Pro-Israel group claims saying ‘anything’ about Israel’s genocide, apartheid or international law is ‘antisemitic’
The pro-Israel ‘Board of Deputies of British Jews’ (BoD) has made what has been described as a ‘wild’ attack on a Palestine motion being put to Liverpool City Council by the Liverpool Community Independents (LCI) group of councillors against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The motion, proposed and seconded by LCI councillors Alan Gibbons and Sam Gorst, calls for a ban on arms sales to Israel, an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and for compliance by all nations with the rulings of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ):
Ban on Arms Sales to Israel, immediate Unconditional Ceasefire and Compliance
with International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice RulingsCouncillors Alan Gibbons, Lucy Williams, Sam Gorst
Proposed Alan Gibbons
Seconded Sam GorstThe council notes that:
Last November, this council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Many residents have expressed deep concerns to their local representatives, urging
action to stop arms sales to Israel and calling for an immediate ceasefire.The trauma of witnessing the devastation in Palestine has deeply affected our communities, risking a rise in Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism. As a Council, we must listen to our residents and press the government to work towards lasting peace and justice.
Airstrikes have continued and intensified the humanitarian crisis, causing significant civilian casualties, 70% of whom are women and children, and further escalating the situation.
In January 2024 the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take steps to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza. In December 2024, Amnesty International’s comprehensive analysis concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The humanitarian crisis demands urgent international intervention.The council’s banker Barclays now invests over £2 billion in, and provides financial services worth £6.1 billion to, companies arming Israel.
This council believes that:
The government should revoke all export licenses for arms supplied directly or indirectly to Israel and suspend future sales, including UK components for the F-35 jets supplied to Israel from the US.
The government should advocate for an unconditional ceasefire and prioritise the protection of civilians.
The government should increase diplomatic pressure to halt illegal settlements and resume peace talks, in line with the ICJ rulings.
The government should support international investigations into human rights violations, including genocide and war crimes.
The government should welcome and comply with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif.
The government should join international efforts to facilitate peace talks that respect the security and rights of both Palestinians and Israelis, while holding all parties accountable to international legal standards.
The government should review trade agreements with companies involved in illegal activities in the region, ensure no complicity in acts of genocide, and increase humanitarian support for Gaza’s civilians.
The government should call for the immediate return of all hostages.
The Council therefore resolves to:
• Instruct the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council write to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to call for a halt arms sales, call for an immediate ceasefire, and call for the government to ensure adherence to international law, including compliance with ICJ and ICC rulings.
• Support humanitarian aid efforts, foster local dialogue to counter hate, and back peaceful initiatives that promote justice and long-term peace for both sides of the conflict.
• Instruct officers to note the Merseyside Pension Fund’s investments in arms companies, update its ethical investment policy accordingly so that we can divest our pension funds from companies involved in the arms trade. and ask the Responsible Investment Working Party (RIWP) to draw up plans to remove them from the portfolio.
• Instruct officers to draw up plans to replace Barclays as its banker and transfer its account to a more ethical company.
The council, which is run by the Starmeroid Labour right, has already used its majority to bureaucratically block an LCI motion calling for the reinstatement of the Winter Fuel Payment and may attempt something to block the Gaza motion, so LCI is calling for pensioners’ organisations to also join the demo taking place as the motion goes before the council’s meeting on Wednesday.
In an apparent attempt to give the council an excuse for blocking the Gaza motion, the BoD has resorted to a claim – described by critics as ‘wild’, not to mention desperate – that ‘linking anything related to Israel’ to war crimes, racism or disregard for international law is ‘interpreted by many Jews as antisemitic’:
Linking anything that is related to Israel to “genocide”, “apartheid” or “breaching international law” is interpreted by many Jews as antisemitic. One of the reasons being that it is seen as a double standard due to the specific fixation on Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, over any other nation. This is why this motion has been recognised, by Jewish people with family in Israel, as inappropriate, unhelpful and bordering on antisemitic.
Israel’s propaganda and smear machine has lost much of its effectiveness after Israel exposed itself fully, through its intentional mass murder of civilians in Gaza – and the endless lies it has told in an attempt to justify bombing refugees in tents, bombing and demolishing hospitals and aid centres, targeting medics, rescue workers, aid workers and journalists for murder, often with their families, and using starvation as a weapon against two million survivors.
But the Labour right still clings to such ‘hasbara’ propaganda as an excuse for its own war on freedom of speech and protest – so LCI and other anti-genocide groups are calling on everyone who can do so to attend their rally inside and outside the council chamber on Wednesday afternoon from 4pm:
Liverpool City Council Wednesday, January 22nd, 4pm at Liverpool Town Hall, High St, Liverpool L2 3SW.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount as it has to be entered by us). Alternatively, if you prefer to make a one-off or recurring donation by simple card payment, please use the form below:
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your support is hugely appreciated.
Your support is hugely appreciated.
Your support is hugely appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyThanks for your solidarity so Skwawkbox can keep doing its job of inconveniencing the right and helping to build the left!
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
I am seeing more and more MSM Jewish journalists as well as other Jewish commentators, writers and activists – in the UK, the US and elsewhere – distancing themselves from this catch-all BoD viewpoint on antisemitism.
Quite.
More and more people are seeing this for what it is. A get out of jail free card to excuse any crime whatsoever, up to and including mass murder of women and children; journalists, health workers, even the sick and injured in their hospital beds.
Such shoddy excuses should be given short shrift and treated with the contempt due to them.
Careful now, you’ll upset vanessa feltz.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and its funders should be tried for war crimes.