Jewish, socialist, standing up for democracy in the Labour party, speaking up for Palestine. "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."
I'm 70 years old and carried a placard announcing my Jewishness on my way to, during and after the march. I received hugs, handshakes and kindness. Please stop spreading division. Humanity is with the people of Palestine.
This woman and others like her are a danger to me and my fellow Jews because they claim they are wiping out Palestinians in our name.
@GOVUK
should expel Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. Sign and share the petition!
Did I just hear BBC news describe killing of 10 Palestinians "a flare up of violence between Israel and Gaza"? How can any journalist connive in this Orwellian obfuscation?
🧵about Stephen Fry's "Alternative Christmas Message" on
@Channel4
:
What an embarrassment to see "national treasure" Stephen Fry milking his Jewish heritage, which I share, to complain that events in Gaza have unleashed a terrifying wave of racism against British Jews.
I've received a Notice of Allegation and Administrative Suspension from
@UKLabour
. The charge - I "committed a Prohibited Act contrary to Chapter 2,
Clause I.5.B of the Rule Book" by speaking at an event run by proscribed organisations in September last year.
@G5for_nec
1/3
Solidarity with all the many, many left delegates to conference and other comrades who have been expelled or suspended in recent days and weeks. What a travesty of democracy! Don't we have some Tories to fight? 3/3
Stephen Kapos' resignation letter from "McCarthyite"
@UKLabour
tells how the Holocaust survivor was threatened with expulsion if he told his story at a Holocaust Memorial Day event.
@MichaelLCrick
While celebrating my 70th birthday on December 15, I heard from friends that Jewish Chronicle reporter Lee
@lmharpin
was claiming confirmation from "multiple sources" that I had been expelled from the Labour Party. Thread 1/5
BBC failure to even mention
#LabourFiles
in interviews with Starmer is shocking. I've written to
@BBCRadio4
@Marthakearney
@omrgriffiths
(Today editor) as follows:
As a Jewish woman elected to Labour's NEC and suspended last week by the party...
1/4
Admin Suspension means I can't attend AGM of the NEC, to which I have just been elected, at Liverpool conference next week. No link of course to my appearance in
@AJIunit
's
#LabourFiles
series exposing multiple abuses within Labour. First one out tonight. Not to be missed! 2/3
Dear journalists. Want to know how
@UKLabour
fights antisemitism? Talk to the latest leftwing Jew suspended, just after election to NEC, for a year-old rule breach. Coincidence? Or factional interference in discipline procedures as seen in
#LabourFiles
&
#FordeReport
?
1/2
I'm 70 uears old and I've never lived through a time when world leaders heard testimony like this and turned their backs. No. No, no - it has to stop. There are not enough tears to mourn those already slaughtered and yet it goes on. For shame.
IF YOU WATCH ANYTHING TODAY, WATCH THIS…
There’s an acronym unique to the Gaza Strip:
#WCNSF
Wounded Children No Surviving Family…
A pause? What good is a pause?
“To nourish a population before you kill them.”
POWERFUL WORDS!
The Jewish bloc took its message to the mass rally for Palestine in London today. Great to hear
@BarnabyRaine
speaking from the platform, connecting Jewish liberation with freedom and justice for Palestine.
Submitted my appeal today against expulsion from
@UKLabour
, on grounds of bias, hostility and prejudice against me as a left-wing Jew. Please read, share and sign the solidarity statement. Looking forward to a fair & transparent review process!
Much appreciate the support of so many kind people. A wonderful corrective to the trolls. I'm blessed with the backing of Jewish Voice for Labour and the 12 other groups that ran a great campaign for
#Grassroots5
@G5for_nec
.
.
@Naomi4LabNEC
talking on
@novaramedia
tonight. I voted for Naomi (for the NEC) & think the coordinated campaign of abuse directed towards her today has been appalling. Solidarity
Just to reassure bigoted trolls who claim to know I'm a Muslim ('cos my late husband was and we all know women can't think for themselves don't we?) - I was raised a secular Jew and so I remain. Maybe try actually arguing your case in future?
Charge was, by taking part in discussion a year earlier organised by proscribed groups, I had demonstrated support for them - a "prohibited act". I dispute this interpretation and will appeal my expulsion. It disenfrachises 1000s of members who voted to put me on the NEC. 5/5
Appalling racism by Julia Hartley-Brewer
@JuliaHB1
with Palestinian MP Dr Mustafa Barghouti: ‘Maybe you are not used to women talking’
Complete disrespect for a beautiful & decent man who has devoted his life to community & public health
Apology required
So, details of internal disciplinary cases continue to be leaked to external media in breach of
@UKLabour
rules. Factional abuses highlighted by Forde Report continue unchecked. Action Plan supposedly overseen by
@EHRC
to ensure independence/transparency is a sham. 3/5
My treatment demonstrates the hostile campaign to which LW Labour Party members are being subjected, including disproportionate numbers of Jewish members. Expulsion follows my suspension in September, within weeks of being elected to Labour's National Executive Committee. 4/5
Full solidarity with you Andy. You expressed the feelings of hundreds of thousands of good hearted folk who will now be lost to Labour. Shame on Keir Starmer.
We say to the UK, American and Israeli governments: Enough!
Enough of the bombardment!
Enough of the siege!
Enough of the occupation!
We won’t rest until we have justice.
Until all people, Israelis & Palestinians, between the river & the sea can live in peaceful liberty.
So the letter from
@Keir_Starmer
saying
@rogerwaters
should be banned is genuine. A Labour Party leader actually said this. I had assumed/hoped it was a fake. Shame, shame, shame.
We have received responses (below) from both
@michaelgove
and
@Keir_Starmer
expressing their grave concerns regarding Roger Waters’ current tour. We thank all politicians, across party lines, who have stood with the wider Jewish community on this issue.
BBC admits to editing out crucial information from ‘Is Labour antisemitic?’ Panorama.
@LondonEconomic
.
Time to End Misinformation!
Sign the open letter to BBC DG Time Davie.
I had the privilege of being with hundreds of children and adults at WOMAD festival last Saturday, all entranced by a funny, moving, warm, humane, brilliant talk from Michael Rosen. Those who abuse him are simply beneath contempt, incapable of appreciating a real mensch.
What have I learned today?
That people who disagree with me or hate me for one reason, bring into their dislike, anything they can find eg that I talk about being ill, that Bear Hunt was an adaptation, that I'm a crap writer, that my wife taking me to hospital was wrong,,,
5/6
If British folk are to "stand with Jewish people", as Fry demands, let it be with those like Alexei Sayle, whose own "alternative alternative Christmas message" suggests standing with the many Jews who have joined pro-Palestinian protests.
This is dynamite! Martin Forde KC speaks publicly for the first time about his report on racism and factionalism in
@UKLabour
. He says he resisted pressure from the BBC to remove criticism of its 2019 Panorama documentary, Is Labour Anti-Semitic?
6/6
Sayle's message quotes one of their statements: "Instead of looking to Israel to make Jews safe, we look instead to solidarity. Freedom, justice, and equality for Palestinians and Jews everywhere.”
Please share his video far and wide! .
Attempts to shut down
@rogerwaters
' gigs are part of an increasingly familiar pattern - bad faith actors using falsehood & distortion to silence artists expressing solidarity with Palestinians. Freedom of expression is precious. Defend it!
Oh the rank, stinking hypocrisy!
31 Ukrainians killed - Emergency meeting of UN Security Council condemns Russian attacks.
187 Palestinians killed - NOTHING.
How dare the West talk about freedom, democracy, liberal values & allow Israel's atrocity crimes to continue?
An entire culture, history and people are disappearing under the rubble – buried by the moral cowardice of our political leaders.
Artists whose work we will never know.
Teachers whose lessons we will never learn.
Children whose laughter we will never hear.
We must…
“There is no moral or ethical way to watch Eurovision this year.” The Palestinian boycott call deserves total support. "A shared love of music can’t rebuild hundreds of thousands of shattered lives."
@Art4PalestineUK
Looks like police thought Jews anywhere near a pro-Palestinian demo needed protecting! Just goes to show how necessary the J Bloc is, to undermine the poisonous, divisive narrative that all Jews are anti-Palestinian.
Crazy scenes at Palestine demo in London as police decide to form a cordon to block off the Jewish bloc from the rest of the march. After much protest, initially met with officers saying “you’re entitled to your demo” and “I’m just here to get paid”, the police move on to cheers
Demonstrating against Netanyahu/Sunak talks today in Westminster. Pro-Palestinian protesters were kept apart from Israelis aghast at the slide toward fascism. Nonetheless interesting conversations occurred. There can be no return to "normal" illegal settlement.
Well well. But it's not permissible to suggest there was an orchestrated campaign. Who is the audience, laughing indulgently at Ryan's admissiom of deliberate perfidy?
🚨BREAKING: Ex-Labour MP Joan Ryan admits to taking part in a media conspiracy to smear Corbyn as an antisemite. Claims Lord Austin was also involved and it was ‘deliberate’👇🤬
Organised religion is not really my bag but this is priceless. Watch out Catholic members of
@UKLabour
! You are guilty by association with His Holiness the Pope of consorting with
@KenLoachSixteen
. Your notice of termination may be in the post!
Just had a fairly hostile interview on BBC News. They are still saying that the Labour Party fostered antisemitism under Corbyn when that has been proven to be wrong. I'm fuming!
...I'm shocked that you failed to question Keir Starmer on the Today programme this morning about the content of Al Jazeera's documentaries "The Labour Files"
2/4
Unbelievable that
@glastonbury
has bowed to demands from fans of Starmer's
@uklabour
, banning a film exposing demonisation of
@jeremycorbyn
. The censors say the film conflates Zionists, Jews & Israel. No, actually, that's what they do. See it & judge for yourself.
We’re now firmly entrenched in a political culture where bullies win, either publicly or behind the scenes. And they know it. And they will keep doing it. Shame on
@glastonbury
.
Heartfelt thanks to Labour Party members in 117 - yes 117 - constituencies who have nominated me for
#LabourNEC
! Task now couldn't be clearer - unite around
#Grassroots5
candidates supported by Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and other leading socialists. Voting starts July 25.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being buried under the rubble, along with the human beings this document was written to protect.
My article for
@tribunemagazine
on the 75th anniversary of the UDHR.
4/6
I doubt that even a man as admired as Fry will elicit much sympathy, filmed sipping tea in his comfortable home, dismissing with cringe-making joviality 20,000 Palestinian dead in a passing reference to "terrible loss of life on both sides".
"Israel in recent years has been labled with the term apartheid and since the ICJ hearing, with the term genocide. How is that reported by the BBC? It isn't."
@LindseyAGerman
speaking at the
@mw4pal
rally outside the BBC tonight.
#StandWithGaza
Rather surprised at leftwing friends in high dudgeon about
@HackneyAbbott
's Observer letter. Yes she needed to apologise. Comparing racisms is wrong. But Black experience is one of constant negation, any mis-step an excuse for publicly evisceration. I can't go along with that.
Confidential email to me says my "membership of the Party stands terminated". An NEC panel concluded I had "in its opinion, demonstrated the type of support for REIST (sic), LIEN and LAW prohibited by Chapter 2, Clause I.5.B.v of the Rules." 2/5
The NEC majority who voted for Keir Starmer's motion barring Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour MP have made a "despicable, disrespectful and antidemocratic decision." Solidarity with Jeremy and his Islington North comrades! 👏👏👏
🙄 This woman has obviously been nowhere near the demonstration I was on today, with a huge Jewish bloc among tens of thousands of demonstrators opposing genocide. If you want to ban something, let it be the unleashing of military might by Israel, US & UK in Palestine and Yemen.
3/6
If Channel4 intended to counter that hostility with a message fronted by Fry, I fear it has backfired badly.
Decent people are aghast at the apocalyptic scenes they are seeing and the transparent insincerity of Israeli spokespeople claiming it is all done in self-defence.
The continued suggestion that pro-Palestine activism is a danger to Jews is unforgiveable. It sows fear among Jews, divides communities and prevents free expression of solidarity with Palestinians experiencing genocide.
Julia Bard #RefugeesWelcome #ReinstateJeremyCorbyn
The Met have said today’s demo will not start before 1.30 because of ‘unnecessary disruption to sensitive premises including synagogues’
A reminder to
@metpoliceuk
: many Jews will march today with our sisters + brothers for a
#ceasefire
#freepalestine
#stopthegenocideingaza
🇵🇸
I understand
@alexander_olly
is suffering from pressure to pull out of Eurovision. Choosing to take the right path can be tough. But I think he knows the answer. It's not too late to show solidarity with people facing physical & cultural obliteration.
Thanks
@BBCNews
for quoting
@JVoiceLabour
but we must have right of reply to Ruth Smeeth's abuse. Proves our point re intimidation of LW Jews. . None of us expelled for "beliefs about other Jews." What "appalling and abhorrent" things have we said?
What a nasty piece of work.
BBC presenter: Jewish leftwing members feel scared to attend Labour Party meetings because of "intimidation and abuse" is your message to them basically "Tough"?
Ruth Smeeth: Agrees - she then goes on to attack
@JVoiceLabour
.
Everything you allege against Waters shows his anger is directed at Israel, not Jews. But maybe you entertain the (antisemitic) belief that all Jews can be identified with the Israeli state? The Star of David on an inflatable pig thing is not even true.
@JVoiceLabour
statement calls out party's claims its "Action Plan" in response to
@EHRC
resolves all antisemitism issues. My suspension if further evidence this is a travesty. Full statement
2/2
In case anyone who follows me and who isn't deeply involved is wondering...yes, it is precisely the case that the reason people are screaming about Labour being anti-semitic today is that a Jewish woman was yesterday elected onto the party's National Executive Committee...(1/?)
Good for her, confronting Israeli denials of the ethnic cleansing we can see before very eyes. And inevitably being attacked as a Jew hater. Journalists are picketing Downing Street 6.30pm on Monday. Join us!
Bella Donita holding an Israeli official to account in January on Sky News, it was her last ever appearance.
Like Sangita Myska she was cancelled.
RT the hell out of this, we can't let anyone who stands up be cut down, and let them get away with it.
Others have already noted that if Wes thinks hard right and hard left are two butt cheeks, and he regards himself as someone who occupies the centre, that must make him ... (I'm far too polite to say it.)
No-one sent Wes Streeting the memo about more civility and decency in politics.
Or perhaps he is just incapable of either.
Politics for the shallow-minded.
Shot taken while waiting to address the mass rally for Palestine in London today. My message on behalf of the Jewish Bloc: no more genocides, not for anyone, anywhere. Stop arming & funding Israeli Apartheid!
The three episodes broadcast over the past six days demonstrate serious racist and factional abuses carried out at the highest level in Starmer's party.
I am one of those who appear in the series. Please contact me to arrange an interview.
3/4
While Starmer makes his speech at conference join us at 2pm Tuesday at The Arch, The Strand in Liverpool.Supported by Liverpool Dockers,The RMT, JVL, Stop The War, The Peoples Assembly and many more ! We are demanding- Peace, Public Ownership, Workers Rights and Democracy Now.
Heartbreaking, and terrifying. How are Jews to respond to behaviour that seems calculated to make the rest of the world hate us? Chief Rabbi Mirvis is on record praising the “outstanding” performance of “OUR valiant heroic soldiers”. No, no, no!!! Not In Our Name.
Jewish members are being disproportionately targeted in
@UKLabour
purge of the left. Read my latest blogpost explaining how appeals are routinely ignored.
Thanks
@MintPressNews
for intvu from which this video clip is taken.
@MichaelLCrick
@OborneTweets
@Peston
Very glad to see you recommending a serious article by a leading Jewish figure at Harvard Hillel explaining the dangers of alleging antisemitism instead of examining what's wrong with Israel's treatment of Palestinians. We have been pointing this out for several years actually.
Once again Jeremy Corbyn captures the reality of the situation. There is indeed a threat to democracy, from Sunak and friends, unopposed by Starmer's Labour. What next? Martial law?
Tonight Rishi Sunak warned of extremists in the Palestine solidarity movement and emboldened the Police to take more action - this was
@jeremycorbyn
’s response:
This is how
@KenLoachSixteen
deserves to be treated by media - with respect for his great anti-racist, socially significant work over many decades. Please watch and share both clips
1/2
This is horrendous from Thornberry. She is saying NOW that Israel was justified in cutting off power to Gaza after Oct 7. Supporting collective punishment in plain English. What a monstrous entity Starmer's Labour has become.
I heartily endorse what Tom says here.
@billybragg
will you respond to the invitation to meet and discuss with Jews represented in the film right wingers are cancelling?
When Britain’s 3 Jewish newspapers published the same editorial on their front page in July 2018 making the extraordinary and false claim that Corbyn was an existential threat to Jewish life in the UK, I and MANY other Jews were sickened & appalled
@billybragg
- hope we can meet
2/6
I have no doubt that the merciless slaughter of Palestinians, being carried out by an Israeli government claiming to act for all Jews, has indeed increased hostility to Jewish people in this country, and that is genuinely alarming to many.
When
@rogerwaters
, defender of oppressed people across the globe, is defamed by
@Frankfurt_City
, banning his concert and urging other German cities to do likewise, book-burning cannot be far behind.
🙏🙏🙏 Thank you
@jeremycorbyn
for supporting my
#LabourNEC
candidacy as part of
#Grassroots5
slate 👇
"The kind of brave, determined person we need on our national executive..."
Very heartening indeed. The "Campaign Against Antisemitism" (facing challenge to its charitable status) persists in scaring off venues. I'll be in Colchester tonight, where activists will gather to discuss the film despite losing venue at last minute
#resistcensorship
!
This is an incredible bit of
#solidarity
from
@ReelNewsLondon
. The Corbyn film being shown in
@glastonbury
despite everything. There’s so much caution in our movement. It’s amazing what can be done when we break out of that straitjacket. Well done, people.
Labour's manoeuvre has deprived MPs who were willing to vote for SNP's condemnation of Israel's collective publishment of Palestinians of the chance to do it, and deprived the public of the opportunity to see which morally bankrupt cowards had no intention of doing so.
Wrong on many counts. Had Starmer been championing an immediate ceasefire, there would not have been an SNP motion. As it is, by putting pressure on The Speaker & breaking parliamentary procedure, he has muddied the waters and caused chaos.
My formal complaint re
@BBCr4today
report on alleged failure by NUS to tackle student antisemitism, showing bias vs supporters of justice for Palestinians in
@bbcnickrobinson
's interviews with Union of Jewish Students President Joel Rosen and
@NUSuk
Director Kat Stark. 1/6
Jeremy Corbyn "has an outstanding record as a constituency MP and he has every right to put his name forward to the Islington North Labour party as a candidate at the next election."
ADD YOUR NAME
Musicians, writers & concerned citizens stand together against a cynical campaign of misinformation that aims to *ban* Roger Waters' shows over his condemnation of apartheid Israel
This is appalling. It will be the last straw for many Labour Party members in the north east. A hammer blow to those still clinging to the idea that "Starmer's Labour" offers hope to working class people in the UK.
I’ve been barred from standing as North East Mayor by
@UKLabour
. No explanation has been given.
I’m proud to have created thousands of jobs, fought child poverty, built affordable homes and delivered our Green New Deal. I believe in democracy. Share if you do too. More to follow.
Can't bear to watch Palestinians being shot dead. Can't bear to watch a Labour leader refusing to condemn it . The only thing that's bearable these days is decent people showing their humanity by demanding that Israel must be stopped. No more arms. No more funds.
#BDS
Last night Robert Peston asked Keir Starmer if an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian man in cold blood while he carried a white flag was a war crime. Starmer said it would be unwise to say.
Its never unwise when he's asked if Russia is committing war crimes, though.
I'll never forget sinking feeling when comedians started cracking jokes about Labour being dangerous for Jews. You think helping bury
@jeremycorbyn
project was funny?! Come on
@frankieboyle
@lucieportercomic
& friends. Time to hit back against the demons you helped unleash.
Cheap laughs at my expense from Frankie Boyle. I lost any respect I had for Boyle when he fed the antisemitism narrative against Corbyn. On his show he and his panel flounder around trying to be funny making cheap shots because an old woman is objecting to being manhandled. Dire
At last coverage of
#LabourFiles
in a mainstream outlet 👏👏👏 allbeit an
@Independent
Opinion piece. Good work Mohammed
@MSuhail0
. Now let's see
@UKLabour
treat antisemitism and all racism with equal seriousness.
Shocking bullying of a man who should be revered in a genuine party of labour. The justice system is unlikely to provide redress, shamefully.
@KenLoachSixteen
This isn't the first time that Rachel Reeves has quite deliberately & erroneously claimed that Ken Loach was expelled from Labour for 'anti Semitism'. But it really should be the last. Or perhaps this may have to be a matter for m'learned friends?
Against attempts to sow division and soaring hate crimes targeting both Muslims & Jews, the need to stand in unity could not be more important.
An honour to catch up with Rabbi Herschel Gluck about this & how we continue to weave the thread of solidarity between our communities.
A Welsh community hall which hosted Charlotte Church leading a sing-along for Palestine is threatened with a Charity Commission investigation instigated by the ill-named Campaign Against Antisemitism (which is itself being investigated by the Commission!)
Hear these voices of Jews in Manchester refusing to allow Israel to evoke the horror of the Holocaust to commit genocide in their name. Never again means never again for anyone!
(Full video on FB & Insta) Jewish Action for Palestine Manchester’ We are a growing movement of anti-zionist Jews, taking action against Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Instagram:Jewishaction4palestinemcr
Facebook: Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine
“Some union leaders are saying that an industrial dispute is not a political one …well this is a political dispute, make no mistake!
It leads to political demands.
The demand is a publicly owned integrated transport system.” -
@KenLoachSixteen
#EnoughIsEnough
#Bath
@UniteSharon
It's a reprehensible calumny to suggest Michael Rosen is in any way responsible for what happened in this most unfortunate case. Especially sickening from people who have indulged in repeated, merciless bullying pile-ons, delighting in their victims' distress. Hypocrites.
Take a look at this one again, David? You've stated in your document that the causes of suicide are multiple, complex and unknowable. Then you go through the motions of showing that you think they are single, simple and knowable. Mm?
Here's my deconstruction of the attempts to ban "Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie".
From now on, event organisers should work together with venue managers to resist attempts to curtail freedom of expression.
This important petition demanding restoration of the Labour whip to Diane
@HackneyAbbott
had to relocated because 38degrees rejected it as politically factional. Make of that what you will. Please sign and share.
German police shut down a Palestinian event in Berlin. More evidence to bolster the Nicaraguan ICJ case that Germany is complicit in Israel's "plausible genocide".
"Now it's actually getting dangerous." Watch activist Salah Said report from the Palestine Congress where police have stormed the speakers' stage and shut off the electricity.
Police descended on the congress stage as a pre-recorded speech by founder of the Palestine Land…