Our own Green party has two anti-Israel MPs in co-leader Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman. Golriz has shown her hand more obviously this week with her gaslighting of Jews on Twitter.
They have both shown us that the Green party has no love for Jews, but is a similar problem festering inside the NZ Labour party?
Labour parties worldwide always seem to have a problem with Jews. For some reason, socialists tend to see them in a very negative light while, on the other hand, seeing Muslims and Palestinian Muslims in particular as victims in need of their protection. In the UK a very nasty underbelly of anti-Semitism has been revealed repeatedly.
Senior Labour figures have interfered in the disciplinary process of dealing with accusations of anti-Semitism, ex-party officials have told the BBC’s Panorama.
[…] the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson said he was “shocked, chilled and appalled” by the allegations and the party had “serious questions” to answer […] other MPs commended the courage of those who had spoken out, Ruth Smeeth describing their testimony as “heartbreaking”.
[…] Mr Matthews is one of eight former Labour officials – seven of whom worked in the party’s Complaints and Disputes Department – who have spoken to Panorama about their experiences of dealing with anti-Semitism cases.
They claim:
The leader’s office was “angry and obstructive” […]
Officials brought in by Ms Formby “overruled” disciplinary decisions and “downgraded” punishments to a “slap on the wrist”
On one occasion, Jeremy Corbyn’s office ordered batches of anti-Semitism complaints to be brought to his Commons office for processing by his aides
Louise Withers Green, a former disputes officer, left the Labour Party after being signed off with depression and anxiety.
She had signed an NDA so she did not have to work her notice period, but despite that spoke to the programme, saying she wouldn’t “be able to live with myself unless I speak up about the horrendous things that I know have been happening”.
The party has been engulfed by a long-running dispute over anti-Semitism within its ranks, which has led nine MPs and three peers to leave the party.
The leadership has been accused of failing to get to grips with the problem, with allegations of hundreds of complaints against members remaining unresolved.BBC Panorama spoke to more than 20 former officials as part of its investigation – Is Labour Anti-Semitic? – which will be broadcast at 21.00 BST on Wednesday.
They allege that they had to deal with a huge increase in anti-Semitism complaints since Mr Corbyn became leader in 2015.Panorama discovered there was backlog of 1,000 anti-Semitism allegations this spring, with only 15 people having been expelled.
Mike Creighton, Labour’s former head of the disputes team, told BBC Panorama he was approached by Mr Milne for advice in spring 2016.
He said he had suggested […] that Mr Corbyn make a speech on the Middle East, “particularly saying that Israel had a right to exist”.
But Mr Creighton claimed Mr Milne’s response was to laugh at him.bbc.com
[…] Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Falconer told BBC Radio 4’s PM the allegations were “hair-raising” and showed the party was “still in denial” over the issue.
Ex-foreign secretary Jack Straw said the fact people with “vile views” had been allowed to remain in the party showed the extent of Mr Corbyn’s “complacency”.
Neither James Show, Marama Davidson nor Jacinda Ardern has pulled Golriz Ghahraman up or insisted that she apologise for her offensive behaviour. Golriz has however bowed to public pressure and has made a carefully worded apology that fails to in any way to acknowledge the fact that Jesus and his mother Mary were Jewish and that Israel has a right to exist. Instead, she uses her apology to score points about refugees.
James Shaw and Marama Davidson instead of saying that the Green Party condemns her words stated that the Green party “support” Ghahraman. Why does she need supporting? She was the one in the wrong. It was a typical weak as dishwater response from weak as dishwasher co-leaders.
Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman has been accused of antisemitism by the New Zealand Jewish Council.
[…] New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said calling Mary and Joseph Palestinian refugees was disrespectful to the Jewish community.
“Ms Ghahraman, by refusing to acknowledge that Jesus was Jewish, including when many people pointed out her error, is continuing to erase that connection, a favourite tactic of those who aim to delegitimise the modern day Jewish presence in the land,” she said.
“This is an ongoing pattern of disrespect to and marginalisation of the Jewish community by Ms Ghahraman, which at this point must be assumed to be deliberate and antisemitic.”Ghahraman said she understood her comments had caused offence to some in the Jewish community in New Zealand.
Stuff
“That was not my intention and I unreservedly apologise. The Jewish community are pivotal in advocating for the rights of refugees, most recently for those detained on the American border,” she said.
“I will ensure to engage in dialogue with the Jewish community about what I could have done better with that remark and how I can improve dialogue ongoing”.
Ghahraman said she commended the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand for strongly advocating for the rights of refugees.
Moses said it was “ahistorical” to claim Jesus wasn’t Jewish.
“Jesus and his family were Jewish. They lived in Judea, they went to synagogue, they followed the Jewish law. The Romans called him “King of the Jews”. Judea was renamed Palestine by the Roman Empire, long after Jesus’ death, in order to erase any Jewish connection to the land,” she said.
“It is well past time the Green Party leaders addressed this behaviour.”
A spokesperson for Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson said Ghahraman was going to work with Jewish communities to improve dialogue.
“Golriz has unreservedly apologised for her poorly worded remarks and we support her.”
Poorly worded? It was historically and factually inaccurate! It was a falsehood, a lie.