Labours Zionist friends have landed the party in trouble again.

Argos | 29.11.2007 18:58

Labours Zionist friend have landed the party in trouble again.

Labours Zionist friend have landed the party in trouble again. Less than 6 months after Lord Levy (Pro-Israeli fundraiser for Labour) was questioned during the cash for honours affair. Labour's new chief fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn (Former Labour friends of Israel chair) has landed the party in trouble again.

By accepting donations for Labour from Jewish businessman and former Labour Friends of Israel activist David Abrahams via 3rd parties, Jon Mendelshon has contributed towards tarnishing the image of the party in public. Jon Mendelsohn is listed as the 28th most influential person in ‘British Jewry’ by the Jewish Chronicle earlier this year. The paper wrote: ‘At ease in the corridors of power, Mendelsohn has the contacts and know-how to advance Israel's case in his LFI role.’ Paying for a pro-Israeli view in Labour politics may soon backfire on LFI activists and bring the Labour party into jeopardy.

Argos

Comments

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Nonsense Labour must take responsibility

29.11.2007 19:31

for who it awarded peerages to or knowingly accepted illegal donations from, just as it must take responsibility for a state reception for the Saudi king, invading Iraq, increasing CO2 emissions, slashing planning rules, building a 3rd runway at Heathrow, mandating biofuel blending, calling for more oil production, introducing ID cards, destroying right to peaceful protest, Ian Blair, building on greenbelt, unprecedented 1mm!gr@|0n, what else have I forgotten?

Strepsil

Anti Semitism

29.11.2007 23:14

This smacks of jewish conspiracy theory- the language used in this article re-creates the image of jewish people as one that are running the corridors of power, directly equating them with power and capital. All politicians are funded by dodgy people with lots of money. Pointing out that they are Jewish is irrelevant. We have to be careful not to reinforce age old stereotypes of jews that are anti-semetic. The trendyness of the Palestinian cause creates a dangerous dichotomy where Jews, the Israeli state and capital become one and the whole world unites against this 'evil' group without any analysis of the actions and ideologies of the rest of the world or of many of the Palestinian groups. This anti-semitism sounds dangerously similar to the discourse of Nazi Germany and it is totally unecessary as there are plenty of reasons to be critical of british politicians, capitalists and the history of this country.

Also not all jewish people support the state of israel and not all israelis support the state of israel.

lotek & frappi

Powerful zionists

30.11.2007 07:18

Yes, I too feel uncomfortable reading stuff like this.

It appears that Jon Mendelsohn, as chair of Labour Friends of Israel, did ask Abrahams to leave the group

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/11/three_unanswered_questions_for_jon_mendelsohn.html

President of the Zionist Federation, Eric Moonman said : “I know David (Abrahams) well and have travelled with him on a number of occasions. He is a quiet, thoughtful man. There would have been no reason for him to assume he was doing anything wrong or illegal.

http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-7719/open-and-honest/

The Jewish Chronicle quote appears to be accurate:

http://www.jewishchronicle.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18s186&SecId=186&AId=51977&ATypeId=1

Lord Levy was ranked 3rd in the same list.

"Lord Levy

3. Fundraiser extraordinaire, Lord Levy’s rise from a modest Hackney upbringing to the Whitehall corridors of power was achieved via a music-industry career. He met Tony Blair in 1993 at a party hosted by QC Eldred Tabachnik — soon to be Board of Deputies president. Blair and Levy became firm friends and tennis partners and Levy put his persuasive powers to work as Labour’s chief fundraiser. With Blair in Number 10, Levy was appointed the PM’s personal Middle East envoy, travelling regularly to the region. Communally, he is credited with helping raise “tens of millions” for Jewish Care, of which he is president. As JFS president, he was instrumental in financing the school’s move to Kenton. He has been questioned by police over the “cash for peerages” affair, but strenuously denies any wrong-doing."

They do seem to be closely linked to zionism, capital and the corridors of power.

Would you say that the Jewish Chronicle and TotallyJewish are anti-semitic for talking about these things? Maybe you think they are making it up? Or it just shouldn't be discussed in polite company?

If this kind of information is being spread by zionist organs, it can't be surprising if people start to pick up on it.

fact checker

A second ‘Jewish scandal’

30.11.2007 07:53

Fears were growing this week of an antisemitic backlash following the latest Labour Party cash scandal involving two prominent Jewish activists.

Communal leaders expressed concern that the situation may mirror the cash-for-peerages affair, in which, after a long criminal investigation, Labour fundraiser Lord Levy faced no charges.

The two main figures in this week’s controversy are Jon Mendelsohn, the Prime Minister’s election campaign fundraiser, and property magnate David Abrahams, who is accused of breaking the law by using third parties to disguise donations of £600,000 to Labour.

Mr Mendelsohn, an ex-chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, wrote to Mr Abrahams, a member of the Jewish Labour Movement, last Thursday thanking him for his “help and support over many years” and offering to tell him of Labour’s future plans. MPs questioned whether he knew about Mr Abrahams’ methods, which break the law on political donations.

But the furore had a “whiff of antisemitism about it”, Labour MP Andrew Dismore told the JC. “People are looking for links to Jewish interests and evidence of a Jewish conspiracy. The press are turning every stone to find one.”

The Hendon MP said he did not believe the case would have received such intensive coverage “if it did not involve Jews. The undercurrent of antisemitism is worrying.” Jewish Leadership Council member Brian Kerner said: “I am sure the whole affair will have an

effect on the community.” Describing Mr Abrahams as a “good guy”, he warned: “It has an added effect of antisemitism — it won’t do us any good.”

Paul Usiskin, Labour supporter and co-chair of Peace Now UK, said: “It doesn’t do the reputation of people communally linked to Israel any good to find themselves willingly or unwillingly at the centre of matters to do with politics and money.

“I hope that, in contrast to previous issues of this kind, people do not link historical relations between Jews and financial affairs.”

Board of Deputies chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “There is wide concern in this story and clearly there is a potential for it to turn against us. We have been there before.”

MP Louise Ellman, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said the affair was “not a religious issue” but said she would like to see the investigation go ahead “as swiftly as possible”.

Mill Hill Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, who earlier claimed that his congregant, Lord Levy, was “hung out to dry” by the media, said he would hesitate to draw a parallel between the two events, not least because “Lord Levy had done nothing wrong, while in this case something wrong had been done by all accounts, and admitted by everyone including the Prime Minister”.

Bernard Josephs
Homepage: http://www.jewishchronicle.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11&SecId=11&AId=56810&ATypeId=1

this is all very interesting

30.11.2007 11:07

i don't think that many people in the UK are planning to turn on members of the community with Jewish roots
call me thick but until I heard a discussion on R4 last night about anti-semitism and Labour Friends of Israel I hadn't even noticed that Jewish names Abrahams/Mendehlson were involved. When citing anti-semitism it is useful if people can define exactly what they mean. Are these people who practice Judaism and hence are bing persecuted for their religious ideas? Or are they people who claim to belong to the Jewish 'race'?. If the latter is the case then it would be worthwhile if people reviewed some critiques of the basic idea of race which is now commonly recognized as a social construction rather than some biological reality

"From the 1990s, some writers have identified a New antisemitism, a form of antisemitism coming simultaneously from the left, the far right, and radical Islam, which tends to focus on opposition to Zionism and a Jewish homeland in the State of Israel, and which may deploy traditional antisemitism motifs.[4] Proponents of the concept argue that anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism, anti-globalization, third worldism, and demonization of Israel or double standards applied to its conduct may be linked to antisemitism, or constitute disguised antisemitism.

Critics of the concept argue that it conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism, defines legitimate criticism of Israel too narrowly and demonization too broadly, trivializes the meaning of antisemitism, and exploits antisemitism in order to silence debate.[5][6]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism

In this respect is it wrong to scrutinize the work of groups campaigning on behalf of the state of Israel and its right to determine its foreign policy as it sees fit. It really is little surprise that lobbyists for the Zionist cause are active here since AIPAC in the US has developed its connections for quite some time

in a democracy people have a right to ask questions about whos paying whom for influcence

blackbyrd

can+worms=bollocks

30.11.2007 11:23

The original post by argos quotes the Jewish Chronicle was it? saying that one of these people is well placed to advance Israel's cause in the New Labour Party (which is the governing party in the UK, i believe). So that is a direct claim of pro-Israeli lobbying linked to one of these individuals. So, the 'accusation of Jews running the world' (that's a bit of an exaggeration of the JC's quip!) is not an anti-semitic slur, but a claim that was made by a Jewish publication. The religion of the person in question is irrelevant. If someone is attempting to buy political influence, that is sadly totally unshocking these days, but should be prosecuted, and the religion of the individual or the nature of the lobby they were attempting to buy influence for is neither here nor there, as far I can tell.

anarchoteapot

BB

30.11.2007 13:04

http://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/NYTimes1948.pdf

the missing link

Peeps - the last defence of the anti-Semites

03.12.2007 22:02

The reference to Abrahams being a Jewish businessman was clearly anti-Semitic. The fact that he and Levy are Zionists and supporters of Labour Friends of Israel is not. Of course The Peeps wouldn't understand these things because he has clearly been acclimatised by his anti-Semitic friends like Atzmon and Mary Rizzo.

He claims that Atmon's articles are not anti-Semitic. All 3 of them, at the last count, on Indymedia are anti-Semitic. The Esther one calls for the validation and legitimation of holocaust deniers as worthy of debate. The Hunters of Goliath one legitimises the holocaust and speaks of the 'Judaic worldview' and his 'Gatekeepers' compares Jews in the Palestine solidarity movement to 5th columnists in the war.

Palestinians recognise that Jews standing up against Zionism is important to negate the lie that anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism. Free the Peeps wants to prove that to be an anti-Zionist is to be an anti-Semite. In reality he is no anti-Zionist but he is an anti-Semite.

tony greenstein
mail e-mail: tonygreenstein@yahoo.com

Greenstein

03.12.2007 23:11

"The reference to Abrahams being a Jewish businessman was clearly anti-Semitic."

Well, it seems that 'clear anti-semitism' made it through the editorial process elsewhere as well:

"Friends and associates of the Jewish businessman at the centre of the scandal that has rocked the government this week, yesterday leapt to his defence."

http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-7719/open-and-honest/

I don't see any letters of complaint there.

There is nothing in the article that suggests that this matter is the responsibility of all people who are Jewish, nor is there any suggestion that some racial or genetic force is at play.

I'm not really sure how your rules work, so I'd be left presuming that according to them, this was 'clearly anti-semitic':

"No Jewish socialist would even dream of joining it."

But you wrote it, in the Guardian (

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mitch_simmons/2007/02/mitch_simmons.html)

Its very difficult to see what the difference between identifying someone as a Jewish socialist or a Jewish businessman might be.

"Free the Peeps wants to prove that to be an anti-Zionist is to be an anti-Semite. In reality he is no anti-Zionist but he is an anti-Semite."

So now I'm a 'Loyalist, Aaronovitch loving zionist' - Hmmm, do you wonder why I can't take you seriously?

ftp