It's extremely important for Labour to take action on anti-Semitism and all racism, but I believe it was wrong for Starmer to sack Long-Bailey. True, the article she shared approvingly contained a point that didn't necessarily follow from Amnesty's documentation of many US /1

police departments receiving training from Israel. https://www.amnestyusa.org/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel/ While there are reports of Israeli police using the knee technique, this doesn't prove that US police learnt this technique from their Israeli counterparts. So it was right to ask for clarification on /2

this point, and as I understand it Long-Bailey provided this. This kind of overreach is a big error in the article Long-Bailey shared, as it's so important to be as accurate and factual as possible in discussing these issues. This underscores why clarification was warranted /3

but I don't believe this is so serious as to be a sacking matter, particularly after clarification. It's also out of step with other issues. Rachel Reeves is currently in a shadow cabinet role. She has enthusiastically celebrated Nancy Astor in this thread https://twitter.com/RachelReevesMP/status/1231886779982151680?s=20

But Astor 'complained the Observer...was "full of homosexuals and Jews" and worked to bar the hiring of Jews and Catholics from... senior positions' and 'suggested the Nazis were a solution to "the world problems" of Jewry and Communism.' https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/who-was-nancy-astor-the-first-woman-to-take-her-seat-in-parliament-was-also-branded-virulently-ant-1.493848

This is hardly an ideal person to be celebrating, many of us have pointed this out, but there seems to be zero interest in doing anything. So it suggests some types of anti-Semitism are taken more seriously than others, and that's before you get onto the other forms of racism.

So that is my view and for context, I am Jewish, I do pro bono work for Palestinian rights, and believe that anti-Semitism in the Labour party is a real and serious issue, not a smear. Feel free to disagree, but please bear in mind I am not defending what the shared article said.

I also agree with this from JVP: ‘Suggesting that Israel is the start or source of American police violence or racism shifts the blame from the United States to Israel. This obscures the fundamental responsibility and nature of the U.S.’ https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/update-on-deadly-exchange-campaign/

Adding this new thread to end of the old one

https://twitter.com/nataliesedacca/status/1276787374526214144?s=21 https://twitter.com/nataliesedacca/status/1276787374526214144