First it was Corbyn. Now the whole British public is being smeared over Gaza

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[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

For the best part of a decade now, the British establishment has been weaponising antisemitism against critics of Israel, claiming as its biggest scalp the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Last week, that same establishment campaign plumbed new depths. Now it is not just the left wing of the Labour Party - traditionally critical of Israel for its decades of oppressing Palestinians - facing demonisation. Large parts of the British public are finding themselves being smeared too - and for the same reason.

For months, many hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of London each week to demand that the UK stop its complicity in what the World Court ruled recently is plausibly a genocide being committed by Israel.

Britain is supplying Israel with arms, giving it diplomatic cover at the United Nations, and has effectively joined Israel in its aid blockade. The UK has frozen funds to the UN’s main aid agency, Unrwa, a last lifeline to the enclave.

But those demanding that international law be upheld - and castigating the political class for failing to do the same - are now finding themselves demonised as potential terrorists.

Already, the talk on both sides of the Commons - and in the media - is of the need for new police powers, curbs on the right of the public to protest, and further security measures to keep politicians shielded from the people they are supposed to represent.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Starmer has opened the floodgates to a moral panic in which the people of Gaza are forgotten, except as bit players in a smear campaign to silence those calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal bombing and starvation policies.

In the current climate, it was largely unremarkable that Paul Sweeney, a Labour member of the Scottish parliament, made headlines accusing Gaza protesters of "storming" his offices and "terrifying" his staff - until Scottish police investigated and found no evidence for his claims. The police described the demonstration as "peaceful", an assessment confirmed by a reporter for the Scotsman newspaper who was present.

But more to the point, no one expressed concern for the safety of Corbyn, Labour’s elected leader, or his supporters when they were being subjected to a years-long campaign of vilification. He was variously painted as an antisemite, a Soviet-era spy, and a traitor.

When British soldiers were shown using Corbyn’s face as target practice, it made fleeting headlines before being forgotten.

There were no demands for soul searching then, as there are now. There was no panic about the stoking of a dangerous public mood. There was no concern about the threat to democracy or the safety of Corbyn and other MPs who spoke out against Israel.