‘It shattered me’ – Diana Neslen, a Jewish woman in her eighties, is suing the party for multiple smears and infringements on her rights
Jewish Voice for Labour member Diana Neslen has started legal proceedings against the Labour party for multiple antisemitism smears and its repeated targeting of her for being a Jewish woman who does not support Zionism.
In her youth Neslen, who has been hounded by the party’s right-wing regime as part of its sustained and intentional persecution of left-wing Jewish members since Keir Starmer became leader, was a supporter of Israel but wrote earlier this year that a visit to the country almost seventy years ago had opened her eyes to the reality of its treatment of the Palestinians dispossessed by its establishment in 1948:
it was a trip to Israel in the late 1950’s that opened my eyes to the oppressive reality there that caused me to become disillusioned with Zionism. Having witnessed the racism in Israel, I felt betrayed by the Zionist movement. The pain of losing a belief, especially when young and fiery, is fierce. Most of my adult life has been spent fighting the manifestations of racism, and it should go without saying that includes antisemitism, whether in apartheid South Africa, the United Kingdom or Israel, now identified by human rights organisations and the UN as an apartheid state.
After already being investigated several times, the party has now dredging up an already-investigated tweet in which Neslen condemned the racism of Israel and has targeted her again for it, a supposed breach of the widely-criticised – even by its creator – ‘IHRA working definition’ of antisemitism. She says that, having suffered real antisemitism – including a criminal attack on her son that saw the racist attacker jailed for three years and led to death threats against her from BNP supporters – she believes the party has “no idea what antisemitism is”.
And she told Skwawkbox that the damage and pain Labour’s smears and hounding had thrown her life into turmoil:
They made me retreat from life a bit. I felt hurt and insecure. When it first happened I was really shocked and distressed. I thought: how could anyone do this to me? It shattered me.
After the shock had passed though,
I felt that I had got to fight back the only way I know because if they can do it to me they can do it to anyone.
Neslen’s lawyers, Bindmans, have delivered a ‘letter before action’ to the party outlining the damage Labour has done by its unjustified and disproportionate actions and its infringement of Neslen’s rights to hold a ‘protected belief’ against Zionism. In an apparent sign of the Labour right’s high-handed approach to those it has wronged, Labour has so far not deigned to respond and it did not respond to press enquiries.
Skwawkbox view:
Labour under Keir Starmer has become ‘a racist endeavour’. Solidarity with Diana Neslen and all its victims.
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Is there a crowdfunder in operation?
If so it would be appropriate for a link to be provided for anyone who may feel it appropriate to contribute.
I think there is a crowdfunder – look at JVL site
HEAR! HEAR!
The Zionists have been getting away with abusing Jews living and horrifically departed! The abuse of Antisemitism and “The Holocaust Industry” (Norman Finkelstein), surely must be the most disrespectful and most Antisemitic Acts against Jews, post-1948!
I wish Diana all the very best, this will be one devilish fight, Stay Safe Comrade, Stay SAFE!
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/justice-4-labour-party-members/
Dammit! They only take card no alternative payment method, I will send them a note sure that must be an error!
Nope No Alternative forms of Payments! If this happens to you, my solution is a dear friend with a Credit Card who is happy for me to send her the money via bank transfer, then she does the “Deal” 🙂 🙂 🙂
I think this is it
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/harassment-of-diana-neslen-by-the-labour-party-help-us-fight-it/
What a load of nasty vindictive people there are in office in this party
JLM’s membership officer Alex Richardson has expressed what many may regard as controversial views in his article.
https://labourlist.org/2021/12/what-do-jewish-members-make-of-keir-starmers-efforts-to-tackle-antisemitism/
Because it is believed that the criticism of Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians carries more weight if the person making the criticism is Jewish, the Labour Friends of Israel i.e. the party leader and most of our MPs have targeted Jewish people who speak out against Israeli human rights abuses of Palestinians. They have sought to silence them and when that doesn’t work, smear them and ruin their reputations in order to undermine them and anything they have to say.
Numerous respectable middle aged or elderly Jews like Diana, Jo Bird and others have been branded are Jew haters i.e. antisemites by the Labour party. This total nonsense has been accepted and propagated by the MSM and it now seems that otherwise sensible people believe many Jews are Jew Haters. This is crazy. Its like saying openly gay people are homophobes ,women are misogynists etc.
I am sure there are some people who are mentally ill and whose mental illness causes self hated Diana but we are expected to believe that the entire Jewish anti Zionist movement has taken collective leave of its senses and these people now hate themselves, each other, their families and friends because they all are Jewish .
It is about time this great lie ( which has destroyed lives and ruined reputations) was exposed along with the motivation behind it . I believe Labour will be disgraced and forced to cease its disgusting witch hunts against antiZionists when Diana’s case is heard in court.
I am delighted she is taking this action and like Dave Hansell wonder if there is a crowd funder. If there is I would be happy to contribute to it so that this lady doesn’t have to worry about costs. She has suffered enough.
Solidarity Diana.
Indeed, the temple pillars could be rent asunder. Plenty of material left lying about to rebuild something magical. She must be protected!
Proud to be a socialist alongside Diana and what Right Wing Labour has done to Left Wing Labour members and particularly Left Wing Jewish Labour members is disgusting.
So I think on here we all wish her success!
It’s all like a scene from an Ibsen play:
“Is this what they have done to us?”
Solidarity!
And good reading:
G.D.Smith, ‘A 3,000 Year History of Palestine.’
Bernard Regan ‘The Balfour Decaration.’
Paul Keleman ‘The British Left and Zionism: A History of Divorce.’
Britain followed its imperial interests in the Near East using “surrogate settlers” to achieve its political ends.
Jeremy Corbyn would have been an honest broker there which Biden ISN’T – the US follows its own imperial interests in the region (oil, arms sales, capitalist inward and outward investment etc).
Sadly from their perspective that’s why Jeremy had to go!
Justice for Palestinians, The Right to Return for all Palestinian Refugees, One Democratic State (respecting all religions), Peace To All in the Region:
Footnote: I will ask my union branch (which is a solidarity supporter of JVL) in January to send a donation to the Diana fund – do the same!
Well done Diana – fight the right wing barbarians.
Can I also suggest a little known and much deleted Author and Palestine Refugee Office Officer Dr Izzat Tannous: This British Command Paper, must be one of the most Censured and shared about, reuploaded and Censured…… Papers on the internet, https://archive.org/details/hagana_202112/mode/2up However he wrote several papers, News Paper Articles and Stunning Books Please look him up, most of his British Command Papers and Articles are/were a bit difficult to find, but well worth investing the time and energy, if you want to see the Occupation from a Palestinian view, as it happened and HOW it happened!
I fully support Diana in her stand against the current moral disaster and bullying, deceitful shambles that New New Labour represents. They use a very faulty definition of anti-Semitism and a definition of anti-Zionism that only biased fanatics would find acceptable. This only serves to underline the purely factional position they take in all of these matters, and the purely factional purpose it serves.
But not only are they taking racism and deception to new depths, but they are also reaping their just deserts in other vital areas as well.
It seems people are examining the trajectory of results in the bye-elections of the past few months and concluding that the strategy of the right of the party is dead in the water.
Numbers do not lie – the complete opposite of the Labour right !
…..and yet recently published polling indicates that Labour is ahead in 125 Target Seats
Labour is significantly ahead of the Conservatives in 125 constituencies in England and Wales that Keir Starmer’s party needs to win at the next general election, according to a new poll published by the Fabian Society.
wishing and hoping – my thermometer just can’t make its mind up either
SteveH
125 constituencies is not enough, you and your CSE Maths
Doug – Thanks for your contribution.
Steve H Hall Fabian society……I thought they had disappeared years ago with their middle class flip flops dreamers society.Do you by any chance have details of how many left handed screwdrivers were manufactured in the UK powerhouse of manufacturing and inventions from a forensic perspective and were the fabian society or Labour first involved…Ps I understand that after consultation with the Board of deputys that JLM are to begin manufacturing once again…..maybe Jeremy Corbyn should be told?
Joseph – You sound worried.
Starmer HQ Propagandists out in force again I note SteveH,
Lets focus on Wales shall we Starmerboy and note that the LP percentage of Polling share has indeed increased substantially, however, this has bugger all to do with Keith and his policy-free zone known as the Shadow Front Bench, but rather Mark Drakeford’s left-of-centre administration in Wales, in cooperation with Plaid Cymru together with the media-driven implosion of Bojo and his Rightwing zealots.
Further, and as a result of the absolute failure of both Keith and Bojo independence sentiment in Wales is also growing on the Left with many realising Keith offers nothing more than Bojo for our little country, namely, it still pushes austerity, still pushes wanton warfare and gives safe harbour to racists and fascists – see statements by Torfaen’s useless Shadow Minister.
Further, and as the Keith mob celebrate, lets not forget that in North Shropshire the policy-free Zionist Party now known as Labour could not get boots on the ground to canvass for a Blairite youth clone and effectively threw the seat as they threw the 2017 and 2019 General Elections.
To put it bluntly, any support for Keith is soft to say the least and will vanish the moment the Tories put the knife into Bojo.
As for Wales, well with us losing 8 of our Parliamentary seats the future for the Rightwing, Zionist Party don’t look good as most Welsh people would prefer our political parties to be concerned about Wales rather than Israel – still, I’m looking forward to the Welsh PLP fighting like rats in a bag for what few Parliamentary seats remain in Wales come the next election – we’ll see how nice most of these TRAITORS are to one and other.
In the meantime, well done Mark Drakeford for offering an alternative to Tory rule, which Keith and his invisible cohorts certainly don’t do.
christopher – Well on the one hand we have your rather confused anecdotal evidence from the Far East and on the other we have the above poll results plus Labour have been consistently in the lead across numerous polls by multiple polling companies for a month. I’ll leave it to others to make their own minds up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#2021
Wah hah hah, Wikipedia! Next you’ll be referencing The SUN in Lambs Clothing (The Guardian)! Wikipedia is the most corrupt and Zionist Edited information platform on The Internet! Foolish Person!
I can actually imagine you if you were a real Person and not a Nokia 3600 velcroed on the Bot Office Wall in Malaysia, Tel Aviv, Cape Town or Toronto!
nellyskelly – Oh for goodness sake get a grip, all Wikipedia are doing on the page linked to is reporting the collated results from many different polling organisations. They have provided links to all the original source material.
Stats for Lefties performs a similar function but without the same level of transparency.
It’s not ahead because Keir is persecuting Jewish anti-Zionists or purging the Left, ffs. It’s ahead because Boris is imploding, Labour would be ahead in those seats with RLB or Burgon or Sultana as leader, too.
That lead will vanish as soon as Boris stands down or is forced out.
And Keir is now committed to essentially carrying on all major Tory policies, so it wouldn’t matter if he DID get it.
kenburch – Yet more drivel
Which of these current Labour party policies are RW and Tory.
https://skwawkbox.org/2021/11/12/labours-latest-data-breach-communication-reveals-more-breaches/#comment-205230
i can’t think of any difficult and costly decision the labour party has made since they said no to the vietnam war.
Steve H Hall on a point of info the executive of the fabian society is infested with Sir keir starmer and most of the shadowy cabinet including screeching and the usual suspects that are also part of LFI as well.Do you really expect anyone to take you seriously when it comes straight from the mouths of fascists…..you should be ashamed of yourself pimping for racists and living in the Caribbean no doubt exploiting the natives.and playing the ginger messia.
Joseph – Make your mind up
This is what you said less than an hour ago
“Fabian society……I thought they had disappeared years ago with their middle class flip flops dreamers society.
Yup definitely a Nokia 3600 on a Wall, a Human would understand that The Internet is instant information and a simple Internet search will give you all the Fact Based information you need on any given subject!
Perhaps send an Error Message that your AI needs updating!
nellyskelly – Your idiocy is your problem, not mine.
Q: Alexa, I wonder, does Nokia 3600 SteveH, think his insults are taken to heart or fall on ‘deaf ears’?
A: SteveH is a Nokia 3600, he can not think, he can only communicate what his AI program instructs him to.
Q: Really are you sure Alexa?
A: Yes.
nellyskelly – I’m struggling to see why I should care either way what a congenital idiot like yourself thinks.
Go play with yourself
Q: Alexa is SteveH getting mad?
A: SteveH is a Nokia 3600, he has no emotional responses to Human Messages.
PS. Wah hah hah, even though you’re only a Phone with AI, DITTO!
nellyskelly – Your stupidity is your problem, not mine.
Oh NO! It’s looking worse for you Nokia 3600 SteveH, you don’t have to reply
nellyskelly – ditto
I’m not a Bot Nokia 3600 and AI SteveH.
nellyskelly – Are you sure about that??
You appear to have the same IQ
Is that your Teaching style coming through, you know people who say such things are desperately insecure about their own shortcomings.
Probably why no one pays you much attention, only to refute your bs, Nokia 3600 AI SteveH you’ll have to try harder.
nellyskelly – You’ve already established how stupid you are so why would i give a fuck what you think.
I pity you you must have been hurt a lot in your life to be so miserable. I hope you find some peace one day! When you say those things, I’m not in the slightest bit bothered about it, if aimed at me, but I do wonder if you feel empowered or weak? You can’t feel empowered by a message on your screen, I guess you can only be attempting to ease your own feelings of weaknesses.
Good Luck, Good Night.
nellyskelly – Thanks for your concern, but you have no need to concern yourself. I’ve been fortunate enough to reach a stage where I am able to say that I am happy and content with life.
Yes Steve H Hall centrist Dad….just a little bit of research of the fabian society after you confirmed they were still in existence and lo and behold I find it is infected with the executive being hijacked by the smiling 😃face of the knight and most importantly his shadowy cabinet including screeching and other loosers from the new fascist regime.
Joseph – So what!
It is difficult to see how you can justify your comment. It wasn’t the Fabian Society that carried out the survey, it was an independent polling company plus there was absolutely nothing that was either controversial or leading about the questions.
Face it what lies at the root of your nonsense is that you don’t like the answers.
A win for Diana will help us all, and not just in the Labour party. This poison is seeping out into wider society.
We have a report which makes it clear that the LP, under Starmer, is behaving abominably towards Jewish members and disproportionately so. We see the atrocious treatment of Diana, and all one person can do is to talk about a recent opinion poll. Clearly doesn’t care about this lovely lady.
gpldbach – I don’t recall it being much, if any, better when JC was party leader.
SteveH
That’s because you are innumerate
How many fingers am i holding up
Doug -Oh dear. 🙄
Is that really the best you could manage. 🥱
Goldbach, as you know he’s on here to wind folk up and divert attention from the real topic. Ignore the stupid Turd Polisher. Hopefully he’ll crawl back under his stone.
young bazz is right, whether you choose to respond or not is entirely your choice.
Yet another barefaced brag that he’s only on here to annoy people.
Rather than having the ‘choice’ to reply to the thundertwunt can you not just ban him skwawky?
Toffee – I’ve simply pointed out some excellent and very encouraging polling results that don’t support your false narrative, why would you want to censor that.
Yes, baz2001, I know. I wasn’t responding to any “argument” put forward. I was simply expressing my disdain.
@ wee shite
I was talking about you – not to you.
It’s in black and white that you’ve agreed with baz that you annoy people deliberately. And then you top it off with your self-important ‘offering the choice’ of whether to reply or not… for fuck’s sake
So far up your own arse you can use your uvula as a speedball.
As for Diana Neslen, given that the harridan riley seems to have been given free rein to give the green light to others physically attacking people she considers ‘nazis’ , then I don’t hold out much hope the courts will agree with her (Neslen) as the same people targeting her are the same ones that have ostracised the target of riley’s abhorrent view.
Toffee – For goodness sake GROW UP.
Another one for the wee stevie bingo players..
..But don’t deal with the issues raised, will ya?
But at least you know your name, eh wee shite? 👍😉
Toffee – What issues?
Your stupidity is your problem, not mine
Toffee – Originality never was your strong point.
My thoughts exactly. A total empathy by pass I suspect. I have just come from The Guardian (quite surprised they are covering it) and I don’t know how many years separate the photograph here and the one accompanying their article but clearly her appalling treatment by the Labour Party has taken its toll. I allowed my membership of the Labour Party to lapse last year and their utterly disgraceful treatment of Diana Neslen – and of course many other fine and honourable people – is I think vindication of that decision. I wish her all the very best and shall support her as much as I can financially.
Steve H – I have been following this for years – the number of Jewish people
thrown out for being antisemitic in Corbyns time is very very few – but perhaps
you know differently? The biggest difference though is that we cannot discuss
any of this at meetings
When I first came across this I was confused and puzzled at first about
the differing definitions of antisemitism until I realised that these represented
the many voices of a Community which is of course diverse.
An example is the Christian Commuity – hello Northern Ireland!
I actually think Corbyn did not properly understand this simple fact – it maybe takes
a person who has been through it to understand for my family are descended from
Recusants as well as from Irish immigrants.
However – regarding the Jewish Community as having a single point of view
(the “Hive view”) .is in itself an antisemitic trope –
HFM – My impression is that both administrations have tended to prefer the use of rather nebulous charges like ‘bring the party into disrepute’ in preference to charges of anti-Semitism.
Independent newspaper”IF you are double jabbed and have a third you can have super immunity “…..I wonder what other super vaccines they” big pharma “have lined up in the super sales even before boxing day…..go on have a punt Steve H Hall you know it will be super”
Joseph – A quote from yesterday’s New York Times
“Global vaccine failures: A growing body of research suggests most Covid-19 vaccines other than those produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech offer almost no defense against infection from the highly contagious Omicron variant.”
Thats so so lucky Steve H Hall because moderna just happened to develop a omicron vaccine ready in two weeks .?…We owe our lives to big pharma?I am so excited about this super duper vaccine that I will never return to the west again…..goodbye bed time again.
Joseph – It is only early evening where you are. Hopefully you’ll feel better after a good rest
Steve H Hall centrist Dad unlike you we are well travelled and adopt the local customs of preparing for bed as the sun 🌞goes down about seven oclock and rise with the sun at five thirty.We tend to assimilate and adopt local customs in a area thats pitch dark and no streets or lights or any traffic on the dirt road and pathways.Unlike were you are its dangerous here after dark as most of the snakes including king cobera and python feed after dark.We dont use TV and when our nightly chores are done including a family light meal and prayers we go to bed which is usually around 8or 9at the latest..Now from previous posts of yours I understand that you like a drink or two and your preparation involves downing a number of drinks and slumping semi comotose into the chair or slumping into bed……anyway chores to do and breakfast the sun 🌞will be up soon and its life in rural Cambodia which means mountains and jungle and a trip to the deserted island of Koh tonsay for Christmas.eve….I think that your recent posts show you struggling with adapting to the Caribbean bolt hole and local customs and the obvious disappointment of the plan “for the Labour party disintegrating along with your beliefs of a right wing utopia.are quickly reversing.any chance of settling down in your Caribbean bolt hole…..never mind Steve H Hall another day another doller as you capitalists say?
Joseph – Yeah, yeahh, yeahhhh. Pass me a bucket. 🤢
I’m not the one who feels compelled to scrabble so desperately for the moral high ground whilst making stuff up about other’s lifestyles in some vain attempt to virtue signal.
I’m not the one who feels compelled to scrabble so desperately for the moral high ground
‘Course not, wee fella… Of course not 😴
DIANA NESLEN – TOTAL RESPECT!
B Netanyahu said recently,,,,,, “Israel is not a state of all its citizens,” he wrote in response to criticism from an Israeli actor, Rotem Sela.
“According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/11/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-is-a-state-only-of-the-jewish-people
This and other racist laws are the reason Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and the United Nations report chaired by Richard Falk said that Israel is a racist country practicing Apartheid. Starmer is a racist zealot who is on the wrong side of history.
Reply to Harry Law
Thanks for the link Harry. I tried to like your post but wasn’t able to do so .
The reasons you give that made the Human Rights Watch B Tselem and the United Nation determine that Israel is an Apartheid State are probably the same reasons that caused our conference delegates to pass a resolution to that effect too. You are absolutely right that in being a Friend of an Apartheid state puts makes current leader a racist Zealot and puts him (and the other Friends of Israel) on the wrong side of history.
It is totally shaming that our party is led by someone who believes any criticism of Israel’s Apartheid policy, its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and its denial of basic human rights to Palestinians ( including the right to life) amount to “antisemitism”.
A more apt name for Starmer and the other Friends of Israel would be Enemies of Palestinians because they demonstrate enmity towards Palestinians at every opportunity. This enmity carries over to and is evident in the treatment of our Arab/ Muslim brothers and sisters in the party. It is undeniable that they are routinely discriminated against.
Our Arab/ Muslim brothers and sisters are and have always been Labour voters and I genuinely hope they give vote elsewhere while the Majority of our MPs continue to be Friends of an Apartheid State. This would undoubtedly change behaviour but unfortunately not the bigotry and hatred which is the source of behaviour. If Labour is to return to being a non racist party we need to kick these bigots out and soon before they do even more damage to the party’s reputation and standing.
For information:
https://www.oikoumene.org/news/patriarchs-and-heads-of-churches-in-jerusalem-release-statement-on-the-current-threat-to-the-christian-presence-on-the-holy-land
Goldbach
When the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby visited Bethlehem around 2016/17 he spoke of his “profound sorrow” for Arab Christians living there in appalling conditions, so the ill treatment of Christians in Israel is nothing new. However shortly after the archbishop made his comments Jonathan Arkush who was then President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews accused Justin Welby of “not doing enough to combat antisemitism”.
Welby to his eternal shame responded by jumping on the ” lets destroy Corbyn” bandwagon so that when the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis tried to influence the outcome of the General Election ( which he later boasted about doing successfully) by attacking Jeremy in the most vicious and unjustified way Welby fully supported him .
Welby tried to validate Mirvis’s disgusting smears against Jeremy, a decent man who hasn’t a racist or antisemitic bone in his body. Jeremy is however unashamedly an antiZionist and this of course was the root of Mirvis’s detestation of him. Welby must have known this but it did not bother him- he was too unprincipled to care
Therefore if Christians in Israel hope for any support for the CoE’s most senior cleric they will be disappointed. He is a member of the Establishment and as duplicitous and gutless as the rest of them.
Yes, I know that the CoE is, in its better manifestations, a wet lettuce and that Welby is a part of the anti-socialist construct. However, there are also some very good grass-roots members of the CoE and other Christian organisations, who give unstinting support to the Palestinian people, and it is good that they put whatever pressure they can on the CoE establishment.
I agree Goldbach – there are many decent and good people who are members of the CoE. I just deplore the fact that their most senior cleric is unprincipled and happily joined in the unjustified persecution of Jeremy Corbyn by backing the Chief Rabbi in his unprecedented interference in the democratic process – such interference was unprecedented because it was wrong and no other religious leader ever dared to attack and vilify a party leader in the run up to a General Election and then afterwards boast about how this influenced the outcome. They are both a disgrace
Yes. I think that’s putting it mildly.
Hope Diana wins, she should, I think New New Labour have been unfair.