17 April 2018

Guardian refuses to print letter from 650+ members challenging the lie that the Labour Party is anti-Semitic


Why no self-respecting socialist or Labour supporter should buy the Guardian


I have long campaigned for people to shed their illusions in the Guardian and not buy it.  The Guardian for a long time was something like Israel’s Ha’aretz.  It contained a variety of different views and the only coverage of Israel/Palestine that differed in any way from the mainstream press.  It boasted correspondents like Michael Adams and David Hirst, both knowledgeable about the Palestinians and Zionism.


Today it’s Middle East coverage is pitiful.  It’s Comment is Free blog, which was supposed to be a space for free speech on issues, including Israel, has felt the heavy hand of Guardian censorship as its moderators take the scissors to any anti-Zionist critiques.  Comparison of Israel with Nazi Germany is a particular no go area, even though Israelis make the comparison every day.

The following story from Jewish Voice for Labour site is about how the Guardian has refused to print a letter from over 650 members of the Labour Party counteracting it constant barrage of lies that the Labour Party is overrun by anti-Semitism.
Jonathan Freedland - a member of the foreign policy elite and an ardent Zionist and columnist for the right-wing Jewish Chronicle has pioneered the censorship of anti-Zionist voices at The Guardian
Unfortunately the Guardian has been getting worse for some time ago. I have published a series of articles over the years detailing how the Guardian has moved further to the Right and how it has become more friendly to Israel and Zionism under its senior editor Jonathan Freedland
The disgusting ad that the Guardian carried in 2014 as the Israelis were committing massacres in Gaza
People may recall that in 2014 the Guardian printed an advert from Elie Wiesel during Operation Protective Edge, which killed 2,200 Palestinians in Gaza, including 551 children.  It's title was  'Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago now it's Hamas' turn.' Electronic Intifada's Asa Winstanley best summed up this decision: “Liberal” Guardian to print pro-genocide ad
The Guardian's disingenuous attempt to defend its appalling decision
Even Rupert Murdoch's Times rejected the advert, but not the Guardian.  At a time when Palestinian children were being slaughtered by Israeli armaments, the Guardian printed this vicious racist propaganda.  All the letters it printed were hostile.  Today it would seem such letters would not even be printed.

Tony Greenstein


Guardian denies space to 650+ Labour Party members challenging hostile media coverage

The Guardian has refused to publish a letter submitted over a week ago challenging hostile media coverage of the Labour Party, even though it attracted more than 650 signatures from party members in barely 24 hours.


Those who signed, and hundreds more who sent in their names after the noon deadline on Friday April 6, are entitled to ask why the Guardian cannot feature the views of huge numbers of ordinary Party members while devoting so much space to attacking Jeremy Corbyn.

This is especially pertinent today, Monday April 16, as the Parliamentary Labour Party is due to meet this evening for the first time since March 26 and a parliamentary debate about antisemitism is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Tuesday April 17.

We hope that the latter debate will pay ample attention to the virulent antisemitism expressed by friends of the Tory party in this country and across Europe.

To give voice to the silenced Corbyn-supporting members of the Labour Party, we publish below the original letter as submitted to the Guardian.

For clarification, JVL recognises that there is evidence of racist attitudes, including antisemitism, among some party members. This is why we propose, in line with recommendations in the Chakrabarti Report, open debate and discussion combined with non-factional training to help members recognise and deal with prejudices which have no place in an anti-racist party.

We also recognise that we live in a racist society in which many prejudices persist, including towards Jews. This is true within the Labour Party as elsewhere, but we do NOT accept, as widely alleged, that party members are especially susceptible to holding antisemitic views, unconscious or otherwise.

Please share this post widely on social media and invite more Labour Party members to join in demonstrating support for Corbyn’s leadership.



ORIGINAL TEXT OF SOLIDARITY LETTER

We are Labour Party members who have watched with growing astonishment and anger as our Party has been traduced with claims of widespread antisemitism. We stand absolutely against any form of discrimination and if there are any in our Party who are guilty of racist attitudes or behaviour then they should be expelled. But such action should only be after due process including evidence and the right to appeal and not through the trial by media which we are currently seeing.

Most importantly we do not accept that the disputed actions of a tiny minority of people in any way represent our Party as a whole and its 570,000 members. Neither do we accept the absurd claim that racist attitudes are widespread but we are somehow unable to recognise them because they are unconscious.  We recognise racism because we have been fighting it for much of our lives and that fight was a key reason for joining our Party in the first place.

The current febrile atmosphere has been encouraged by a hostile right-wing media and by those who seek to damage the Party or its leadership for their own ends. We absolutely reject the gross calumny which is thus being perpetrated against the Party as a whole and the integrity of its members.
There is a great task ahead of us, to re-build and regenerate our society so that all may live with security and dignity.  The cruel legacy of successive governments has left people desperate for change. The Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell can achieve that transformation. Let us make certain that nothing can distract us from this historic opportunity.
Signed by 650+ Labour party members

A few of the monotonous Guardian articles on the fake antisemitism campaign against the Labour Party

The right-wing and anti-migrant Daily Express sings from the same song sheet as the Guardian




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