I was just looking round JLM's website to see if I could find any (further) 'evidence' that they re-formed specifically to target and attack Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters - ie the left - and I clicked on the section entitled 'News', which were in fact articles, and scrolled down to the bottom of the page and found that there were six pages altogether. So I clicked on the sixth page and, as such, found that the first article they ever published was posted on February 3rd, 2016, and entitled 'JLM Elects New National Executive Committee'.

The third article, posted on March 1st is entitled 'JLM NEC Meeting With Labour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson MP', with a picture underneath with the caption: 'JLM NEC Members with Labour Party Deputy Leader Tom Watson MP, 29 February 2016, House of Commons, London.' The article is very brief and consists of just five sentences, the last of which says: 'Luciana Berger MP, Louise Ellman MP and Ruth Smeeth MP also attended the meeting.' At the time of writing, there were just the three articles on that page - ie the last page.

On the fifth page there is an article posted on May 7th entitled 'Message to JLM from Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson MP', and it begins thus:

'Dear members of the Jewish Labour Movement

I wanted to write to you as the Jewish community prepares to hold ceremonies to mark Yom HaShoah, the Jewish day of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust which took place this week...'

One gets the very strong impression that this was the first occasion that Watson ever wrote to them (expressing such sentiments), and hadn't done so in previous years because the organisation wasn't in existence, and THAT of course would explain away the House of Commons meeting at the end of February.

Several articles further up the page, there is an article posted on May 19th entitled 'Key Appointments for JLM' which, in itself suggests that the group hasn't long been formed, but in the second part of the article, with the sub-heading 'Ivor Caplin to Chair JLM South East Region', it begins by saying:

'After JLM’s successful re-launch earlier this year, we are now moving on to the next stage of changing the way we organise locally'

And it then goes on to say in effect that they are setting up regional branches of JLM for the very first time, which seems odd if you've been affiliated to the Labour Party for decades! THAT's as far as I got in my search for 'evidence', but I think most people would agree that it all appears to point to ONE conclusion!

WHAT ARE THE FACTS?

Like many I have been totally confused and incredulous at the accusations of anti-semitism in the party, and so I thought deeply about it and came up with these facts:

1. Jeremy Corbyn has long supported the Palestinians and expressed highly-critical views of the behaviour of the Israeli government, and this has nothing to do with anti-semitism, which is concerned with race, not the politics of the Israeli state. If you criticise the actions of the USA and its professedly Christian government, you are not attacking Christianity, neither are you Islamaphobic if you criticise the governments of Iran or Saudi Arabia.

2. Accusations of anti-semitism have only arisen since Jeremy Corbyn became leader, after the resignation of Ed Milliband, who was a Jew himself, in common with many of Labour’s leading politicians from the past.

3. Much of this anti-semitic abuse has come on Twitter, Facebook and other Internet channels, from anonymous or other unidentifiable sources, and there is no proof that the originators of such attacks are genuine Labour supporters. It would be very easy for traditional anti-semites from the right, to masquerade as party members, and it would also be simple for those who gain by splitting Jews from their traditional support of Labour to deliberately create this anti-semitic story, and the agents of the Israeli government could easily be involved. While, of course there are always some abusers and bullies who will join in attacking those they think to be vulnerable.
4. Since the number of Labour party members has grown enormously, during the leadership of Ed Milliband and Corbyn, it must be simple for infiltrators with the aim of damaging Labour to make themselves members of the party and use such credentials on the Internet, as well as in face to face organisation of attacks on Jewish MPs and other members. Some of such acts may reflect genuine anti-semitism on the part of the perpetrators, but I think it just as likely that they are deliberately designed to stigmatise the Labour Party and persuade Jews to defect and vote elsewhere.

5. Even in times when anti-semitism was common, it was not reflected in the Labour Party. It always came from the right, and Labour members were very active in combating such views internationally and in the battles against blackshirts in the East End. This is the reason that it has always attracted many Jewish voters. None of the leading Labour politician has ever openly expressed anti-semitic views and there seems to be no evidence that long-time, traditional members have taken any part in the current abuse.

6. It is possible that there are a few members who believe in the idea that there is an International Jewish conspiracy to gain control over the resources of the world, but such conspiracy theorists are more likely to be found on the right, and if in Labour they’d hardly be likely to connect this idea with hard-working Labour MP from a working or middle-class background.

7. In short the Labour Party has always been in the vanguard in the fight against anti-semitism and Jeremy Corbyn and the leadership must be as bewildered as the rest of us in hearing of these anti-semitic acts. Therefore I put forward this view that they are the result of a deliberate perversion of the party by those who aim to destroy it and those who wish to change the Labour view of the treatment of Palestinians.

So please improve this document, if you can, and help to distribute its ideas, particularly among the Jewish community.

Kevan Myers (dancingyeti@gmail.com)

Yes, Corbyn should have gone on the offensive, unmasking the accusations as a concerted smear, but also attacking the ingrained racism of Zionism. We have seen Louise Ellman paraded on the media as a victim, taking a high moral tone, bandying accusations of intimidation and racism without once being questioned about her unflinching support for the Israeli State. We have heard from the British Board of Deputies and the Jewish Chronicle as if they are sweet, little innocents rather than apologists for a regime which can only be called criminal, which was born in terrorism and survives through brutality. From the first, Corbyn should have brought to the forth the historical racism of Zionism, including crucially its antisemitism. Most people look bemused when told that Zionism is bitterly antisemitic. Perhaps Corbyn is ill-informed about the genesis and history of Zionism. His shadow foreign secretary certainly is (see Leon Rosselson's Medium blog).
There is a vitally important question which needs to be brought into the light. When complaints about antisemitism are made to the Labour Party, how does the complainant know the person they are complaining about is a member? Complaints have been submitted for comments made on social media, in e-mails when the Party membership of the commentator was not revealed. Thus, there are only two possibilities: either inside information is being provided or complaints are being made speculatively. In either case, there is a problem. If Labour Party staff are passing details about membership to people outside the Party, that is a breach of the law. If complaints are being made speculatively then many may be about people who are not Party members. We need to know how many complaints there have been and what proportion of those complained of are members. And above all we need to know that no one within the Party is passing information to those outside who wish to do it damage.

Le lobby qui tente de nous faire taire.

Depuis des mois, de sales rumeurs remplissaient une partie importante des journaux des grands medias (presse écrite, radios et télévisions), affirmant, sans bien sûr apporter la moindre preuve, que Jeremy Corbyn et, pourquoi pas le Labour aussi pour faire bonne mesure, étaient antisémites. Plus grave, des attaques téléguidées par d’éminents représentants de la communauté juive britannique , y compris le grand rabbin du Royaume-Uni, sont intervenus dans la campagne des élections législatives du 12 décembre pour appeler à voter contre le Labour et condamner ce qu’ils appellent une « institutionnalisation » de l’antisémitisme, avec le résultat que nous avons ce matin : la défaite du Labour et le raz de marée d’un parti xénophobe.
Ainsi, le seul parti social-démocrate, vraiment de gauche, de l’espace européen, qui avait un programme pensé pour les plus faibles, concernant en particulier le système de santé, et qui dénonçait la politique criminelle de l’Etat d’Israël, a été balayé par la convergence de ceux qui défendent les intérêts du monde de l’argent et de ceux qui défendent les intérêts d’un des rares Etats qui pratique encore une politique d’apartheid envers le peuple qu’il colonise.
Il ne faut pas croire que cela ne nous concerne pas. Une résolution scélérate a été votée en catimini il y a quelques jours en France et la Suisse se prépare à voter une du même genre à son tour. D’ailleurs, la même campagne de rumeurs – faite de lâches allusions qui visent à la fois tout le monde et personne, car si quelqu’un en particulier était visé il faudrait prouver qu’il est coupable – a déjà commencé en Suisse, inoculant dans les esprits le germe malfaisant porté par ceux qui assimilent antisionisme et antisémitisme. Ainsi, à Genève, François Garaï, rabbin de la communauté juive libérale, s’est permis, il y a quelques semaines, dans le journal Le Temps, d’injurier la partie de la communauté genevoise dite antisioniste qui est fière de condamner la politique coloniale et les crimes de guerre d’Israël. Toutefois, aucun politique n’est, à ma connaissance, venu dénoncer un lanceur de rumeurs qui n’est que l’un des représentants d’une chapelle qui défend un Etat criminel, alors qu’il se veut un homme de Dieu et qui se croit encore au Moyen-Age où, en lançant ce genre de bruits, on pouvait envoyer des innocents, juifs ou sorcières, au bûcher.
Plus grave encore, car elle concerne des milliers de victimes, est la campagne menée par Canary Mission, une officine d’extrême-droite américaine, financée et dirigée anonymement, digne des beaux jours du maccarthysme, qui établit des listes noires de personnalités qui sont fichées individuellement, avec leur état civil quasi complet et leur photo (vous pouvez facilement le constater sur internet), pour les livrer à la vindicte populaire ou à celle de ceux qui, dans leur université ou ailleurs, peuvent leur nuire en les condamnant pour antisémitisme. Le but de cette association, courageusement anonyme, manipulée par Israël, est de réduire au silence les critiques d’Israël et les militants politiques qui soutiennent les Palestiniens. Deux à trois pages par personne reprennent souvent pour chacun les mêmes griefs dont celui qui revient le plus souvent d’être membre de BDS ou d’avoir soutenu BDS. On trouve parmi les accusés d’antisémitisme quelques noms prestigieux des plus grandes universités américaines ou parfois même anglaises qui, eux, ne risquent pas grand chose, alors que les professeurs moins connus et surtout les jeunes étudiants prennent, eux, de plus grands risques.
Dans une Europe où les universités et les universitaires sont beaucoup plus frileux qu’en Amérique du Nord lorsqu’il s’agit de prendre position sur le conflit israélo-palestinien (la fameuse dissertation française : thèse, antithèse, synthèse !), il ne faudrait pas qu’un régime d’allusions et de rumeurs ramène la liberté académique et la simple liberté de penser, de parler et d’écrire à une époque pas si lointaine où le « peuple le plus civilisé » du monde commençait à brûler des livres avant de brûler des enfants, des femmes et des hommes.

Jacques Pous