Even Labour Zionists Fight Shy of Mentioning Israel!
Well what do you know? Of the nearly thousand posts I have done, the post I did on the New Labour Zionist and Opportunist, Luciana Berger, who was parachuted into the working class Labour constituency of Wavertree has proved the most popular! It wasn’t the best researched by far, but I guess it threw certain members of New Labour into a panic at the thought they might lose the seat.
However Scousers today aren’t a patch on when I lived in Liverpool. They’re gutless romantics living on past glories, with no sense of their own traditions. Time was when working class MPs like Eric Heffer and Terry Fields strode the political stage and Militant controlled the Council and the Dockers the docks. Today scousers are a joke, a throwback to better times and that is why New Labour was able to place this turncoast scabbess in a safe constituency. Wavertree was once the fiefdom of reactionary Liberal David Alton and before that the Tory’s Anthony Steen held the seat (yes the Tories, who can’t even get a councillor elected now, had MPs and once controlled the Council!). But that was before Steen was displaced by Liverpool fire-fighter and jailed poll-tax rebel Terry Fields.
But Lucian is not only a Zionist scumbag but a coward to boot. In order to protect her career and knowing which way the wind blows, she hasn’t even raised Israel on her own blog or in the House of Commons!
Tony Greenstein
By Marcus Dysch, Jewish Chronicle, September 15, 2011
Britain’s youngest Jewish MP, Luciana Berger, is facing criticism over her record of defending Israel since being elected to Parliament.
Ms Berger, 30, was Labour Friends of Israel director for three years before stepping down last year to fight her election campaign in the Liverpool Wavertree constituency.
There was an expectation that she would be a leading pro-Israel voice in Parliament.
But critics say there is a feeling within the city’s Jewish community and among Israel supporters that she has steered clear of raising the issue in order to protect her career.
On her website Ms Berger describes her former role without mentioning the word “Israel”. The “about Luciana” section of the site states: “Before being elected I ran a not-for-profit campaigning and education organisation which works for peace in the Middle East. “
Ms Berger has not mentioned Israel on any occasion while speaking in the House. She declined to comment, but the JC understands she staunchly defends her pro-Israel efforts. It is thought she feels “unlucky” not to have been called to speak during Foreign Office Questions.
The description of LFI on her website is the same as one used by the group under her directorship. She is now a member of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians and the Jewish Labour Movement.
Labour Palestine group comes of age
By Martin Bright, May 17, 2012
On Monday, Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East held its annual parliamentary reception. The usual backbench phalanx was there, including Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Burden.
But the organisation has undergone a renaissance under Ed Miliband’s leadership. It is no longer the fringe group of the Blair-Brown era. Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan spoke from the platform . Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna and Labour rising stars Anas Sarwar and Lisa Nandy were also there, along with former
Communities Secretary John Denham. With a few exceptions, this is Ed Miliband’s inner circle.
It was a significant moment when Labour backed Palestinian statehood at last year’s conference. But many considered it to be a cynical attempt by the leadership to distance itself from New Labour foreign policy. It is now clear that this was a genuine shift.
Manuel Hassassian, the head of the Palestinian General Delegation to London also spoke at the event and is known to be delighted that senior Labour politicians are happy to refer to him as “ambassador”. There is a new compact with Labour, which means the Palestinian delegation is no longer at the mercy of fringe politicians and the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
There was a time when an ambitious young member of the Labour Party was well-advised to join Labour Friends of Israel but from Monday’s turnout it is now clear that Labour Friends of Palestine is the place to be seen.
Should supporters of Israel be worried? It is now 18 months since Ed Miliband became Labour leader and a shift in foreign policy priorities hinted at during his leadership acceptance speech has now established itself. Miliband is not Tony Blair but neither is he viscerally hostile to Israel, as his speech to Labour Friends of Israel earlier this year demonstrated.
Sunder Katwala, head of the British Future think tank and former general secretary of the Fabian Society has long argued that Labour politicians should agree to address meetings of LFI and LFPME only if they are held jointly. We are not quite in this utopian territory yet, but as LFPME enters the mainstream of Labour politics, supporters of Israel within the party will have to reassess their relationship to this increasingly influential group.
