committed to your own career above all. I am sure that you wouldn’t want to be remembered in that light.
Fraternally,
Tony Greenstein