Antisemitism in the Party of the People?

Two years ago local Labour stalwarts were rocked by the resignation of Cllr Josh Garfield from local Momentum. It was much covered in the press.

As time went by, this former arch-Corbynite began to lose confidence in the ability of the Dear Leader to make any changes. The multiple allegations against some of his West Ham comrades were rejected by the administration in Corbyn’s Party.

Since then, in the ‘woke’ Labour Party of today, Garfield asserted that not just antisemitism, but racism, sexism and hostility towards people with different sexual identities was not a peripheral issue, but was now ‘mainstream’. This is in the party that has abandoned class politics and embraced contemporary identity politics. If the self-styled champions of every minority have mainstreamed the assorted hateful phobias and isms, what help is there for the party? 

Here’s how he announced it on Twitter

According to activists, antisemitism has worked its way into the heart of the local Labour Party.

The February 2019 meeting of the West Ham General Committee broke up in disarray and acrimony. Dr Bob Gill from Momentum and various health related front organisations had been invited to speak about the NHS. Instead he chose to attack the very idea that there might be those in the Labour Party who are anti Semitic. Building on the argument put forward by the, now suspended, Chris Williamson MP, Dr Gill launched his own attack on those who suggest that the modern Labour Party could be anti-Semitic. 

Whilst this narrative found favour amongst some of those delegates present, Cllrs Terry Paul and Josh Garfield took exception and began the argument with Gill which caused the involvement of largely Muslim members who supported Gills assertions. The resulting disarray saw the meeting terminated early amidst confusion and much vitriol, largely from the a faction led by Mahmoud Mirza. 

Such was the disharmony that West Ham GC members were instructed to agree a Code of Behaviour that had to be read out at the beginning of every lesson, sorry, meeting. 

This is not without irony, as we understand that Saunders and a Momentum clique displayed similar behaviour causing the early closure of the WH AGM in 2016. The outraged Momentum comrades staged a near riot to prevent a vote on a motion of support for the MP, who had voted to change the leadership in the largely forgotten Vote of No Confidence which saw 172MPs vote against Corbyn whilst he could muster only 40 to vote for him.

It’s not just West Ham.

There appear to have been a number of friendships and comradely alliances built between members of the Newham Labour Party and those expelled from the Labour Party for anti-Semitism.

This fraternal Momentum gathering snapped by Newham WTF shows Cllr Moniba Khan. But there are also her husband, suspended ex-councillor Obaid Khan and former Group Chair Cllr Suga Thekkeppurayil  in the embrace of Mahmood Mirza (now expelled for anti-Semitism); perched behind them is one Roger Silverman, one of six West Ham members reported for anti-Semitism to Corbyn’s Labour Party. Moving along the couch sits former MP Chris Williamson (now expelled for anti-Semitism) with his raised arm around “pro-Palestinian” activist and wannabe councillor Zain Miah. Close by sits another Momentum stalwart and another person expelled from Labour for antisemitism, one Jackie Walker. Given that the Labour Party was so slow and reluctant to identify and rid itself of its anti-Semites, its remarkable that they managed to get so many in one room at the same time.

Latterly, the Jewish Chronicle noted with some concern that West Ham MP, Lyn Brown had urged members of West Ham GC to support Roger Silverman in his quest to become a member of Labour’s NEC. Silverman was formerly a leading light in the Revolutionary Socialist League and Militant, the entryist Trotskyist group expelled from the Labour Party during the 1980s.

Silverman had been active in defence of disgraced MP Chris Williamson, but in this he was not alone in Newham Labour. Silverman belongs to that part of the Left which sees Mossad as the author of every problem. And the problem around antisemitism, according to Silverman, was not that either Corbyn or his fellow travellers were antisemitic, but that the Israeli diplomatic service were behind attempts to smear him. 

This is the parallel universe of the far left in today’s Labour.

Brown it seems, simply wanted the West Ham GC to support candidates from different wings of the party who wished to be elected to the NEC, Silverman and Paul. In seeking to avoid alienating any section of her home CLP this meant that she, unwittingly or otherwise, urged her GC to vote for a pro-Zionist right winger and a ‘hard line anti-Zionist’. Great. A real example of leadership.

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