I agree that Starmer is trying to draw a line under this, but it’s a line they drew, made and largely concocted.
There are plenty of people calling for Maxine Peake to sue. I hope she does. Let’s see if Keir is as shit at defence as he was as a prosecutor.
Well that will help getting a Labour govt elected
Not everything should be about getting Labour elected, by trying to out Tory the Tories. This is about right and wrong. Starmer sacked Long Bailey because the Board of Deputies, who are openly supporters of the Conservative Party demanded that he did so. This won’t stop here, you don’t appease immoral vested interest groups like this by appeasing them, that just emboldens them. The BOD will feel they have the wind under their sails, they smell blood. This right wing group have already demanded that Dianne Abbott be kicked out, even Corbyn, McDonnell and others considered too pro Palestinian rights.
Do the US police forces receive training from Israeli Defence Forces? Yes they do, it’s a matter of record, it’s not as if they are even secretive about it, it’s well documented. Do the IDF practice the knee on the throat technique against Palestinian protestors, including children. Again, it’s well documented that they do it all the time.
Remember these people shoot kids and medics for sport, plenty of documented evidence for that too. The Israeli authorities may deny that they teach this technique to foreign police forces but given their brutal disregard for civilized norms why would anyone believe them?
So did US police forces receive training from Israeli forces? Yes, it’s a matter of record. Is criticism of Israeli state actions anti-semitism? No it isn’t. So no conspiracy and no anti-semitism. Starmer has used totally invented accusations to get rid of a colleague who happens to come from the opposite wing of the party. So much for healing, a broad church. This is just a way for Starmer to get rid of a potential critic in the shadow cabinet with the added bonus of showing his support and allegiance to Israel. Morally weak.
I too hope Maxine Peake sues him, after all, by his actions Starmer has openly labelled her an anti-semite. Nothing, absolutely nothing in her interview could possibly be construed as anti-semitism.
I think I read yesterday that the police were trained in counterterrorism and not the neck restraint and the amnesty document was later amended to reflect that
Peake has also retracted
Peake later said she had been wrong, tweeting: “I feel it’s important for me to clarify that, when talking to The Independent, I was inaccurate in my assumption of American police training & its sources. I find racism & antisemitism abhorrent & I in no way wished, nor intended, to add fodder to any views of the contrary.”
The Americans have had their police trained by the Israeli authorities. That’s not really in dispute. I think what you’ve got to remember here are the basic facts.
A shadow minister got sacked for sharing an Independent article. She and Maxine Peake were smeared by Keir Starmer.
Peake’s statement doesn’t change any of that. If you’re okay with a foreign lobby wielding that kind of influence, then Keir’s Labour Party is obviously for you.
Isn’t Maxine Peake now saying she got that wrong and has apologised?
I think she specifically said she did not want anything she wrote to be fodder for these theories. Search the Internet and you’ll find plenty of Israeli knees on Palestinian necks.
Given the shit anyone seems to get (yesterday being a prime example), I’d say her statement was more damage limitation than any assertion of the facts.
You decide.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/minnesota-cops-trained-israeli-forces-restraint-techniques
Neta Golan, the co-founder of International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said: “When I saw the picture of killer cop Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd by leaning in on his neck with his knee as he cried for help and other cops watched, I remembered noticing when many Israeli soldiers began using this technique of leaning in on our chest and necks when we were protesting in the West Bank sometime in 2006.
“They started twisting and breaking fingers in a particular way around the same time. It was clear they had undergone training for this. They continue to use these tactics — two of my friends have had their necks broken but luckily survived — and it is clear that they [Israel] share these methods when they train police forces abroad in ‘crowd control’ in the US and other countries including Sudan and Brazil.”
That is not disputed - what is disputed is what they were taught
Peake said they were taught the neck kneeling restraint - she has retracted that statement
Perhaps they just developed it independently and the fact that this has been used by Israeli security forces is just a giant coincidence.
Is that what you’re suggesting?
Maxine Peake’s article cited an Amnesty International report that claimed (initially) that the neck-kneel was taught to US police by Israeli security forces. The AI report has since been amended to drop that claim. This doesn’t necessarily mean that said US cops didn’t learn it from Israeli security forces, of course.
Judging by the general behaviour of US police forces, I’m not sure that they’d require much teaching from anyone in how to inflict hurt and even death on others. So, if it is a coincidence, it’s scarcely a giant one.
Finally, there’s clearly nothing remotely antisemitic in the claim that was made, whether or not it was true. Even if this method of “restraint” wasn’t taught to US police by the Israeli security force, there’s ample evidence of the latter using it on Palestinians. So to describe it as an antisemitic conspiracy theory, as Keir Starmer did, is plain wrong.
The purpose of the trip is reported to be counter terrorism training - that the israelis use the knee neck thing (which they deny is an SOP) doesn’t automatically mean they were taught it
Also if it is true then why is Peake retracting her statement - She made an assumption and conflated the fact that the police had been on a training mission to israel with the death of George Floyd.
Maybe she fancies working again.
Have you seen Penelope Cruz or Javier Bardem on the big screen lately?
It’s an interesting one. Whether or not the article was antisemitic or not, was reinforcing antisemitic tropes / conspiracy theories or not, will likely be a subjective point. But one thing is for sure (imho), Long Bailey was at the Corbyn top table for long enough, and was briefed often enough, to know what was acceptable and what wasn’t and how it would play out in both the media and the Party. Has she learned nothing of her time in the Shadow Cabinet?
Next week Israel plans an annexation of large swathes of the West Bank, totally illegally, in defiance of international law. effectively a war crime. Many Labour MPs are calling for sanctions against Israel if they go ahead. Presumably Starmer, egged on by the usual suspects, will deem these MPs to be anti-semites for daring to suggest action should be taken against the war criminals. The LFI, Board of Deputies and the State of Israel via their placemen in the Israeli embassy clearly have Starmer in their pockets. He actually stated yesterday that stamping out Anti-semitism was his number one priority. Not coronavirus, not exposing open corruption in the government, not soaring rates of child poverty and homelessness, not the increasingly wide gap between rich and poor in this country etc etc.
If the Labour Party don’t stick up for these people, who will? It’s being reported today that Starmer is going to drop the 2030 climate crisis target it adopted under Corbyn, which Starmer at the time claimed to support wholeheartedly. It is surely blindingly obvious to all but the most blinkered that the world is facing a climate emergency that needs to be addressed urgently before it’s too late. Starmer should face his responsibilities and show some leadership, not allow himself to be corralled by the same right wing climate deniers who have the Tory party in their pockets.
It’s not just Labour. It’s the Tories. It’s Trump. Going by the fact that Democrats were on about Russian influence when the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem means they’ve not got their eyes on the ball.
t’s a disproportionate amount of political influence for a political lobby for a white European colony.
People talk about antisemitism in the Labour party as if it were a new thing.
But I remember way back, when we all had to pay our Union Jews.