While appalling bigot Kevin Myers tells anyone who will listen - he’s been on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke to apologise and admit that his career as a pundit is probably over - that he isn’t really anti-Semitic and has a high regard for Jewish people, the tendency of the pundit establishment to open mouth and insert boot on the subject has been continued by the Mail on Sunday’s not at all celebrated blues artiste Whinging Dan Hodges.
He's desperate, Dan
Hodges has significant previous when it comes to cynically adopting the right-leaning press narrative - that since Mil The Younger resigned the Labour Party leadership after the 2015 General Election, the party suddenly came over all anti-Semitic. Hence his response to Shlomo Anker’s request “hi Dan, cud u stop using Jews as a political football. some jews, including supporters of Corbyn dont appreciate ur comments”.
To that, The Great Man sneered “if you want to be Jeremy Corbyn's useful Jewish idiot, you go right along”. So it should have surprised no-one when, in the wake of Myers’ disgusting weekend screed, he had another of his I-know-everything sneers, this time at journalist Michael Segalov, following the latter’s reaction to the Myers rant, and the attempt to hijack the narrative for personal gain by the singularly unpleasant Stephen Daisley.
“For months we have been bombarded with bullshit accusations of anti Semitism, and people like this prat have yelled about how they care … They told us they were trying to protect us, we were too naive to understand. They said we were being tricked by ‘the left’. Used. Had … And now when actual antisemitism appears, from the right (who, let's be honest, are the ones with a history of attacking Jews) - silence” noted Segalov.
He also asserted “FWIW I've said this before and I'll again. I've had nazi salutes in my face, slurs, abuse, all sorts. Always from the right. Never the left”. Hodges, true to form, decided that Segalov was lying. Because he knows everything. “‘I've had nazi salutes in my face, slurs, abuse, all sorts. Always from the right. Never the left’. Hmmm, again…” he sneered knowingly. Segalov was unimpressed.
“In short Dan's new mantra is that anyone who is still in Labour is enabling anti-Semitism … that's right - a bloke who is not Jewish has decided to call me and thousands of other Jewish Labour members 'anti-semite enablers’ … when we faced down fascists in Dover, in Brighton, in Tower Hamlets, in Burton on Trent etc, was ur boy Dan there standing alongside us? no … when The Times today published a full on anti-Semitic rant did @DPJHodges demand people be fired, an investigation? no”.
Still it didn’t sink in, because Hodges already knew he was right, and anyone taking issue with The Great Man was therefore wrong. Sam Kriss tried to impress on Hodges that anti-Semitism from the right was far more endemic than anything from the left, and asked him “are you going to actually listen to this or are you going to keep instrumentalising jews for your own narrow political ends?” Hodges waved that away with “‘antisemitism from the right is far more endemic’ it isn’t”. Kriss had another go.
“Are you basing this on your own long experience of being jewish in public life?” he asked. “Nope, I'm basing on the fact anti-Semitism on the Left is endemic” sneered Hodges. Because he knows it all already. And he’s not just cynically manipulating the issue as part of the press and pundit establishment. I mean, perish the thought, eh Dan?
Hodges, as usual, still hasn't twigged that when you throw mud the evidence is all over your hands.
ReplyDeleteIn his case it's all over his face too.
They really are getting desperate out there on the far right. Hysterical, even.
Oi vey!