Israel lobbyist groups are getting hysterical about the Green party

The UK Israel lobby has resurrected the anti-semitism scam it used against Jeremy Corbyn and the left. It involves all the same usual, ugly suspects and is, again, coordinated with its ‘mainstream’ media allies.

Only this time the target is the Green party and its members – and the political context makes the smear a laughing stock.

What smears are Israel carrying out now?

The Mail, Telegraph and others, predictably, are all too ready to amplify the shrill accusations and showcase the pearl-clutching as a string of Israel lobbyists target the Greens. If such a thing is possible, it has started even more wildly and desperately than the first time around. The Mail screams that the Greens are about to vote on a motion that would “make it party policy to back Hamas terror attacks” and would “EVEN brand leader’s mother a racist”. More honestly, the Torygraph admits who is behind it all, blaring that:

Israel condemns ‘hateful and racist’ Greens.

Both – happily the Telegraph is paywalled – then roll out the all-too-predictable string of Israel lobby groups. These say they are, oh shock and horror, appalled that the Greens’ conference is about to vote on a motion that would recognise support for racist Israel as, oh woe, racist. Worse, it would recognise the legal right of Palestinians to resist “by all available means”, including with arms.

Pay attention

The dishonest framing is quite something to see. The Mail’s is worse, but it’s quite a close-run thing. It claims that the motion would be:

saying that the Palestinians have a right to armed struggle and we should support it.

Not quite. The Palestinians already have an internationally recognised legal right to resist occupation, including taking up arms. This remains true even though UK courts under Keir Starmer have, shamefully, tried to tell juries they must ignore international law. This even means that, while Palestinians have the absolute right to armed resistance, Israel has no right to use violence against them because, as international law expert Ralph Wilde told Al Jazeera, “There’s no defence against defence”:

But how dare the Greens hold a vote to uphold international law, eh? The very idea is anti-semitic! At least – without mentioning the international law bit, of course – that’s what the string of Israel lobbyists would have us believe.

Enter Corbyn

Israel lobbyist and anti-traveller hate-communicator John Mann ranted that it’s so anti-semitic it makes even Corbyn look “moderate”. He got so frantic he seemed to be finding every possible way to say the same thing over and over and wanted the Greens to go back to building windmills instead of worrying about international law:

It’s a support for terrorism and overt racism against Jews. There is no ambiguity. It’s from the extreme margins of politics.

This is well beyond anything that happened during Labour under Jeremy Corbyn. This makes Corbyn look like a moderate.

Advertisement

The crank element that even Corbyn was worried about has entered the Greens en masse. It’s also about as far away as from Green politics of the past as is possible.

Greens used to be about stopping fossil fuels and nuclear power and building wind farms. Now hate is bringing members surging into the Green party.’

Israel-funded lobby group the (misnamed) ‘Campaign against Antisemitism’ (CAA) has boasted of its role in Starmer’s unlawful ban on anti-genocide group ‘Palestine Action’. It screeched that the Greens must not just reject the motion but expel its movers:

The Green Party seems poised to recycle history’s worst hatreds. Not only should this motion be refused consideration, but those who proposed it should be expelled from the Party.

Board of Deputies

The Zionist ‘Board of Deputies’ (BOD) says that it exists to promote Israel’s interests. Unsurprisingly, it howled that the motion is “hateful and racist” and claimed it called for the “destruction of Israel”.

And both the lobby groups and the rags targeted Palestinian artist Lubna Speitan for daring to propose the motion. But that’s not news, that attack has been going on for weeks, since the Israel lobby first got in a twist about it:

But this is not 2017-19, when so many in the UK were terrified of being called ‘anti-semitic’ for opposing Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians or standing up for Palestinians’ legally-recognised right to resist occupation. That terror made Corbyn’s Labour terrified of calling Antisemitism Scam 1.0 the scam that it was. Instead, from Corbyn down, they gave in to the Israel lobby’s narrative and demands, turning on those who spoke up.

Now, the UK and the world have watched almost two and a half years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We have seen the exposure of its constant, shameless, self-entitled lies – about 7 October 2023, about bombing hospitals, shelters, tents, aid trucks, ambulances, about starving Gaza and targeting children. And journalists. And their families.

Now, we know that if Israel or its fans are speaking, they are lying. We know that standing up against Zionism’s hate, racism and murder is not anti-semitism. It is to be human and decent. We have seen that thousands of Jewish stand against the slaughter and against Israel and its crimes.

So for all the lobby’s pearl-clutching and wishing it so, so all the amplification of media and politicians, nobody who matters is fooled. Even the racists aren’t fooled – they just act like they don’t know they’re lying. We do. It won’t be ‘deja vu all over again’ and they can cry into their (culturally stolen) hummus.

Well done to Lubna Speitan and all who support the motion. Well done to the Greens too, if they pass it as they should.

Featured image via the Canary