Momentum’s Refusal to Support Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi for Labour’s NEC was Not About Trans-rights but Zionism & Palestinian Rights

If there is one group, above all others, which bears responsibility for the defeat of the Corbyn project it is Momentum.  As the Al Jazeera programme, The Labour Files Parts 1, 2 and 3, make clear the ‘anti-Semitism crisis’ in the Labour Party was entirely bogus, a creation of the Zionist lobby, the Israeli state, the Labour Right and the media.

The ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign was accompanied by a level of bullying, thuggery, intimidation and surveillance which belonged more to a fascist than a socialist or social democratic party.

Yet only once did Momentum, in all the years of the witchhunt speak up against it and that was at the very beginning when Jackie Walker, its Vice-Chair was suspended on the basic of a hacked Facebook conversation. 

Interview with Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi on Double Down News

Lansman and Akehurst express solidarity with each other

Jon Lansman

On his blog, Left Futures, Jon Lansman wrotea very discerning article opposing Jackie’s suspension A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism.

Jackie Walker is a longstanding anti-racist activist of both African and Jewish heritage, who was instrumental in ensuring that Nigel Farage was defeated in her home constituency of Thanet. The conversation was one about her own heritage, and the roles of both victim and perpetrator played by her own direct ancestors.... In my view, the tone and context of that conversation makes absolutely clear that nothing about it were antisemitic.

And then, quite amazing given what was to come, Lansman accused Jackie’s opponents of weaponising anti-Semitism. Lansman wrote:

Unfortunately, it is hard to conduct a rational debate about antisemitism and other forms of racism in the presence of a “lynch mob” whose interest in combatting racism is highly selective. I refer to those who seek primarily to serve the interests of the Tory party, highlighting allegations of antisemitism in the days immediately prior to an election whilst simultaneously either ignoring or in some cases actively promoting islamophobia

Lansman also signed a letter with 51 other Jews condemning my own suspension from the Labour Party on 16 March 2016. The letter he appended his name to was, if anything stronger:

We were dismayed to discover that Tony Greenstein has been suspended from the Party, without even being told the grounds for this suspension. We were further dismayed that the grounds for Tony's suspension had been leaked to a right-wing newspaper: the Daily Telegraph claimed on April 1st that the suspension is related to allegations of anti-Semitism.

Tony Greenstein is not an anti-Semite. However, in common with a growing number of other Jews, he is opposed to Zionism, and to the actions of the Israeli state with regard to the Palestinians. Such a stance is emphatically not anti-Semitic: it is important that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is clearly understood....

Like many Jews opposing Israel's actions, Tony has endured insults from some who claim to represent the Jewish community, who have no interest in protecting the Labour Party from anything. We note, for example, that the current President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, is on record recently as saying that Jews cannot trust Labour. We would be concerned if the serious issue of anti-Semitism was being exploited in order to damage the Labour Party. Some of us faced similar insults last summer because we set up the Facebook group "Jews for Jeremy". If Tony Greenstein can be accused of anti-Semitism, we fear that other Jews, who have been critics of Israeli policy and actions, may soon be faced with similar charges.

Tony has been an active opponent of racism, fascism and anti-Semitism. It would do damage to the Labour Party to expel him . We ask that the NEC intervene in this case to ensure that his suspension is lifted forthwith, and the charge of anti-Semitism dropped...

John Stolliday - the racist crook who ran Labour's Compliance Unit has now transferred over to UNISON in order to repeat the same tricks against its membership

Among the signatories was Riva Joffe, a veteran of the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. She too was later to be expelled for ‘anti-Semitism’. Shortly after she died.

Not only did the letter attack the President of the Board of Deputies Jonathan Arkush, a right-wing Tory, but it also expressed concern ‘if the serious issue of anti-Semitism was being exploited in order to damage the Labour Party’. It then went on to prophetically warn that

If Tony Greenstein can be accused of anti-Semitism, we fear that other Jews, who have been critics of Israeli policy and actions, may soon be faced with similar charges.

Today dozensof Jewish members have been suspended and expelled including Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi who signed the letter.

The obvious question that springs to mind is what was it that changed Lansman from being a Jewish socialist and anti-Zionist into a racist and Jewish exceptionalist for whom racism against Jews was his only concern and for whom criticism of Israel and Zionism was tantamount to anti-Semitism. Why did Lansman find political solace with the Jewish Labour Movement which boasts that the even more racist Israeli Labor Party is its ‘sister party’?

I have no answer to these questions. I do not believe that someone with Lansman’s long political record dating back to the Benn leadership challenge had a sudden change of mind.

In view of his subsequent close relationship to the JLM and Jeremy Newmark, later accusedof theft and fraud, one can only assume that someone applied pressure of a personal kind or had something on him. Blackmail is standard Zionist behaviour towards Jewish critics in particular. Judge Goldstone of South Africa who chaired a UN inquiry into Israeli war crimes in Gaza was subjected to severe harassment culminating in him being barred from his grandson’s bar mitzvah.

Stanger has no answer to the allegations against him

Luke Stanger

In Brighton, according to Al Jazeera’s Labour Files, right-wing thug Luke Stanger harassed and intimidated women activists in the party with his vile tweets and on-line abuse. In the case of Damian McCarthy’s father-in-law his vile abuse literally drove him to his death. Brighton Police however refused to intervene.

Stanger was eventually suspended after describing Travellers as a ‘nasty blight on communities who wreak civil unrest on areas.’ Just imagine what would have been the response if instead of Travellers he had said ‘Jews’. The skies would have fallen in.  He wouldn’t have been suspended but expelled within a week.

Yet as the programme shows Stanger was protected throughout by Peter Kyle, the right-wing MP for Hove and Vice-Chair of Labour Friends of Israel and a petition from 30 MPs, was submitted in his support. He also received support from Tom Watson.

Luke Akehurst, the far-right racist Zionist who works for We Believe in Israel and a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee, was revealed as the real author of Stanger’s defence to the charges. Akehurst distinguished himself during Gaza’s Great Return March when he supportedIsrael’s policy of using snipers to fire on unarmed demonstrators. Hundreds died and thousands were injured.

Stanger with Cllr. Alison Dean, a 

This is not surprising. Stanger is barely literate. He is a racist oaf and a useful idiot to the right but behind him stood powerful forces happy to cover up for his thuggery, intimidation, racism and sexism.

Stanger’s behaviour was but one example of the racism, law breaking, corruption, thuggery and intimidation carried out on behalf of the supporters of the Labour Right and Israel.

Yet despite all this Stanger was readmitted to the Labour Party under Starmer. This proves that the disciplinary process is simply a factional  weapon deployed by the Right. Instead it was the women who were the victims of Stanger’s attentions, like Anne Mitchell and Pamela Fitzpatrick, who were expelled. That is Starmer Labour.

Angelo Sanchez, anti-war delegate suspendedfor not toeing the line on Ukraine in a debate

The Labour Party today is not only an undemocratic party but a lawless and corrupt party. A delegate to the recent conference, Angelo Sanchez, was suspendedfor opposing Starmer’s support of NATO in Ukraine and pointing out that Zelensky has bannedstrikes, left-wing parties and workers organisation.

I am going to devote a separate blog to the Al Jazeera programmes but one episode that stood out was Jenny Manson, Chair of Jewish Voices for Labour, who was phonedby a middle-aged Jewish Zionist who left her an abusive message calling for her to ‘You should burn in the gas oven... You deserve... to burn in acid’ in avoice mail.

Such anti-Semitic abuse of other Jews by Zionists is not uncommon. It is worth looking at this because it displays the irrational hate and loathing that Zionist have towards fellow Jews.

Nothing hurts the Zionists more than knowing that there are anti-Zionist and anti-racist Jews prepared to stand up their claim that Zionism represents all Jews.

Jenny Manson receives an anti-Semitic voicemail from a Zionist

What is even more outrageous is that the Police offered a caution to the person who uttered these words. It is a measure of the stupidity of this inadequate Zionist that he first called Jenny a ‘Nazi cow’ almost in the same breath as he wished that she died in a Nazi gas oven! This desire by Zionists to inflict a Nazi style-death on their opponents casts light on Zionist psychology.

Yet rather than offering Jenny support the Labour Party has put her under  ‘investigation’. It seems that as long as the target of racist and anti-Semitic abuse are Jewish anti-Zionists then the Labour Party  is perfectly content for it to take place.

Jewish women abuse Orthodox Rabbis who reject Zionism

Politically the reason for this is that Zionism never had any fundamental objection to the Nazis and at one time worked with them to achieve a Jewish state. Jewish demonstrators are regularly subject to chants like ‘Hitler was right’.

As we can see today, Jews are 5 or more times likely than non-Jews to be suspended or expelled from the Labour Party. Clearly the ‘anti-Semitism campaign’ was a grand exercise in fakery with the full backing of the BBC and media, Guardian included.

Unfortunately Corbyn and MacDonnell stubbornly refused to recognise the reality of what was happening. MacDonnell talked reverentially of the Board of Deputies of British Jews which he knew had a history of NOTstanding up to genuine anti-Semitism.

The Election of Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi to Labour’s National Executive Committee

It was both with surprise and pleasure that I greeted the news that Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi had been elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee. When I phoned her up to congratulate her I told her that I was offering good odds to anyone prepared to bet that she would last out her 2 year term of office. However even I was taken aback at the speed at which Starmer and his servants concocted a pretext for subverting a democratic election.

What was disgraceful and an act of utter cowardice was the decision of Momentum, which had originally agreed to support Naomi, to withdrawthat support. It was a replay of 2018 when they withdrewsupport from Pete Willsman when he came under attack from Tom Watson and the Zionists. In doing this they made Naomi’s suspension that much more likely.

The pathetic excuse of Momentum was that Naomi wouldn’t sign up to a statement giving support to the demand for gender self-ID. Naomi explained that she couldn’t sign up to something that hadn’t been agreed by all the organisations supporting her but Momentum used that as an excuse to withdraw its support and to attack her.

As Socialist Action said:

Momentum justified its attack, which it made on a Labour left candidate in an election, on the grounds that she would not sign a statement in support of Gender Self-Identification (Self-ID). Wimborne-Idrissi was singled out by Momentum for attack on this basis. It supported numerous other candidates, in this summer’s elections to the Labour Party’s national committees, who did not sign such a statement. Only Wimborne-Idrissi was attacked in this way by Momentum.

This was a continuation of Momentum when it was run by its godfather and millionaire property owner, Lansman, who never lost an opportunity to attackJVL to which Naomi belongs.

We were promised that all this would change when Momentum Forward and then Momentum Organiser replacedLansman’s cronies on the National Co-ordinating Committee but in reality it was just Lansman Continuity.

When Gaya Sriskanthan, the new Momentum chair appeared on the Crispin Flintoft show her response to questions about Momentum not fighting the Starmer witchhunt was to become angry. Afterwards Momentum let it be known that they would never provide a speaker for the programme again.

When Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party its Chair Andrew Scattergood issued an inane statement saying that “the suspension of [Jeremy Corbyn] risks politicising and undermining Labour’s response to anti-semitism.”

It should have been obvious, but to Scatterbrain it clearly wasn’t, that from its inception, as the Labour Files demonstrate, that the ‘anti-Semitism’ crisis was confected with the intention of destroying Corbyn’s leadership. To fail to grasp this essential fact made a mockery of the belief that anything had changed in Momentum.

Despite Momentum scabbing on the left again, Naomi won a seat on Labour's NEC

Momentum Forward and Momentum Organiser now jointly control Momentum and their behaviour confirms that it is a scab organisation with which socialists should have no contact.

It was clear from the reactionof the Zionist press for whom Israel can do no wrong, that the Israel lobby wanted to see Naomi defeated.

Despite Momentum withdrawing its support for Naomi she still managed, like Willsman before her, to gain a seat on the NEC. It was Momentum’s Mish Rahman who went down to defeat as Labour Party members punished Momentum for its scabbing.

At the Futureof the Left events at Labour’s conference this week we debated whether socialists should work insides the Labour Party or not. There are arguments for doing both. But if you are inside the Labour Party then the last group you should join is a racist and reactionary, pro-imperialist group like Momentum.

Tory Guido Fawkes delights in Momentum accepting Blairite McTernan into its ranks

Momentum’s real reasons for not supporting Naomi had nothing to do with identity politics, the culture wars or trans ideology. It was about their continued hostility to anti-Zionism and the Palestinian struggle that has marked Momentum ever since Lansman engineered a coup and removedJackie Walker from being Vice-Chair of Momentum because she was a Black Jewish anti-Zionist.

At that time Lansman made it clear that he was working closely with the racist Jewish Labour Movement and its Chair, Jeremy Newmark. In an interview with the Independent he said:

“I spoke to Jeremy Newmark of the Jewish Labour Movement this morning, he’s very upset and I can understand that – I work closely with Jeremy, I’ve been meeting with Jewish organisations to talk… I’ve been outspoken. I was very, very unhappy about… and I did comment on it, about it, what she had previously said.

At its height Momentum was 40,000 strong but it was always an undemocratic husk. Today it has less than 10,000 members. Lansman admittedto membership Blair’s former adviser John McTernan despite him having attackedthe Tories for not having crushed the rail unions. When it came to supporting the IHRA, Lansman ensured that it got through the NEC.

Southwark Momentum was a bastion of opposition to Lansman and his scab friends

Naomi Wimborne-Iddrissi has received support from former Labour Overseas Development Secretary, Clare Short, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, Campaign for Socialism,Labour Black Socialists,Labour Briefing,The LRC, Labour Women Leading,North England Labour Left, Red Labour & Welsh Labour Grassroots.

There is just one organisation that hasn’t condemned Starmer’s anti-democratic suspension of someone whose election the Israeli state and its echo chambers here didn’t like. That organisation is Momentum. As Eldridge Cleaver once said, you are either part of the solution or part of the problem.  Or to quoteArchbishop Desmond Tutu, someone else the Zionists accused of ‘anti-Semitism’, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Momentum are Starmer’s loyal opposition. They are at one with the Socialist Campaign Group and as such anyone who is a socialist should give them a wide berth.

Tony Greenstein

See also:

Wimborne-Idrissi speaks out on Labour's frightening efforts to destroy the party's left

Israel lobby fury as Jewish leftist elected to Labour’s ruling body

Platform Films Labour the Big Lie

Interview with Naomi Wimborn-Iddrissi, Double Down News