Is What Ken Livingstone Said Really Anti-Semitic?

Have a listen to the relevant part of the interview on something called the Vanessa Felz Radio Show and decide for yourself:

 

Following the interview a Labour MP called John Mann confronted Livingstone, calling him a ‘Nazi apologist’. After that Livingstone was suspended from the British Labour Party with approval of Jeremy Corbyn, the under-siege leftist leader of the party.

Ken Livingstone

Ken Livingstone

Apparently what the former Mayor of London had to say about the Hitler-Zionist pact is historically accurate and he gave his interview to defend Labour MP, Naz Shah who was also suspended from the party, also charged with anti-semitism for criticisng Israel.

Here is what Livngstone had to say before and after the remarks in the recording above:

She’s a deep critic of Israel and its policies. Her remarks were over-the-top but she’s not antisemitic. I’ve been in the Labour party for 47 years; I’ve never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. I’ve heard a lot of criticism of the state of Israel and its abuse of Palestinians but I’ve never heard anyone say anything antisemitic.

The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and there’s one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but it’s like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government.

Was this a genuine bout of anti-semitism or one or both of two other things: a) a convenient stick which the Blairite wing can use to beat Corbyn and edge him closer to his ouster as leader, or (b) one more effort to label any and all criticism of Israel as anti-semitic (the real target being the BDS movement, of course)?

 

5 responses to “Is What Ken Livingstone Said Really Anti-Semitic?

  1. The comments that Naz Shah (which thankfully she has retracted) made about relocating Israel to America said everything. There has been a problem for years with people on the left using anti-semitic tropes such as the Blood Libel and Zionist control of the media in their support for the Palestinian cause as well as drawing Nazi anologies with Zionism.George Galloway and Ken Livingstone are just two of the more notorious proponents of these views.

    • I don’t understand your point. And i suspect neither do you……

      • Just read the amount of “Zio-Nazi” epithets on pro-Palestinian bulletin boards to get the essence of what i mean. And the allegations that Israel set up ISIS and, along with Al-Queda, were responsible for the sarin gas attack in Gouta, Syria in August 2013 which Galloway made in the House of Commons. And the comparisons between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto which Galloway, Livingstone and their ilk frequently make. All of which andf more are about the delegitimisation of the State of Israel. You get my drift now.

      • Perhaps one reason for such claims is that there is a bit of a track record there, inasmuch as Hamas owes its existence to Israeli intelligence, nurtured as a counter to the PLO. Having done it once you must expect some people to claim it has been done again, along with other dirty tricks, even if some of the claims are far-fetched.

  2. The ‘Haavara Agreement,’ (transfer) agreement. Details below:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haavara_Agreement

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