Jeremy Corbyn Must Defend Chris Williamson Instead of Appeasing Tom Watson

It is time to remove Jon Lansman – he is a stalking horse for the Right

What is happening over the restoration of the whip to Chris Williamson is outrageous. He was duly tried by a panel of the National Executive. The Right are not happy with the decision and are therefore demanding that the verdict be annulled. It’s like the prosecution having a second bite of the cherry in a court case.

Naturally the Jewish Chronicle targets a Black member of the panel which heard Chris Williamson's case

118 MPs and peers have demanded that there should be no political interference in decisions regarding anti-Semitism, blithely unaware that that is exactly what they are doing.  Once again Jeremy Corbyn, instead of defending Chris Williamson and stating loudly that he is not anti-Semitic, has pathetically restated that he is not an anti-Semite.

We should use the list of 118 (minus about 25 Lords) as a target list for deselection.  These are people whose first loyalty is to the Israeli state and Britain’s pro-American foreign policy rather than to any conception of socialism.

The Independent's headline is no different to the Daily Mail's

For over 3 years the Zionist lobby and the Jewish Labour Movement (who are one and the same thing) have mounted campaigns against a whole series of targets.  Each time Corbyn and Momentum, in the form of Jon Lansman have given way. Each time the Israeli Embassy lobby, which is what the JLM is,  have simply increased their demands. Now even telling the truth about the Israel lobby is ‘anti-Semitic’ (thus equating Jews with Israel and Zionism).

Sobel is  member of Labour Friends of Israel and should have been suspended after this tweet below

Why has there been no suspensions over a tweet welcoming the murder of Palestinians?

Even though an undercover Al Jazeera documentary The Lobby gave clear and unambiguous proof that the Israeli Embassy was deeply involved in penetrating the Labour Party and using dirty tricks.

If Corbyn had called out the weaponisation of anti-Semitism from the beginning then he would not have faced the past 4 years of hell.  If he had said ‘yes, I condemn anti-Semitism but I also condemn the false allegation of anti-Semitism against supporters of the Palestinians and anti-Zionists’ he would have lanced the boil. Instead the Zionists have been encouraged at every stage.

Corbyn e has apologised, appeased, wavered and conceded, looked hesitant and uncertain whilst displaying no appreciation or understanding of what was happening.  It is obvious, as I stated 3 years ago in a series of speeches, that what was happening was an example of state destabilisation.  It was clear to me even then that the ‘anti-Semitism’ allegations, which began with the Daily Mail were not spontaneous.  They bore all the hallmarks of similar campaigns in other countries.

This is what the fake 'antisemitism' campaign is really about

We had an example of that when an unnamed General said at the beginning of Corbyn’s tenure that the army could not allow Corbyn to endanger the security of the realm.  Then we had a ‘charity’ the Integrity Initiative being funded to run a dirty tricks campaign and then last month there was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stating that the US would not allow Corbyn to come to power unhindered.

For too long the Left has assumed that the allegations of ‘anti-Semitism’ were made in good faith.  Jewish people like myself and Jackie Walker were expelled.  Black anti-racists like Marc Wadsworth were expelled.  Asa Winstanley, a journalist on Electronic Intifada has been suspended for writing a series of stories on the destabilisation campaign of the Jewish Labour Movement and the Israeli Embassy. Ken Livingstone was driven out.

Phil Woolas - the racist Labour MP that Tom Watson defended

Tom Watson defended 'poor Phil' and lost sleep about it

We have the absurdity of Tom Watson of all people leading the charge against Chris Williamson on the grounds that he is concerned to fight ‘anti-Semitism’. Watson is an out and out racist.  He defended Phil Woolas, a Labour MP who in the 2010 General Election ran a campaign which aimed to ‘make the White folk angry.’ The High Court removed him as an MP for electoral offences yet Tom Watson, instead of condemning this racist former Immigration Minister spoke of how he had lost sleep over ‘poor Phil.’

Or Margaret Hodge, who defended and covered up for child abusers when leader of Islington Council and who was even sent a bunch of flowers by the BNP for espousing their policies of giving council houses to white people only, is leading the ‘anti-Semitism’ charge.

But what is worse is that our so-called friends, people like Jon Lansman, the unelected leader of Momentum, have attacked Chris Williamson.  Lansman has worked with the JLM and defended them throughout. Despite the fact that the JLM are the self-proclaimed ‘sister party’ of the racist Israeli Labour Party.

If one good thing comes out of this Lansman has exposed himself.  Anyone who defends him now is of the Right not Left.  Likewise Owen Jones who has supported the suspension of Chris Williamson.  Jones is and always has been a fair-weather friend of the Left.  He too has befriended the JLM whilst pretending to be a supporter of the Palestinians.

Another media leftist Ash Sarkar has revealed her true colours in also joining in on the attack on Chris Williamson.  What this whole episode has revealed is the weakness of the Left.  Not one MP as far as I’m aware has come out in support of Chris Williamson.  The so-called Campaign Group of MPs has remained silent.  The cowardice is damning.

Can you imagine Tony Benn having remained silent whilst this witchhunt was going on or Eric Heffer?  The reality is that the present left MPs have no class consciousness or really any different politics from the rest of the Blairite rabble in the PLP.  Virtually none of them have any experience of trade unionism.  Their socialism is academic at best.  How else to explain the silence of Richard Burgon, Dianne Abbot, Cat Smith, Lloyd Russell Moyle, Ian Lavery and Laura Pidcott?

But whereas the MPs have show utter timidity it is the rank and file members of the Labour Party who have shown their support for Chris Williamson.  Most members know that he has not made any anti-Semitic comments or remarks.

Tom Watson defended 'poor Phil' as well as supporting accusing the Lib Dems of being 'soft' on asylum seekers

The fact is that those leading the charge against Chris are the same MPs who refused to vote against the 2014 Immigration Act which introduced the ‘hostile environment’ policy which led to the Windrush deportations. The concern for ‘anti-Semitism’ against a privileged white community is in stark contrast to the actual racism against Black people.

What racism have Jewish people experienced?  A few anti-Semitic social media posts at worst.  No one has died from a tweet.  Yet hundreds of people, some of whom have died, suffered from Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’ policy.  In 2014 how many Labour MPs broke the whip to vote against the Tories Immigration Act?  Just 6 – Corbyn, McDonnell, Abbot, Kelvin MacKenzie (also suspended).

This is the extent of the hypocrisy over the fake and false ‘anti-Semitism’ allegations. 

Defending Chris Williamson is essential to defending the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party.  Unfortunately Corbyn himself is incapable of recognising the fact that throwing Chris overboard won’t make him stronger but weaker.  Appeasing the Right doesn’t make them go away they just become emboldened.

That is why the defence of Chris Williamson is, despite Corbyn’s cowardice a defence of Corbyn!

Tony Greenstein