The Gray-Fiaz Antisemitism Saga Continues
The as-yet unpublished report on antisemitism in Newham states that "those who are directly responsible for political and institutional antisemitism in the Labour Party are generally the first to accuse their victims of aggression and disloyalty. They tend to treat antisemitism as though it is invented by Jews and they treat opposition to antisemitism as though it is dishonest, uncomradely and disloyal."
It is a pernicious form of victim-blaming. The report’s author, David Hirsh notes that the complaints made against Garfield "themselves constitute elements of the antisemitic culture in the party".
We are only aware of part of this widespread culture at the moment, but it is clear that it centres on a Facebook group run by Cllr Gray. This Facebook group, it appears, regularly hosted antisemitic contributions from councillors and Labour Party members. Hirsh refers to the tenor and tone as creating a “toxic atmosphere of antisemitism”. Gray is not accused of writing any of this himself, but he "failed to oppose antisemitism even when it was his role to do so" as the administrator of the group.
Additionally, he tried to try to broker peace between the anti-Semites and those they had attacked. When this failed, instead of excluding the anti-Semites from the group, Gray chose to exclude Garfield. Not unreasonably, it seems that Garfield was aggrieved. He has accused Gray of antisemitism.
Fiaz was also a member of the group. And her response was to do nothing. Actually, not quite nothing. It seems that Cllr Garfield was due for a promotion to the junior cabinet. She delayed this because of complaints made by some of the antisemitic comrades.
So, the Jew who complained got pushed to the back, because the people he complained about, complained about him.
Mayor Fiaz is seeking to recover her anti-racist credibility by way of emails to the Labour Group condemning antisemitism. Unfortunately for her, it all seems to be a bit late.