Opinion
Yesterday the Labour MP Chris Williamson briefly trended on Twitter when he was attacked for retweeting an article that this blog had published hours before the horrific mass murder of Jewish worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue.
The article had nothing to do with Jewish citizens in the US and did not attack Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl, who was referenced in the title and had been accused of using an antisemitic trope in a piece published by the Jewish Chronicle. The SKWAWKBOX had written to Ms van der Zyl to invite her to comment:
The article pointed out that Ms van der Zyl appeared – as the Jewish Chronicle appeared to agree – to be under attack for a statement suggesting a degree of engagement with the Labour Party.
Williamson retweeted the link to this article – and was immediately ‘dogpiled’ for having done so on the day of the massacre, even though the article bore no reference to the awful incident and Williamson had been at an event all day, so may not have been aware of the news.
However, plenty of cynical exploitation of the tragedy has been on show – in the form of mainstream journalists who disgraced themselves and disrespected the memories of the victims by using it as an opportunity to launch further attacks on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn had issued a statement of unequivocal support and solidarity to the victims and their families:
My thoughts are with those killed or injured in this horrific act of antisemitic violence, and with their loved ones. We must stand together against hate and terror.https://t.co/3fpyISfJM0
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 27, 2018
Shameful cynicism
But that did not prevent Guardian journalist Christina Patterson making a shameless attempt to link Corbyn to the terrible events in Pittsburgh during a Sky News panel that left her fellow guest looking stunned:
Pundit and broadcaster Bobby Friedman took a similar tack during the Sky News review of newspapers this morning, sparking disgust from viewers:
A contributor to Andrew Castle’s show on LBC made similar comments – and Castle was accused of giving him free rein to smear the Labour leader:
The same bleakly cynical exploitation was on show from print journalists, too. Patterson’s Guardian colleague Harriet Sherwood couldn’t resist a spurious reference in a piece quoting the public statements by various figures:
No mention of the Tories’ proven and recorded mass support in the European Parliament for racist, antisemitic Hungarian premier, but – of course – the alleged ‘Labour antisemitism’ got a mention.
Israeli journalist Lahav Harkov – who falsely accused Orthodox Jews in London of of forgery when a letter of support for Corbyn was published signed by thirty-four rabbis – used Corbyn’s words of solidarity as a platform to make her own contribution to the cesspit:
Chris Williamson was attacked for a retweet that had nothing to do with the terrible events in Pittsburgh.
But the man accused of the murders was a rabid right-winger – a Trump fan with a long history of the vilest racism and antisemitism. Those who attempted to use the horror he inflicted to score cheap points against a lifelong anti-racist disgraced themselves and were rightly criticised for it.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
What else can we expect from despicable right wing journalists who will use any excuse whatsoever to attack Jeremy Corbyn. When are they going to start asking why the American police who knew Bowers was ‘unstable’ didn’t confiscate his guns?
Exploitation of horrific and other events for extremely cynical political purposes is a long standing pro ‘ruling class’, pro imperialist tactic. Anyone seriously following the war on Syria is by now well versed in the cynical, disgracefully low, sewer tactics the MSM and high profile (including celebrity) imperialist supporters will go to further their agenda and narrative. Disinformation, spin, smear, conflation, co-opting events/people/children and outright lies, as well as omission, are the most used tactics.
Further discussion on the topic in this discussion with Kerry-Anne Mendoza and Max Blumenthal with the Guardian taking centre stage. Such tactics apply across the MSM including the so called public service providers.
unbelievable Christina Patterson likening Jeremy Corbyn to Trump. It is obscene, the guardian are a liberal paper. They do not want the great unwashed to have a say and to be listened to. No we must know our place and be thankful for the benign influence of the liberals. you know what they can do, shove it with the lies their reporters tell, just a bunch of upper class twats and no better than the tory toffs. even their leader Vince Cable says he would go into a coalition with the tories. says it all. I think I prefer the tories to the lib bleeding heart brigade, at least you know what they truly are. I never bothered with news papers but make a monthly donation to the skwarkbox.
Never heard of her. Not a journalist of any stature. Must have such hatred in her and such a warped mentality. Sickening. Its the left that are organising to fight the extreme EDL in the UK and help protect all Jews. It was the Holocaust that turned me to socialism. I never wanted that to happen again and would lay down my life. So would Jeremy. To attack Jeremy is to attack me . To attack Jeremy in this bottom of the barrel scraping abuse and innuendo is to attack every Jewish member of the JVL. They must be so afraid of their house prices falling or having their children’s tax avoidance trust funds raided so we can eradicate food banks. All in all another symptom of the wealthier liberal establishment hoping to rid themselves of this turbulent priest .
All highly predictable.
As I pointed out earlier, the ground was laid earlier by the BBC de-contextualizing what actually happened. The Grauniad wrote about antisemitism in a way that suggested that this recent extreme right-wing example was equalled by a mirror image on the ‘extreme left’ – a pure fiction.
If one wants to make connections or parallels, it’s not with Corbyn and the left. The right-wing shooting of innocent men, women and children on the basis of their ethnic/cultural group, is mirrored most closely by the actions of the Israel Defence Force and their murder of Palestinians in perpetuating the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Both have an extreme right-wing ideology behind the inhumaity.
That’s why the conflation of ‘antisemitism’ with criticism of Israel’s predation needs to be constantly resisted.
Christina Patterson has a personal pathological hatred of Jeremy Corbyn ,so her comments should be dismissed as irrelevant and vengeful. It is a sad day when an evil crank’s barbaric actions is used as a political weapon against a man of integrity and peace . Rip and thoughts should be with the victims families
Mmmn and it was reported that the vile perpetrator of this horrific heartbreaking attack was “A Trump Fanatic.”
Middle class liberals are perhaps not happy that they are no longer the font of all knowledge but then again they perhaps always believed in crumbs for working people within Neo-Liberal capitalism and perhaps think you can change the World by changing a few words!
But Far Right Rich Barbarians are NOW pouring millions into Far Right organisations and individual Barbarians around the World (and harnessing social media to play on prejudices and fears) and people need to wake up; parties of Labour and trade unions around the World need to lead in countering the Barbarians.
No Pasaran! International solidarity!
On learning about the events in Pittsburgh it fleetingly crossed my mind that maybe it would be used by some in the MSM to further their attacks on JC, but as soon as the thought crossed my mind I dismissed the possibility, as it seemed inconceivable that anyone would exploit such an incident and the deaths of Jewish people, and surely no-one could sink so low and be so despicable. But I see I was wrong.
But then again it’s precisely what Damian Green did – and you can be 150% certain that it wasn’t just him that came up with it – when he used the murder of Jo Cox to make a fraudulent and totally bogus attack on independent media such as skwawkbox and the canary, accusing them of spreading hate, which is PRECISELY what HE was doing by dissembling such a falsehood.
But Psychopaths have no problem whatsoever concocting such falsehoods because they have no conscience of course.
The black propagandists at the Sun knew of course that they couldn’t use the massacre in Pittsburgh to further demonise JC and the left, but they obviously put their heads together and came up with the next best way of doing it – ie a dog whistle:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6907235/anti-semitism-definition-jews-why/
The neonazis are only ‘far’ right because they’re powerless, stupid and only able to vent their frustrations in violence against the ‘other’ – and they don’t have the cash to keep the MSM quiet.
Tories and other neoliberals are exactly the same breed – money and power simply gives them the opportunity to express their despicable, evil natures on a massively greater scale while keeping us largely in ignorance.
That really is the only difference between the scum on the streets and the scum in the boardroom.
So we should conflate blame for the massacre with Donald Trump, right?
Who made the shooter believe such a thing might be considered a virtuous act by a peer group?
Almost all who murder believe themselves justified in some way, however ridiculous and deluded that belief might be.
Trunt’s done no more than inflame the far right and make them believe their star is rising.
Blame? No. A share of it? Absofuckinglutely.
“Guardian journalist Christina Patterson making a shameless attempt to link Corbyn to the terrible events in Pittsburgh”
Quelle surprise – a Guardian journalist with form.But you’ve got to admit she’s got a point (as well as form). Hasn’t anyone noticed how the last school massacre in the US coincided with a Labour Party attack on academy schools and the Tories’ education policies?
What? you think that’s dumb? Just proves my point – you’re in denial..
[Such is the daily pit of nonsense that is represented by much of what passes for ‘journalism’]
The following is from an article Patterson wrote in 2010:
When I moved to Stamford Hill, 12 years ago, I didn’t realise that goyim were about as welcome in the Hasidic Jewish shops as Martin Luther King at a Klu Klux Klan convention.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/christina-patterson/christina-patterson-the-limits-of-multi-culturalism-2036861.html
I came across the above HERE:
https://twitter.com/wrightismight/status/1056543452262006785