Why is Watson so concerned about ‘anti-Semitism’ when he supported Phil Woolas whose election campaign tried to ‘make White folks angry’?
Dear Tom,
I listened with rapt attention to your conversation with Lee on LBC. You said that you were determined to stop Labour ‘being stained by the stench of racism’ and that you would ‘not resile from driving out anti-Semites from my party.’
You stated that ‘one anti-Semite in the Labour Party is one too many” and expressed your anger that Luciana Berger was ‘bullied out of her own party by racist thugs” I assume you were referring to the Jewish Chair of Wavertree Labour Party Dr Alex Scott-Samuel?
You stated that this was Labour’s “worst day of shame” in its 120 year history. I must confess that I recall a few other days that were even more shameful than when Luciana Berger, fearful that she was going to be deselected, cried ‘anti-Semitism’ and then jumped ship.
I am referring for example to the (Kenya Asians) Commonwealth Immigration Act decision of the Labour Government in 1968 to remove the right of Asian passport holders to come to this country, despite the promises made to them in 1963 at the time of Kenyan independence. The right of White settlers to enter the UK was preserved. This was passed after a campaign by Duncan Sandys and Enoch Powell. So shocking was this act of naked racism that even Tories such as Iain Macleod, Michael Heseltine and Ian Gilmour voted against it. If this pandering to Powell and the National Front has escaped your mind then I refer you to Mark Latimer’s article in the New Statesman, When Labour played the racist card.
There was however a time when genuine anti-Semitism was rife in the Labour Party but this was amongst the Fabian Right. Sidney Webb, later the Colonial Secretary Lord Passfield, observed that ‘French, German, Russian Socialism is Jew-ridden. We thank heaven, are free.’ His explanation being that ‘there is no money in it.’
What the Webbs said paled in comparison to Clement Attlee who chaired a Cabinet Committee on Jewish Refugees. Government policy was summed up in a telegram to Lord Halifax on 8th January 1943 expressing concern that Nazi policy might change ‘from the policy of extermination to extrusion.’ Eleven days later Attlee told the Commons that there could be no relaxation in the immigration rules and that ‘efforts to save the Jews cannot be simply British efforts.’ [Auschwitz and the Allies (pp. 110-11) Martin Gilbert]. What he meant was that no effort would be made.
If you really think that the whining plaints of ‘anti-Semitism’ by Blairite Berger was Labour’s worst ever day of shame then it is clear that your resignation is long overdue. The Labour Party has very many things to be ashamed of but the present synthetic ‘anti-Semitism’ is not one of them.
Leaving aside Labour’s shameful record in respect of Jewish refugees from Nazism there is the Attlee government’s super-exploitation of the African colonies and Malaya. There is the decision of Tony Blair to go to war in Iraq in 2003 at the expense of a million Iraqi lives.
If racism is your primary concern then why do have nothing to say about Islamapobia or racism against Black people? How do you explain your decision to abstain on Theresa May’s 2014 Immigration Act which introduced the hostile environment policy? When an opposition abstains this means it supports the government. There were just 6 Labour MPs who voted against this Act and you were not amongst them. Why does the Windrush scandal not trouble you?
In your exchange with Lee you purported not to understand the connection between the fake ‘anti-Semitism’ narrative and support for the Palestinians. I am happy to explain. Luciana Berger was Director for 3 years of Labour Friends of Israel. You were Vice-President of Trade Union Friends of Israel. If you are having to defend the abominations of the Israeli state, a state that its own Prime Minister says is a state only of its Jewish citizens, then it is easier to accuse its critics of ‘anti-Semitism’ than to have to justify Israel’s behaviour.
Last Sunday, Israel’s Ha’aretz published the testimonies of Palestinian children who have been gaoled, ‘Endless Trip to Hell’. What happens to Palestinian children never happens to Jewish children. This is a state of affairs usually described as Apartheid. However your voice has never been heard because you spend your time as an apologist for Israel’s Occupation.
Khalil Zaakiq. Meged Gozani
Khalil Zaakiq a 13 year old boy, described his ordeal.
“Around 2 A.M. someone knocked on the door. I woke up and saw a lot of soldiers in the house. … The commander called Uday, my big brother, told him to get dressed and informed him that he was under arrest. It was the third time they arrested him. My father was also once under arrest. Suddenly they told me to put my shoes on too and go with them.
“They took us out of the house and tied our hands and covered our eyes. We went like that on foot to the base in Karmei Tzur. There they sat me on the floor with hands tied and eyes covered for around three hours. At about 5 A.M., they moved us to Etzion. On the way there in the jeep they hit us, they slapped me. In Etzion, I was sent to be checked by a doctor. He asked if I had been beaten and I said yes. He didn’t do anything, only checked my blood pressure and said I could stand up to an interrogation.
“My interrogation started at 8 A.M.. They asked me to tell them which children throw stones. I said I didn’t know, so the interrogator gave me a slap. The interrogation went on for four hours. Afterward, they put me into a dark room for 10 minutes and then took me back to the interrogation room… After an hour, Uday and I were moved to Ofer Prison. I didn’t sign a confession, neither about myself nor about others.
“I got out after nine days, because I wasn’t guilty of anything…. My little brother, who is 10, has been really afraid ever since. Whenever someone knocks at the door, he wets his pants.”
Palestinian children detained by Israel – stripped and in the sun – this is what Watson and his LFI friends support
Israel’s abuse of Palestinian children was debated in Parliament in January 2016. Introduced by Sarah Champion it was based on a UNICEF Report based on 400 testimonies which found that the ill-treatment of Palestinian children by the Israeli military was ‘widespread, systematic and institutionalized’.
None of this stopped two Labour MPs, Louise Ellman and Ian Austin, repeatedly interrupting other MPs in order to defend Israel’s military. This is why, when you pretend not to understand the connection between anti-Semitism and Palestine it’s difficult to believe you.
I also fail to understand why, when John McDonnell called on you to return half a million pounds from Max Mosley (son of Oswald), a disgraced tycoon and a racist, who called for immigrants to be offered “financial inducements to go home”. you did not return the money?
Some of the donations to Tom Watson – most of them were from Zionists
Speaking of donations you have received, in the past 3 years, a total of £50,000 from Sir Trevor Chinn, a prominent Zionist and owner of Kwik Fit and £30,000 from Sir David Garrard, a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and now TIG as well as £4,500 direct from LFI.
Yvonne Davies (left) the woman that Tom Watson bullied
On 13th September 2018, Skwawkbox published a story about Sandwell councillor Yvonne Davies whom you bullied because she didn’t want to continue St George’s Day parades that were being used by the BNP. Yvonne proposed a family-friendly ‘party in the park’ event instead but you went to the newspapers who quoted you as explaining what had happened was just “high spirits.” Yvonne said that your harassment got worse over time and that you were behind attempts to get her deselected as a Sandwell councilor forcing her to move outside your constituency to escape your bullying. How do you reconcile your friendliness to the BNP with your opposition to anti-Semitism?
On 26th February, the Board of Deputies, a Zionist group, complained that Chris Williamson had booked a room in Parliament for a Jewish Voice for Labour screening of Jackie Walker’s WitchHunt, accusing Williamson of “trolling the Jewish community” even though Jackie is Jewish and JVL are a Jewish group. You reported this to the Chief Whip and General Secretary. Why?
On 27th February you demanded that Chris Williamson be suspended for claiming that the Labour Party had been ‘too apologetic’ over false claims of antisemitism. You said “If it was in my gift I would have removed the whip” from Chris Williamson. Nothing Chris said was anti-Semitic and you know it. Why did you try to suppress this film?
On 11th March, the Spectator revealed that your new ‘Future Britain Group’ had registered its website on 18th February, the very same day The Independent Group (TIG) was launched. Was this a coincidence or more evidence that you are coordinating with TIG?
Other relevant facts include the fact that:
- In 2003, you voted in favour of going to war with Iraq and you have consistently voted against an investigation into the war.
- In 2004, despite your apparent concern with racism, you were responsible for putting out a nakedly racist leaflet that said “Labour is on your side – the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers”
- In 2009 it was revealed that you had claimed the maximum £4,800 allowance for food in a single year and that between 2005 and 2009, you and Iain Wright claimed over £100,000 for a central London flat you both shared.
- In Oct 2016 you abstained from voting on a Labour Party motion calling for the UK to withdraw support from the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. Why?
Leon Brittan, Anti-Semitism and allegations of Child Abuse
In October 2012 you made allegations about a paedophile network that had been protected by their Parliamentary connections involving a close aide to a former Prime Minister. Although you refused to mention any names publicly there was one exception to this, Leon Brittan. Why?
As you know Brittan was continually dogged throughout his career by ‘an undercurrent of anti-Semitism.’ This was summed up by Harold MacMillan who described Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, as being ‘more Old Estonian than Old Etonian.’ Eventually you were forced to apologise for your unsubstantiated allegations and description of Brittan as ‘evil’. What explanation is there, other than the fact that he was Jewish, for your attacks on Brittan?
Phil Woolas
Phil Woolas was a Labour MP and Immigration Minister who was infamous for being an opportunist with no fixed principles. He met his comeuppance after the 2010 election, which he won by 103 votes, for making false allegations that his Lib-Dem opponent supported Islamic terrorism. After the election Elwyn Watkins complained of Woolas’s lies and was quoted as saying:
“Woolas is trying to portray this as me being antisemitic. I’m not antisemitic at all. He has taken something and tried to make it something it’s not.’
The BBC reported that a special election court found in November that Woolas had knowingly lied about his Liberal Democrat rival, Elwyn Watkins in the weeks running up to the General Election.
Woolas’s leaflets accused Watkins of pandering to Muslim militants. In an email disclosed during the hearing, Woolas’ agent, Joe Fitzpatrick wrote: “If we don’t get the white folk angry, he’s gone.”
The court found that Woolas’s chosen method for achieving this was to suggest there were Muslim extremists who advocated violence against Woolas and that Watkins was attempting to seek their support.
In November 2008 Woolas attacked lawyers and charities working on behalf of asylum seekers, accusing them “playing the system” by taking legal action. You might have expected Tom Watson to have been the first to call for the expulsion of this racist shit. Not a bit of it.
In Tory lies, Lib Dem lies, Phil Woolas and a mystical shaman of truth you described the Court’s decision as ‘one we will all regret’. You stated that:
‘I’ve lost sleep thinking about poor old Phil Woolas and his leaflets.’ He felt ‘like a piano has been dropped on my head. It is the most brutal truth of all – the realisation that you are on your own in politics. When the shit storm hits, you have no allies. Being a member of Parliament is a lonely, solitary, dangerous life….Truth and Lies. They said Phil lied on a leaflet. He lost his job because of it.
It’s hard to believe that this is the same Tom Watson who won’t rest until the last anti-Semite is driven out of the Labour Party! There is only one explanation. Tom Watson is motivated, not by anti-Semitism but a love for Israeli Apartheid!
Tony Greenstein
