Calls for Diane Abbott’s expulsion from Labour after ‘Jewish Defence Forces’ tweet – Jewish News

8 comments

1. >The Labour Party is facing calls to expel Diane Abbott, after she tweeted that “the Jewish Defence Force is gunning down Palestinians as they queue for food”

   What the IDF is doing in Palestine is abhorrent and inexcusable. However, calling the IDF the ‘Jewish Defence Force’ feels like it is conflating the actions of Israel with the Jewish people. It is anti-semitic. Diane Abbot has no place in modern politics.

2. I can never tell whether she’s deliberately malicious or just a complete idiot. I mean she’s been an MP since the 1980s. Have the residents of Hackney North and Stoke Newington been knowingly voting for a moron, consistently for 40 years? Do they not think they deserve better?

3. What are Jewish people supposed to think when there is a big enough constituency within the Labour Party who’d be sufficiently outraged at her suspension that she retains her position?

   I really don’t understand how people can’t see the anti-semitism that ***clearly*** exists on the left. Is it just because if you don’t say “I hate x” then people will give you the benefit of the doubt so long as they agree broadly with you!?

4. Reset the ‘days since Diane Abbott embarrassed her party’ clock.

5. It’s pretty funny that conflating the IDF and Jewishness is apparently antisemitic (this thread) but on the other hand saying “Death to the IDF” without mentioning Jewishness is *also* apparently antisemitic, which only works if the accusers are conflating the IDF and Jewishness and therefore antisemitic according to their own complaints.

   Edit: though, you shouldn’t do it and Abbott should at least apologise for this one and correct herself to say “the Israeli Defence Force is gunning down Palestinians as they queue for food”

6. I don’t know why Dianne Abbott hasn’t just left the Labour party and stood as an independent. She’d likely still get elected in her constituency.

   It seems that she just enjoys being a thorn in the side of whoever is leading Labour that isn’t named Jeremy Corbyn.

7. Diane Abbott always has a way of putting her foot in her mouth.

   The actions of the IDF are pushing the boundaries of humanity. Labelling them, the Jewish Defence Forces is clumsy at best and inflammatory and antisemitic at worst. It will be used as ammo by the Israeli government to stifle any criticism

8. Diane Abbot is showing exactly why chants like “death to the IDF” draw accusations of antisemitism. While the chant itself is not antisemitic, in the minds of many antisemites ‘IDF’ is a placeholder for Israelis and Jews, as shown by Abbot herself who readily substitutes in ‘jewish’. It’s a dog whistle to antisemites and it’s infuriating when people stubbornly refuse to consider this.

   It’s the same with the word ‘zionist’ – it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘jew’ and may refer to a political ideology but it has been used time and time again throughout modern history, from Hitler through to Islamic extremists as a catch-all term for Jews. While using these words doesn’t make you an antisemite, it’s pretty ridiculous the lengths that people will go to to ignore the history and use of the words and the likely effect on and what these words mean to Jews who hear someone calling for “Zionists” to be eradicated, for example.

   In my experience many within the pro-palestine movement are uncomfortable with and refuse to look at the number of antisemites the movement naturally attracts and don’t question enough some of the stubborn refusal to not use common antisemitic dog whistles.

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