John Clayden (The photo shows Ernest Bevin on the right of Churchill, 8 May 1945)The Left and that includes the very influential Zionist left have succeeded in wiping out a substantial chunk of working-class history namely the crucial contribution made by Ernest Bevin. This will come as no surprise to dedicated readers of this magazine … Continue reading Historical Context is Crucial—Ernest Bevin and Zionism
Video: Al Jazeera Investigation: October 7 (March 2024) Video: Conversation on the Gaza Genocide (Norman Finkelstein & Chris Hedges, 26 March 2024) Germany next up to face Gaza genocide charges in The Hague (Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada, 25 March 2024) Hebrew University of Jerusalem suspends professor (Orly Noy, +972, 23 March 2024) Israel lauds US … Continue reading Palestine Links
Shielding US Public From Israeli Reports of Friendly Fire on October 7 (Bryce Green, FAIR, 23 February 2024) This seems to be a comprehensive review of Israeli reports of friendly fire incidents on 7 October, reports that have been almost entirely absent from mainstream media in the US (and in Britain and Ireland, as well?). … Continue reading What happened on October 7th?
Edwin Montagu, at that time Secretary of State for India, circulated a secret memo on the 23rd August 1917, expressing strong opposition to the proposal to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Memorandum of Edwin Montagu on the Anti-Semitism of the Present (British) Government - Submitted to the British Cabinet, August 1917 "I have chosen the above title … Continue reading Edwin Montagu, Anti-Zionist Jew—August 1917
Eamon Dyas The idea that a member of the Royal Family would feel compelled to seek the approval of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Sir Ephraim Mirvis (he was awarded his knighthood only last year), before commenting on a conflict in which Israel is committing war crimes is noteworthy. If such war crimes … Continue reading Zionism, Corbyn and the Prince
Eamon Dyas Zionism in Gaza and the support it gets from the West is a lifting of the “painted veil" that is civilisation. Whatever happens to the Labour vote after this, Labour GH will have a ready-made excuse to explain it. The same excuse will be used to explain the lack of locally sourced energy … Continue reading Rochdale—Another view
Original SNP motion: That this House calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel; notes with shock and distress that the death toll has now risen beyond 28,000, the vast majority of whom were women and children; further notes that there are currently 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, 610,000 of whom are children; … Continue reading Gaza in Parliament, Wednesday 29th February 2024—For the Record
The outcome of the ICJ case Michael Murray “Ceasefire!” An appendix to an article elsewhere in this issue of Labour Affairs, about the human rights lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, KC, and her role in the South African legal team, lists the nine “Provisional Measures” sought in South Africa's Application to the ICJ. The first is: "The State of Israel … Continue reading “Hague Schmague?” Oy veh!
Michael Murray Introduction: “An bealach seo atá romham” - my destiny Over the desk of Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, In the busy London office of Matrix (Barristers’ ) Chambers, on the Greys’ Inn Road - also of Brussels and Geneva, hangs a framed pamphlet with a photograph on its cover of a smiling twelve year old … Continue reading Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh: “The Making of a Human Rights Lawyer.”
Gaza debated in the House of Lords, 16 January 2024 Baroness Janke To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what steps he is taking to secure a lasting ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Gaza. A brief debate followed, during which David Cameron the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said: … Continue reading Gaza in Parliament, January 2024
South Africa and the World’s Conscience The world has been witnessing, powerless or complicit, the destruction of the people of Gaza through bombing, starvation and disease for the past three months. Israel has said it will continue perhaps for another year. South Africa has taken a step to call what is happening by its proper … Continue reading Israel at The Hague
“Events, dear boy !” Mick Murray “A terrible beauty”? Harold Macmillan was the author of such enduring soundbites, as they would now be called, such as “the winds of change” a euphemistic term for the beginnings of the decolonialisation of Africa and“they’ve never had it so good” to describe the social change in Britain as it began to enjoy … Continue reading Gaza, Dawn of a New World
Israeli child “burned completely” by Israeli tank fire at kibbutz (Ali Abunimah & David Sheen, Electronic Intifada, 25 November 2023) The evidence Israel killed its own citizens on 7 October (Asa Winstanley, Electronic Intifada, 23 November 2023) Video: Gaza is ‘textbook genocide’: Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal (Owen Jones, 21 November 2019) Opinion: Here’s what the mass … Continue reading Palestine Links
Will Israel’s right to defend itself continue to the last Palestinian? (The image shows the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem) Eamon Dyas “Israel has a right to defend itself” has been the constant refrain of western leaders to justify every Israeli response to expressions of Palestinian resistance since the state was established. In recent years that refrain from western leaders has usually been linked … Continue reading Israel’s Right to Defend Itself
A contribution to a debate Peter Brooke In a recent interview on BBC radio, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister who is supposed to have offered the best deal Israel ever offered to the Palestinians, spelled out, in rather awkward grammar, what he regards as the ideal two state solution: 'I will never lose eye … Continue reading A STATE FOR ALL ITS CITIZENS
Labour suspends MP over calling for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. A note from Eamon Dyas The phrase Andy McDonald used at a pro-peace rally was: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty." The expression … Continue reading Andy McDonald Suspended
Palestine Links—November 2023 GAZA: 3,195 children killed in three weeks surpasses annual number of children killed in conflict zones since 2019 (Save the Children, 29 October 2023) I run the UN agency for Palestine refugees. History will judge us all if there is no ceasefire in Gaza (Philippe Lazzarini, Guardian, 26 October 2023) Joe Biden’s … Continue reading Palestine Links
Early Day Motion on Gaza — House of Commons 17th October 2023 Early day motions are short proposals that give MPs a chance to express an opinion, publicise a cause or support a position. They are rarely actually debated, and are only publicised in writing. Motion text This House utterly condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and taking … Continue reading Gaza Motions in Parliament
Labour Affairs 