The cycle continues: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reaches out to his critics, including Britain’s Jews, and in return receives a pile-on of dismissal, claims of insincerity, and forthright abuse. In the vanguard of the pile-on is our free and fearless press, ensuring that whatever Jezza does, he cannot do right for doing wrong.
And when it comes to press critics of Corbyn, no-one does the criticism more thoroughly than the Murdoch press, as witness this week’s lame attempt by the Times to link him with the KKK - yes, the “story” that the Sun ran this time last year. So it should come as no surprise to see Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman entering the fray.
Shippers is the doyen of shippers of bull
Here is Shippers’ latest shipment of bull: “Labour complains the press is out to get them. All most political hacks want is to cover something that observes basic professionalism. Corbyn put out his piece as the Sabbath began and cut and pasted chunks of it. Amateur hour … And before you Corbynistas all come at me, I've written more than anyone else about the various ways this government is a rolling clusterfuck as well. Both of our main political parties are an embarrassing shambles”.
So let’s pick the bones out of that. “Corbyn put out this piece”. Wrong. The Guardian published it. “As the Sabbath began”. Wrong twice. One, it’s Shabbat, and Two, the piece was published at least two hours before Shabbat. Also, it will be available after Shabbat ends. “Cut and pasted chunks of it”. Two things here. One, they are his words, so what? And Two, Shipman’s sister paper the Times just cut and pasted a year-old Sun hit job.
It gets worse. “Corbynistas”. Term of abuse. Real grown-up journalism, then. And “I’ve written more than anyone else about …” Yeah, and most of it was crap. Lame appeal to authority. Meanwhile, Michael Rosen had some reminders for Shippers and his fellow shippers of bull which they might find less than totally comfortable.
“Great to see the press so vigilant about antisemitism and so alert to the nuances just as they were when they themselves pumped out stuff about Ed Miliband, bacon sandwiches, traitor father, two kitchens and how, y’know, he didn’t look, y’know, normal … ‘Hello I’m from the press. When Labour has a Jewish leader, we use antisemitism to pull him down . When Labour has a pro-Palestinian leader, we use antisemitism to pull him down. Using antisemitism in this way is not antisemitic. Of course not. Trust us.’”
We won’t be hearing anything from Shippers about that any time soon. And at least one Labour supporter didn’t buy this latest confected row. “Shabbat began at 20.45. This went out at 17.30. I very much doubt Corbyn was able to dictate to the Guardian what time they were going to put it out, but even if he did, it still wasn't ‘as Sabbath began’”.
Moreover, those Jews who were allegedly unable to respond to Jezza’s article were, er, doing just that, as another Tweeter pointed out. “Enjoying Stephen Pollard [editor of the Jewish Chronicle] tweeting furiously on the Sabbath that it was anti-Semitic of Corbyn to publish a statement 6 hours before the Sabbath”. Bit of exaggeration on the time of publication - but the point is well made.
Labour may need to do more to tackle anti-Semitism in its ranks. The press may need to do more to stop spraying their credibility up the wall. I’ll just leave that one there.
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5 comments:
Shipman?
Another gutless jobsworth bought-and-paid-for far right Murdoch hack.
That'll be the same Murdoch who gave you Hillsborough lies for 30 years and page 3 nudes to garnish them.
Shipman and his like stink out the gaff with their cringing hypocrisy. But after he's gone there'll be another one along in short order.
Some people would sell their own mother in a coffin to please Murdoch. Shipman's just one more Uriah Creep module of them. Not worth a carrot.
The appaling Dan Hodges has been tweeting that you are either on the side of Jews or on the side of Corbyn. His nasty aggessivness is repulsive.
I'm Jewish and had a couple of UK non-Jewish friends turn on me in the last few weeks claiming "we" demand a special place in British life and seeing we are only a small minority who they now see as privileged as we all basically live in (nice) Jewish ghettos and are fairly insulated, that we have become the biggest bloody moaners in the country while rarely being the physical butt or suffer discrimination via antisemistism, that they are simply tired of our endless whinging.
It's all nonsense of course but it becomes so tiring trying to battle these simplistic and ignorant claims. I believe that there are probably millions of Brits who may now think the same.
I will never forgive those who have over exaggerated incidents of antisemitism (and asking for examples draws a blank apart from the odd moronic local council member saying something stupid). Creeps like "Tommy Robinson" are ignored by the so-called Jewish "leaders" and newspapers. Actors like the Jewish Board of Deputies praised the election of Donald Trump who has unleashed real Nazism in the USA yet ignore this troubling movement as it spills over into the UK.
And yes I remember the real vile antisemitic attacks upon Ed Miliband and the deafening silence of the Jewish community.
And even as Haaretz Newspaper publishes a claim by Bibi Netanyahu (oddly dated 2015) who says Adolf Hitler was not responsible for the Hollocaust the quislings who claim they represent Britain's Jews remain silent but foam at the mouth because Ken Livingstone said something similar but certainly nowhere as bad as Newanyahu's hideous lie. They have gifted the community probably another decade of hatred by these damaging campaigns where they seem to think millions of citizens cannot see how politcial it is. A pox on them. It's every man for himself now. There is no Jewish "community".
Meanwhile, Dan Hodges's mum is Glenda Jackson, who occupies a granny flat in the bowels of Chateau Hodge. Must make for interesting dinner table conversations. Mind she's no Rosa Luxemburg.
My invisible friend is better than your invisible friend, and I will put you down on that basis.
The sooner we regard these myths, fairy tales and beliefs as the fiction they are, originally designed to keep the little man under the thumb of mother church, the sooner we can move on.
That said there should be no reason to favour one invisible friend over another, even by those of us who have no invisible friend, unless that invisible friend wants its followers to to live in a deliberately hate filled manner (like the Westboro Baptist Church and their version of that sci fi classic - The Bible).
Anonymous 16:45
Please, don't go off topic and start ranting like a common Dawkins. Anti-Semitism is too big and dangerous a subject to start going off on tangents not related to the subject.
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