mainstream lies Israel
anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, antisemitism, BDS, Labour Party, The I/P conflict, UK, USA

Why the mainstream is to blame for the antisemitism crisis

Antisemitism spread through the left like a tsunami through city streets. It may have entered via radical minority groups on the fringes, but as it hit the shore, there were no defences in place. Nothing to stop anti-Jewish sentiment moving from constituency to constituency. For decades, the mainstream has flirted with anti-Zionist activism. They have justified racist boycotts and supported the demonisation of the ‘Zionist’. They stood silently, as people wearing keffiyehs, turned every meeting into one that spread lies about Israeli actions.

Even staunch opponents of antisemitism will begin each sentence with a statement suggesting they ‘don’t support the Israeli government’. Sending an unspoken message that implies those demonising Israel are right. That Israel is indeed guilty of all it stands accused of. The mainstream allowed for the image of Israel as pariah to spread – so when antisemitism hit – there was no way to stem the tide. Anybody who stood up to shout down antisemitism, was accused of defending the indefensible.

The ‘it is just to stop criticism of Israel’ excuse has been given some level of legitimacy by major political players across the spectrum. Does this sound like ‘conflation’? Of mixing up antisemitism and Israel? Yes? Good, because it was meant to.  Anybody today who suggests the two issues are entirely separate understands *NOTHING* about antisemitism at all. Which is at the heart of the entire problem.

Antisemitism as anti-Zionism

Antisemitism is embedded in the roots of anti-Zionist activism. Hitler wrote that Jews promote Zionism only because they ‘want a refuge for convicted rascals and a high school for future rogues’. Early opponents of Zionist activity frequently relied on anti-Jewish hate with tragic and devastating consequences. Those seeking support to oppose Zionism, found fertile ground in the sewers of global antisemitism. And the best part about antisemites? You can say whatever you like about the Jews and it will be believed.

Anti-Israel activity is a pyramid of lies. That is not to say that the Israeli state doesn’t overstep or make mistakes. It simply means what it says – most of what Israel stands accused of – is entirely false. And this trend is not new, it has been drip-feeding for as long as Zionism has been active. Sometimes, during conflicts such as 2014, the drip turns into a flood, but even during relatively quiet moments, the tide continued to rise. Another article in the Guardian, another documentary on the BBC, a few more viral videos – or a singer attacked for performing in Israel. The daily news feed that paints Israel as some type of pariah state was spread throughout the mainstream. Like spreading kindling in the dry forest.

From the street corner to Westminster

Take ‘Inminds‘ or the ‘Palestine Return Centre’. Inminds is an Islamist group fronted by a rabid antisemite, who publicly uses hashtags such as #jewnitedstates. Inminds are regularly on the streets of the UK, spreading lies about Israel. The PRC are little better, often gifted rooms at Parliament to hold their meetings. At one, I heard lies spread about Jewish money buying MPs votes. At another, I heard the Jews blamed for the Holocaust. The largest of the UK’s anti-Israel movements is the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. It was shown to be a cesspit of antisemitism. The PSC frequently share articles based on lies and distortion. Every anti-Israel group is guilty of spreading lies and all these groups receive political support.

And campus? How many times have I reported on vile lies about Israel being spread to students on campus? Lies dressed up as academia, whether in Exeter or Cork. There is no attempt to tell the truth. Images are placed on a screen, and then a story is told and the audience simply laps it all up. Israel as Apartheid, Israel as racist, Israel committing Genocide, Israel committing ethnic cleansing. Lie after lie, year after year, until the image of Israel in the mainstream no longer resembles the reality of the Israel that exists.

The normalisation of the lie

Wherever the Palestinian flag has been raised in the UK, lies have accompanied it. It is astonishing that ‘Israeli Apartheid week’ is even a thing on campus. A celebration of demonisation and lies that infects the minds of students. But why feign surprise? A Professor of History can openly state it is sometimes important not to tell the truth and nobody even blinks. Ilan Pappe as ‘liar‘ is paid to teach our students.

These lies became so normalised, very few can even recognise where the lines are anymore. Where boycotting Israel is opposed it is primarily because it ‘singles out’ Israel for punishment. Once more providing a tacit acknowledgement that the underlying accusations are true. In this fashion even staunch supporters of Israel have become tainted. BDS should be opposed because it:

  • seeks the destruction of the only democracy in the Middle East
  • uses lie after lie to support a non-existent case
  • dresses a radical Islamic maximalist position up as a humanitarian cause

Yet the ‘singled-out’ argument is the one most often heard. Why? Because the mainstream has been pumped so full of lies about Israel, it cannot distinguish democracy from radical Islamic terrorism.

From mainstream press to the politician

How many times has the Guardian misled its readers about Israel? The BBC? Each media outlet in turn has for decades promoted absurd distortions.

In the 1980s the PLO were seen as extremists. Then Hamas were the extremists and the PLO the moderates. Then the PLO were transformed into the victims, with the extremists, Israel & Hamas, battling it out. Today some take the next step, portraying Hamas as the victims of extremist Israel. This shift in vision has been thoroughly promoted in western media through an entire pyramid of lies. Everyone to some degree is tainted, some just further along the spectrum than others. Today, when someone speaks the truth about Israel, they sound like right-wing fruitcakes.

This is not to attack Wes Streeting but to use him as an example. Wes is considered a friend of Israel. This is Wes at a meeting in Parliament, sitting in front of the distorted ‘map’ that tells 1000 racist lies:

the mainstream pushes the lies
photo credit: Richard Millett

Wes would never sit in front of a map of the UK that had areas marked for ‘black people’ and the rest marked as ‘British land’. He would find the image racist, repugnant and instantly call it out. But so far have these lies become normalised in the mainstream, that Streeting, a friend of Israel, can sit in the same room as a map that does exactly that to the Jews. The people who organised the meeting – ‘Labour Friends of Palestine’ – yet another group who spread lies to all those who will listen.

Enter Corbyn and Omar

The mainstream for decades has been flirting with the lies. Israel ‘might be’ an Apartheid state, ‘could be’ worthy of boycott and is ‘possibly’ committing Genocide. Incorrect terms like ‘illegal occupation’ are thrown about like confetti. The distortions promoted by the ‘red-green’ alliance became embedded in society. This created an environment of ‘Israel as global Jew’ where all the classic antisemitic slurs thrown traditionally at Jewish people, are now directed towards the Jewish state.

What should have been blatantly unelectable was no longer visibly offensive. Corbyn’s election in the UK and the recent victories of those like Ilhan Omar in the States are just symptoms of a moral compass that has lost all bearing. David Hirsh wrote recently about the union of hard-left antisemitism and misogyny, that form ‘hateful unions which are worse than the sum of their already frightening parts‘. Anyone who has trouble understanding Hirsh’s statement, should check out the Twitter feeds of both Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman. Two Jewish women, who by bravely standing up against racism became targets of this brutal union. The attacks against them are as vile as they are relentless.

Defenceless

When these ideologies surface in the political mainstream it is natural for Jews and their allies to stand up against them. A cross-party union of political opposition should have been simple, but it wasn’t. By having permitted this demonisation of Israel to spread unchecked, the mainstream had rendered itself defenceless against the antisemitic tide. What is antisemitism? What is Zionism? If Israel is the pariah state, then being a Zionist – which includes over 90% of Jewish people – means you support Genocide, ethnic cleansing and every other false accusation thrown against Israel. Any Jew standing up to oppose the lies, is accused of defending the indefensible. After all, when a Jew protests even the most ludicrous of conspiracy tales, they are doing so simply to stop criticism of Israel. Nobody asks the most basic of questions – is the criticism justified in the first place? Like a rabid medieval lynch mob attacking the house at the bottom of the hill, Israel’s guilt is automatically assumed.

This distortion has fully embedded itself in the mainstream. That’s not the fault of Corbyn, it is the fault of everyone who has lied about Israel and created the landscape for Corbyn to arise in the first place.

 

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70 thoughts on “Why the mainstream is to blame for the antisemitism crisis”

  2. “Wes would never sit in front of a map of the UK that had areas marked for ‘black people’ and the rest marked as ‘British land’.”

    Would you, David, sit in front of a map of Israel that had areas marked for ‘Arabs’ and the rest marked as ‘those with Israeli statehood’?

    1. You seem a little confused there Mike.
      For starters, There are no areas in Israel that are marked ‘those with Israeli statehood’. I live in Israel and I have not seen them.
      Secondly, there are 1.7 million Arabs with Israeli Statehood who are permitted to travel anywhere they like within Israel. Do you know how many Jews have Palestinian “citizenship”? 0. The Palestinian Authority has made sure it has ethnically cleansed itself of Jews. It has also stated that no Israeli Jew can live in a future Palestinian State. Israeli Arabs can, but not one single Israeli Jew.
      Thirdly, Israelis are not permitted to enter Palestinian controlled areas A & B. There are signs warning Israeli citizens to keep out or risk death.
      Fourthly, would you give statehood to Arabs in the UK? There are already areas where Anglos have to watch their behaviour, dress appropriately and talk deferentially. Where is the fallout from Rotherham? Why were the Police so reluctant to take action? Why is it politically incorrect to challenge Muslim behaviour, but denigrating Zionism is considered essential in demonstrating leftist affiliation?

      1. Unlikely as it seems Les, Mike knows exactly what he’s doing here and it has nothing whatsoever to do with expressing real opinions. I assure you that he couldn’t give two shits about Arabs or their welfare nor the under-age victims of Muslim grooming gangs in the UK or anywhere else. He and his associate Stephen, who also posts here have one function and that is to place roadblocks in these threads to deflect from sincere discussions about Jew hatred prompted by David’s blog. Any old bollocks will do as long it creates a brief distraction.

        Their concern is that people will read this blog and give more sympathy to Jews and Israel. They’ve said as much. It’s a clumsy tactic but in this weird world of social media that all they’ve got. It just becomes a numbers game to them and they’re probably paid to do it. As long as they keep chucking shit under the train they reckon that even if they don’t de-rail it they can at least slow it down.

        Just for a giggle and because I have time on my hands I’m putting together a Bellers ‘n Mike “Best bits” going back 18 months or so. I want to post it somewhere to show what online antisemitism looked like around now. It might get them a summer season in Rotherham or Rochdale.

      2. Hi Les, seems your knowledge(or lack of it) has tripped you up.

        For starters. Have you missed that the Israel(where you live) Nation Law declares that ‘The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.’ Netanyahu himself, who also lives in Israel, writes “Israel is not a state of all its citizens,”
        and “According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.”
        No statehood for the non-Jews.

        Secondly,as shown above the DO NOT have statehood. Yes, the PA is also at fault here with its racism, that Israel has now
        employed. Can’t argue with you there. Can’t
        see there EVER being a Palestinian state given that Israel is mulling annexation. Just hope they then introduce one-man-one-vote.
        Can’t see that happening either.

        Thirdly, no-doubt that restriction is to safeguard Israeli citizens. The IDF can enter anywhere at any time. THe PA has limited
        control over the area. Their rulers are Israel.

        Fourthly, Arab citizens in the UK DO have statehood, alongside Jews, Jedi, Christians etc.You suggest “There are already areas where Anglos have to watch their behaviour, dress appropriately and talk deferentially.” Fox News reader? The behaviour of some
        Muslims is disgraceful as it it in ALL societies. Zionism itself is a racist endeavour and ALL racism should be resisted.

        1. “Zionism itself is a racist endeavor…” from the KGB straight into your peanut sized brain, Farmer.
          Farmer hated Israel before the long before the Nation State Law. Zionism is a response to racism and persecution at the hands of Christian and certainly Muslim imperialists who treated Jews absolutely abysmally in our own ancestral homeland. Farmer thinks that’s just fine and things should revert.

  3. Hey Mike, weve had some fun with you today and it seems very unsporting to kick a fella when he’s down. Nonetheless you were very clear in the previous thread that the antisemites in the film clip only said “Hitler didn’t kill no fuckin’ Jews” because they were misinformed and added that it was actually because of Israel. There seems to be quite a lot of misinformation going round today. What’s your take on this bit of confusion from a member of the British Labour Party who seems confused about his Jews and his Guatamalans?
    https://mobile.twitter.com/grahamemorris/status/1120360164316545026

    Can you clear this one up as well Mike just for the record?

    1. I didn’t know that I’m down today, Ian.

      Meanwhile, yes, it seems that Grahame Morris has embarrassed himself with the tweet. Well, soldiers abusing children … whatever were they thinking? Anyone who does that certainly couldn’t claim to be the most moral army in the world. I’d hate the think that IDF soldiers would do such abuse on children. Sure there’s no film of them doing so.

      1. That really is the thrill of social media for Mr Morris and for you Mike. Neither of you are troubled by the burden of proof. Just write it once or twice and then, in the absence of any helpful evidence, post a film of something else and say ‘here’s the proof’ When you get rumbled just shrug your shoulders and start again. Naturally, you & Bellers can’t do that in the public arena for obvious reasons so you’re trapped in this virtual world of inert activism where the only possible outcome is a few bob for your time and effort.

        I doubt that this will be your last word on the subject. It certainly won’t be mine.

    2. Conversation goes along the lines of …

      T. You have a lot of Palestinian flags here. Why?

      ‘Cause we support ’em.

      T. Why do you support the Palestinians?

      The fucking Jews.The Jews, ’cause of the Jews.

      They’re scum , killing children.Killing bairns.

      Tenenbom notices a band with Free Palestine on it

      T. Where’d you get it?

      Hitler didn’t kill enough Jews. We didn’t think that at the time but … Jews, the scourge of the world.
      ________________________

      I attributed to these words Israel’s constant mantra ‘Israel is the Jewish State’.

      To me the reason for their words is the vile actions of Israel which they map directky to Jews under the mistaken view that Israel is the Jews.

      The “HDKNFJ” I think is down to one of them having an ‘Edward sense of humour’ or thinking that he personally didn’t. You may know otherwise.

      My last words to you on this … if you’re still vexed … pray for assistance.

    3. I am one of “the fucking Jews” who converted from White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. I was a barbarian warrior, and now I’m a spiritual superstar for G-d. Though every cell in my body comes from Britania my soul comes from the base of Mount Sinai 37,000 years age.

      1. Self-identifician is refreshing, Samuel. David’s blog consists of his identifying others as rabid, antisemitic, hater etc.etc.

  4. Couldn’t agree more. Simon Cobbs and Denison are the real leaders of the ” community”.

    The Inminds bit is interesting . She had it coming right ? 0:)

    1. And your blah blah blah continues unabated

      When will you answer those questions I posed about some of your more ridiculous and outlandish commentaries of yore

        1. The thing is Richard if I answered the questions you have in mind you would then want an argument about Israel. I don’t do arguments about Israel, it is a road to nowhere. Israel isn’t for arguing about. This is David’s big error. It is for watching as it slides inevitably into hell under the weight of its internal contradictions. Just like the Roman Empire, the Soviet Union, and apartheid South Africa.

          Of course if we can give it a little nudge, then that can do no harm

          1. Nice return of the slogan archive Bellers. Much safer than letting Mike loose on some of those touchier issues on the last few blogs. He doesn’t pull off pretending to have opinions quite like you and gets into all sorts of bother.

  6. “This created an environment of ‘Israel as global Jew'”

    Hilarious.

    It is Israel itself and the likes of David that forever push the ‘ Israel is the Jews’ mantra. Bibi describes Israel as the home of all world’s Jews.

    As such when Israel is criticised for its actions the same people claim that it isn’t Israel being criticised but the Jewish people, an easy vehicle to claim such criticism is antisemitism.

    1. Farmer runs around telling everyone that Israel and Jews are separate and then tells you how bad Israel is and blames it on the Jews.
      Farmer’s not just any old antisemite, he’s a neurotic one.

    1. Making stuff up … Jews … mmm.

      I think that the only two people making things up on this blog are David and yourself, both Jews I believe, one of whom certainly receives money for his blog contribution.

      I suspect that you yourself made Aliyah from the planet Zog.

            1. Flew higher than your level of comprehension, Ian … and alone too … as usual.

      2. Just say, funny that David slags off the ‘mainstream’ when the mainstream has helped in his vilification of Corbyn based on unfounded allegations that this blog swims in issue after issue after issue.

        Funny ol’ world.

  11. Stephen

    Thank you for being so candid about why you follow Davids blog

    In your own words, for anyone who may have been confused about your presence here, they can be in no doubt that you are here to insult Israel, Jews and Judaism as a pastime

    Always nice when you tell the occasional truth, so that those that are unfamiliar with your commentary have it from the pigs mouth

  12. Mrs Stephen: (on mobile phone) ” You’re sure he doesn’t suspect anything..?”
    Mrs Mike: ” Not a thing. I told him I was off to mums for the week to help her decorate the best room. You?”
    Mrs Stephen: ” Residential course with work. He barely lifted his head from his laptop; muttering away to himself, something about building pyramids or something with your old fella.”
    Mrs Mike: ” Gawd, if they rumbled us. There’d be murders. Last year I forgot about the henna tattoo on my back with the Israeli flag and the lion. Lucky old droopy draws insists on keeping the light off in the bedroom. ”
    Mrs Stephen: ” Sod ’em both I say. I don’t mind them having a little hobby and if it wasn’t antisemitism it’d be something else. But they’re not gonna keep us from another Yom Haatzmaut on Dizengoff Street, not after last year….if you know what I mean. ”
    Mrs Mike; ” Dead right doll. You’ll never see falafel balls that big this side of Sokolov Square. Are you sure we’ll get away with this.?”
    Mrs Stephen; ” Yihiyeh b’seder sister. Remember; I know him better than he knows his own wife.”
    Mrs Mike; ” Tee hee.”

      1. It’s not bad but I am wondering if it is worth a week of sleepless nights. I know you probly won’t be taking advice from someone that wants to gas every last Jew but here is some anyway. You need to learn how to keep your effort in some kind of proportionate relationship with likely effect and impact. I personally think that the optimum is often a one liner. Less is more

        Poor old Marat, in you we trust. You write til your eyes are red as rust……

        https://wp.me/P5W2a1-121

        1. That you feel the need to use your words on a vicious genocidal ZioNaz like me makes all the sleepless nights worthwhile Bellers. Did Mike like it too?

  13. Stephen

    Its your paid profession
    What else are you here for
    You certainly don’t add anything to the discourse
    So what else are you here for then

    Chag Samaech on our wonderful holiday celebrating freedom from the multitudes of Jew haters. PESSACH

    1. You are confused, Richard. It is David tgat is the paid professional? here.

      p.s. what makes a ‘Jew hater’?

      1. What makes a Nakba?

        A bunch of puny Jews defeating 5 mighty Arab armies (none of which was an army of an existing “pal-e-STINE”?\

        Happy Nakba!

        1. Mmm. What makes a Nakba?

          The deliberate brutal ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians civilians from their homes by massacres, rapes and destruction of their villages by well-trained (by the British who had also armed them) Jewish militia to ensure a Jewish majority young Israel perhaps.

          Seems Edward finds brutal cleansing and murder amusing.

          Does he find the Holocaust, where over 17 million souls perished to cleanse the world of the undesirable, some of them Jews(est. 6 million) also a subject for sport? Quite possibly.

          1. Mike, just had a call from the owner of Oz Cabs. His fare, a Mrs Mike, left her “10 best bars in Tel Aviv” Guide in the back of the cab. She also put the thirty quid on your account. He wants to know where to return the Guide and whether you’ll be settling with cash or card.

    2. There are two issues here. What I am here for and what I have said I am here for. You said that, IN MY OWN WORDS ( emphasis added ) I am here ” here to insult Israel, Jews and Judaism as a pastime “. That is an empirical statement. Can you point us in the direction of those words.

      1. There are actually four issues here. What you are here for, what you said are here for and what you said that you aren’t here for and what you didn’t say what you aren’t here for. Is it any wonder that Mrs. Stephen’s leading a double life? Luckily, I can point her in the direction of EL AL departures.

          1. You and Mike were doing your two hander shtick. Didn’t want to miss it. It’s always entertaining.

  14. “Rachel Riley and Tracy Ann Oberman. Two Jewish women, who by bravely standing up against racism….”

    Can David provide us with Rachel’s courageous opposition to the Nation Law or to Bibi’s statement “According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it……” in her crusade against racism?

      1. You two scamps can ask the gals when they get back from their ‘trips’.

        As Mrs. Mike said “there’s nowt like actually going somewhere to form an opinion on it.”

  15. “Wes is considered a friend of Israel. “?

    Wes considers himself a friend of Israel …. as do Berger, Ryan, Hodge and many others. Would that explain their continued undermining of the Labour Party or even Hodge’s foul-mouthed lying attack on Jeremy Corbyn?

    1. Mike, you may want to moderate that offensive tone towards women or else dont be surprised if Mrs Mike continues to make her own holiday arrangements.

  16. The “many others” does of course include Watson and Kinnock(who self-identify as males).

    You’d think they had no desire to be elected and halt the crippling austerity that has destroyed the lives of so many struggling families, or perhaps that’s not their first concern.

    Surprised that yourself, being Jewish, have leanings towards feminism, Ian.

    1. Look Mike, we have learnt to accept your antisemitism (obviously not speaking for Mrs. Mike here) but misogyny too? Not very on-message for your sort. Hope you’ve checked with Bellers before posting this sort of thing, pseudo political posturing notwithstanding.

      1. Naw, Ian, YOU have learnt to see ‘antisemitism’ in every comment. You have fallen for David’s hasbara and false sightings.

        Misogyny … that’s what I was expecting of you before your previous post. Cheers.

  17. The crack about Jews and Misogyny has definitely made my “Bellers ‘n Mike; The Best Bits” I just can’t work out whether to put it in with the “Far less heinous” section, the “hard won freedoms” or the bit where you rigidly defend the lads who said “Hitler didn’t kill no fuckin’ Jews”.

    Anyway I’m sure there’s more quality stuff to come, so no need to decide just yet. Thanks for being a good sport.

    1. Just found it ironic that you would suspect me of misogyny.

      My profound apologies if you have no truck with Judaism.

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