In 2010, Britain’s current Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, hosted an event which facilitated a tour for a shadowy group called the “International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.” The entire event was predicated on Holocaust revisionism, and revolting comparisons between Israel and the Nazis. During the course of the event, one of the speakers likened Israel’s defensive measures in the Gaza Strip to the Nazi treatment of Jews in the Holocaust. Such outrageous comparisons amount to nothing short of Holocaust denial, yet Corbyn, who was a relatively obscure member of parliament at the time, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the rancid speaker.
Eight years later, Corbyn, who is facing increasing criticism for failing to address mounting anti-Semitism within his party, apologized. “I apologize for the concerns and anxiety that this has caused,” he said. Corbyn’s faux expression of contrition, eight years after the fact, is a case of too little, too late.
Corbyn, who likes to pal around with terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, is an anti-Semite to his core and his Labour Party has taken its cues from him. In the last week alone, there were at least three reported incidents of overt anti-Semitism from Labour officials with close ties to Corbyn.
Damien Enticott, a lawmaker in Bognor Regis, a town on England’s southern coast and a member of the Labour Party shared a Facebook post accusing Jews of drinking blood and engaging in pedophilia. He initially denied sharing the post but then acknowledged doing so due to “frustration at seeing unarmed civilians being shot by Israeli soldiers.”
At a Labour Party meeting, Peter Willsman, a senior party member was recorded telling committee members that allegations of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party were orchestrated by “Jewish Trump fanatics,” who manipulated and “falsif[ied] social media very easily.”
Mary Bain Lockhart, a councilwoman for the Scottish Labour Party intimated in a Facebook post that Jewish UK media publications were working with Israel’s Mossad intelligence arm to undermine Labour. She went on to accuse Israel of being a “racist state.”
No doubt the conspiracy-prone, terrorist sympathizing Corbyn agreed with these sentiments, and judging by past Labour Party member transgressions, there will likely be little repercussion. Conversely, Jewish Labour Party officials who have spoken out against anti-Semitism within their Party, now face disciplinary action. Such is the Kafkaesque state of affairs in the UK’s Labour Party.
Across the Atlantic there are ominous signs that Labour style anti-Semitism is seeping into and infecting the Democratic Party. There was a time when an appearance with the rabidly anti-Semitic Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan would be the death knell for anyone seeking political office beyond the local level. But today, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, is a man who has openly associated with Farrakhan. Ellison now claims to reject Farrakhan but strangely, keeps having fortuitous encounters with him and his supporters. Ellison also entertained numerous anti-Semitic calumnies including a claim, regurgitated with banal regularity by right and left-wing anti-Semites, that Israel controls U.S. foreign policies. Even the left-wing Anti-Defamation League noted that Ellison’s comments evoke “the specter of age-old stereotypes about Jewish control of our government.” But these and other comments and actions by Ellison did not prevent him from nearing the top of the Democratic Party and that speaks volumes about the toxic trajectory of the Party.
The rise of so called “Democratic Socialism” of the type championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) should be cause for concern for centrist democrats. The Democratic Socialist platform calls for the abolishment of ICE, borders, prisons and profits. They advocate single payer healthcare, tuition-free college and slashing the defense budget while raising taxes to levels associated with dysfunctional socialist countries. With respect to foreign policy matters, Democratic Socialists favor cutting military ties to Israel and advocate for the so-called Palestinian “Right of Return,” a euphemism for flooding Israel with millions of hostile Palestinians thereby diluting Israel of its Jewish majority, which would effectively spell the destruction of Israel. In fact, Sanders recently hinted his support for such a diabolical scheme.
Sanders himself is pandering to Linda Sarsour, a self-described “social media expert” and “Women’s March” organizer. Sarsour is a toxic individual whose unhinged anti-Semitic views rival those of her British Labour cohorts across the Atlantic. She has also spoken fondly of Farrakhan. Yet this has not deterred prominent Democrats, including possible presidential candidates, from pandering to her. Last year, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) showered her with praise and refused to backtrack even when confronted with incontrovertible evidence of Sarsour’s vile Judeophobia. To further ingratiate herself with Sarsour and her anti-Israel allies, Gillibrand withdrew her support for an anti-BDS bill that enjoyed wide bipartisan support.
The unexpected meteoric rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who beat 10-term Queens Rep. Joe Crowley, should also raise alarm bells. The self-described Democratic Socialist, who in an interview acknowledged knowing little about Israel, nevertheless criticized the Jewish State for undertaking defensive measures to protect itself from terror attacks emanating from Gaza. Soon after, Ocasio-Cortez gravitated toward the rancid Sarsour. The two were featured speakers at the 16th Annual Universal Muslim Association of America (UMAA) held on July 29, 2018 and were seen pictured together.
Democrats, who have been quick to accuse President Donald Trump of doing little to address anti-Semitism, have themselves deliberately stymied efforts, spearheaded by Trump, to combat Judeophobia. For months, Democrats held up the Trump’s nomination of Kenneth Marcus as assistant secretary of education for civil rights; this despite the fact that Marcus’ appointment garnered the endorsement of some 60 prominent civil and human rights groups, including the left-leaning ADL.
Marcus, who headed the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and served under past administrations was also a tireless fighter against anti-Semitism and spoke out against the malign influence and tactics employed by pernicious student groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine, whose sole aim is to attack and delegitimize Israel and its supporters. Often, these groups employ tactics that create hostile environments for Jewish students and deny their basic right to assemble and engage in free speech.
Ultimately, Marcus was confirmed by the Senate but without a single Democratic vote. That speaks volumes about the Democratic Party and the toxic path it has chosen for itself. We are witnessing the final death pangs of the Democratic Party as we once remembered it and the extinction of the socially progressive, pro-free enterprise, pro-Israel, centrist Democrat.
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