A new Israeli campaign against Corbyn

The Israeli occupation state recently announced that Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, is an enemy of Israel and an anti-Semite. It also said things about him that even a drunk wouldn’t say.

The new Israeli campaign is a continuation of the fierce movement launched by the occupation state in September 2016, when he won the leadership of the Labour Party. Corbyn is known for his solidarity with the Palestinian cause and Arab issues, and the British Labour Party is also known as the largest political party in Western Europe.

Corbyn has sought solidarity with our people for many years and still does until today. He had vowed, on several occasions, to work to impose a ban on the sale of weapons to Israel. He has also attacked the policies of Israel throughout the 34 years of his membership in parliament, and has repeatedly expressed support for the boycott of Israel. He also visited Gaza in 2014.

Corbyn is a brave man and has voted 553 times in parliament against the party’s position. Despite this, he won the presidency of the party with 61.8 per cent of the votes. He had voted against Britain’s participation in the Iraq war, he is pro- nuclear disarmament, and against British control of Northern Ireland. He was also active in Amnesty International against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and was arrested in demonstrations against Apartheid South Africa. He is against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Read: The Corbyn anti-Semitism row reveals how desperate Israel and its lobbyists are

The campaign against Corbyn in Israel is back and fiercer than ever because of the possibility of him forming the next British government and the decline of the Theresa May government in many economic issues related to the lives of the British people. Therefore, the Israeli media has made Corbyn a target in order to discredit and defame him, of course supported by the Conservative Party, the Jewish lobby groups in Britain, the rabbis, and the so-called “Zionist left” parties.

As part of the campaign to incite against Corbyn, a statement was issued by the Israeli Labor Party spokesman (which in some Arab circles is considered a moderate party!), in which he said, “Corbyn is an anti-Semite and an enemy to the Jews, not only in Britain, but in the entire world.”

A member of the British Labour Party, Peter Willsman, responded to him by saying that the rabbis who accused his party of being anti-Semitic were “Trump fanatics”. This indicates that the Netanyahu government issued the order to launch a large-scale campaign against Corbyn. Indeed, the Jewish establishment in Britain and its allied propaganda agencies signed an agreement to thwart the election of Corbyn, who, in their view, is “an anti-Semitic man and the Labour Party is anti-Semitic”, and that the lives of the Jewish people in Britain are in “existential danger”.

Journalist Gideon Levy who writes in Haaretz newspaper, who is known to have somewhat of a conscience, asked why “Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ leader who called to kill millions ‘like Hitler’, is a welcome guest in Israel – and Corbyn is the enemy of the people.”

Read: Attempts to smear Corbyn as an anti-Semite ignore Israel-Nazi comparisons made by Jews

He reaches the conclusion that “anyone who wants to see the world take action against the Israeli occupation should dream of Corbyn,” adding, “Corbyn is a staunch, consistent opponent of Israel’s occupation policy. That is his right; as a true leftist it’s his duty.”

It is worth mentioning that Corbyn said a few days ago in an article in Britain’s the Guardian, “I will root anti-Semites out of Labour – they do not speak for me People holding those views have no place in the Labour party.” He also tweeted, “Netanyahu’s claims about my actions and words are false. What deserves unequivocal condemnation is the killing of over 160 Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces since March, including dozens of children.”

It remains to be said that the war of genocide waged by the occupying state against us as Palestinians and Arabs since before its establishment and until now is a war that is considered clearly aggressive in most countries of the world. There are growing voices supporting the rights of our people and our nation, but unfortunately, we are not supporting these voices and we do not have plans to extend bridges of cooperation with them!

We recall what British author Ethel Mannin, author of “The Road to Beersheba” said in 1955 that Arabs are “the worst defenders of the fairest case”.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 16 August 2018

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.