Dave Rich

11 Nov, 10 tweets, 4 min read

The BBC podcast "Intrigue: Mayday" on White Helmets co-founder James Le Mesurier really is interesting. Especially if you have a niche interest in antisemitism, conspiracy theories and the Labour Party /1 bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04…

Episode 4 opens with a recording of Holocaust denier Nicholas Kollerstrom giving a speech at the Keep Talking conspiracy group exposed in this @CST_UK & @hopenothate report cst.org.uk/data/file/6/c/… /2

A regular at Keep Talking was Vanessa Beeley, a prominent purveyor of conspiracy theories about the White Helmets. According to this episode she was radicalised by pro-Palestinian activism and a visit to Gaza /3 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

Shortly after that visit she began a blog. Her first post: "Palestine is the only nation that is standing firm against the Zionist entity that has infected our entire world infrastructure and is poisoning our minds, hearts and souls" 😬 /4

Episode 7 describes the efforts of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media to persuade people that the mass killings of Syrian civilians by President Assad by chemical weapons are in fact hoaxes, "managed massacres" by the White Helmets /5 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…

Beeley is a member of the Working Group. So, according to the programme, are "a group of British professors from some of the country's top universities". I think they mean you, Professor David Miller of @BristolUni 👀 /6

Another fan of the "managed massacres" theory is former UK ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford. He was at a briefing in Parliament in January where some of these academics put forward their crackpot theories. He briefed Emily Thornberry when she was Shadow Foreign Secretary /7

Thornberry says she wasn't influenced by him, but Ford says "In the time of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party there was some interest in getting the wider picture on the part of what the BBC would call 'allies of Corbyn'". Who can he mean? /8

Ah! Here is a photo of Peter Ford sitting next to Piers Corbyn on Elleanne Green's rooftop terrace. Green is on the far right (ironic!). She was suspended from the Labour Party at the time and since been expelled. Allies of Corbyn indeed! /9

Antisemitism is not the central issue in this story: the central issue is the despicable, heartless denial of mass murder in Syria. But whenever conspiracy cranks gather, antisemitism will never be far away /End

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More from @daverich1

Dave Rich

@daverich1

29 Oct

The @EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party is out today. It finds that Labour broke the law by discriminating against Jews. Here are some of the thoroughly depressing and jaw-dropping 'highlights'.

Labour is guilty of antisemitic harassment and discrimination against Jews. There was a failure of leadership, processes, training and policies. Crucially, Labour could have dealt with antisemitism in the party but the leadership chose not to.

The report goes further: it identifies an culture in which antisemitism was ignored or accepted in the party. This culture needs to be eradicated if Jews are going to feel welcome again in the Labour Party.

Read 9 tweets

Dave Rich

@daverich1

24 Aug

Andrew Murray's interview is another example of someone from Corbyn's circle suddenly agreeing with everything we complained about over antisemitism in the Labour Party, having ignored or rebuffed our complaints for years

thetimes.co.uk/article/pride-…

Treating antisemitism as a second-class form of racism? Assuming Jews can't suffer because they are rich? Listening to fringe JVL cranks rather than the mainstream Jewish community? It's all there. Shame he didn't come out with this when they were in charge

As for this jaw-dropping quote... fascists didn't stop beating up Jews in the 1970s, they just came up with a conspiracy theory that blamed Jews for encouraging immigration and diversity, supposedly as part of a plot to bring about "white genocide"

Read 4 tweets

Dave Rich

@daverich1

23 Jul

THREAD: Remember that claim that a Corbyn supporter was thrown out of the Labour Party for liking the Foo Fighters? It turns out it wasn't true, and the Labour Party knew it wasn't true but kept telling people it was true anyway. John Ware has the scoop. But who fell for it?

It was regularly cited as the prime example of right wingers in Labour HQ abusing their powers to purge the left. The Daily Mail and Guardian reported it as fact.

Momentum and Jon Lansman used it to recruit supporters

Read 10 tweets

Dave Rich

@daverich1

17 Jun

Tim Llewellyn is complaining that @BAFTA has nominated the excellent Panorama episode on Labour Party antisemitism. Is this the same Tim Llewellyn who once said "the Jewish Lobby is not much fun. They come at you from every direction... they use Jewish connections to get you"? /1

https://twitter.com/mediareformUK/status/1273213722421583882

Llewellyn said this in a meeting at the Frontline Club in 2013 organised by @MiddleEastMnt. You can read about it here cst.org.uk/news/blog/2013…. But what else has Llewellyn said about this terrible Jewish Lobby? /2

In 2004 Llewellyn complained that broadcasters fail to properly identify former US ambassador Denis Ross as a Jew because he has "a lovely Anglo-Saxon name" /3

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Dave Rich

@daverich1

14 Apr

The leaked #LabourReport has this paragraph about the different factions in the party, including "John McDonnell's Labour Representation Committee". So what has John McDonnell's Labour Representation Committee had to say about antisemitism in the party? /1

Defend the antisemites! /2

Oppose the "confected row about alleged antisemitism" /3

Read 8 tweets

Dave Rich

@daverich1

13 Apr

THREAD on the Labour Party report that was due to go to the EHRC, was withdrawn and has now been leaked everywhere. A few thoughts having read it /1

Firstly, it's a massive data breach. There are dozens of names of people investigated/suspended/expelled for antisemitism, often alongside the name of the (usually Jewish) person who reported them. It's an incitement to further antisemitic harassment and must be investigated /2

I've redacted all but the most public or essential names from the parts I've used in this thread, but the original leaked report is fully unredacted /3

Read 16 tweets