COMMENT POSTED TO A STORY IN THE INDEPENDENT AND THE
GUARDIAN
Britain is experiencing a ferocious outbreak of a neo-McCarthyism.
The imagined enemy in this round is not communists lurking
around in the halls of the State Department and other agencies and
institutions.
It is imagined anti-Semites lurking in the Labour Party, and
the McCarthyite pressure groups have now brought the suspension of two members.
Well, I guess if one form of attack fails, you come up with
another.
We had endless anti-Corbyn stories and comments and
interviews in the wake of Corbyn’s winning the leadership of the Labour Party in
fair democratic fashion.
It was relentless, but it failed and has somewhat tapered
off, and we can all thank God we see no more interviews with Tony Blair, a
sick, sordid man criticizing an honorable one.
But the neo-McCarthyism represents a second wave with the
same intent of criticizing and discrediting perfectly honorable people.
Why would people do this? Because Israel’s government does
not like Corbyn, just as it does not like Trump in America or, for that matter,
President Assad of Syria. The government of Israel resents independent-minded
people gaining power and wants to maintain the situation it has enjoyed under
the blood-drenched neocon crowd. Hillary is their man.
Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitism, not any more than
criticizing the old Soviet Union for its violations of human rights was
anti-Russian.
It is tiresome to keep hearing all the attempts to shut up honest
critics with a spurious charge. I think we all know genuine hate when we hear
or read it, and those who keep ranting about anti-Semitism where none exists
are far closer to the mark than the people at whom they rage.
I’ll remind readers of the honorable company that has been
at one time or another attacked in this fashion. It includes Jimmy Carter,
Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela.
This kind of ugly noise, in part, reflects unspoken shame
and guilt over the situation in Israel. There is a very great deal to criticize
about Israel, its behavior in many things violates international law and custom
and is simply appalling, and none of it is the doing of the critics pointing it
out. Instead of pressuring Israel to mend its ways, Israel’s apologists abroad
resort to a campaign against anyone who points the horrors out.
FOOTNOTE: Ken Livingstone’s unspeakable crime of saying that
Hitler supported Zionism is nothing but historical fact, and here is just one
indisputable piece of evidence:
