The news channel Al Jazeera obtained the largest leak of documents in British political history, the internal emails of the Labour Party, which revealed scandal upon scandal.
“The Labour File” series of documentaries showed an internal party bureaucracy which worked relentlessly against both the membership and specific political figures who were supportive of the Jeremy Corbyn leadership.
Much of this was fixated on demonizing supporters of Palestine and disqualifying them from membership of the party.
Evidence of false allegations of homophobia, to force support for Corbyn's competitor, Angela Eagle, started as early as 2015.
Members were mercilessly slayed with untrue claims. Was this a test run for the fake antisemitism crisis which helped bring down Corbyn?
Another episode in the series showed the head of Internal Governance in the Labour Party, Claire Francis Fuller, joking about stabbing Jeremy Corbyn in a WhatsApp group with other labour staff.
She was not held accountable and is now Senior Communications Manager at the British NUS.
Another scene in the same episode shows Ben Westerman, an investigations officer at the Labour Party, lying as part of a BBC Panorama episode with the aim of smearing a Labour Party member.
It also reveals Labour Councillor Izzy Lenga twisting an example of previous alleged antisemitism at university and projecting it onto the Labour Party to create a false impression.
It was, of course, not mentioned that Lenga trained with the Israeli military. She entered through the mava training program, which can be accessed through the Union of Jewish Students.
The series also shows Dan Fox, the head of Labour Friends of Israel and partner of Labour Blairite MP, Stella Creasy, cavorting with Islamophobes. Dan Fox fought as a British soldier in Afghanistan, and we can reveal that he is still part of British military intelligence.
The series also shows the party functionaries spying on local membership in the borough of Newham. They stalked members and collected private information on them for the purpose of investigation. The surveillance of these members then aided the party in expelling them.
Evidence of labour hacking the emails of a local newspaper in Croydon was also revealed. The series denuded the party of a criminal conspiracy against its own members.
The Labour Party functions not as an expression of the will of its members, but as a surveillance system repressing labour in the interests of capital.
It is a weapon in the British establishments class war toolbox. It was before, during, and after the Corbin era. The party appears to be concerned with narrowing rather than broadly political participation. But the labor files are also an indictment of the political and media culture of the country as a whole.
A conscious decision was made at the highest level of the Corbyn led party to appease enemies of progress, thus sacrificing members and longtime allies in the hope that those forces of aggression might grant some respite. They didn't and thousands have suffered.
How the party was captured by key Israel lobby groups
The initial purge of the Labour Party members focused on suspending people who criticize right wing MPs could that be why they didn't want to deal with anti semitism cases?
It kind of looks a little bit like that. And one of the things that's interesting about that is that they spent an awful lot of effort trying to find critics of these right wing MPs, some of whom were Zionist, but not all.
I mean, quite a lot of them were just the normal right wingers in the party. So it looks like they didn't really get that antisemitism was the big issue that was coming.
And instead, they wanted to spend the time to do something else, which is an interesting thing to see because it suggests that it was only later that the whole question of anti semitism became the defining feature of the attack on Corbyn.
David Miller, Former Academic
What can you tell us about these external organizations like labour against antisemitism, and Nasha Jew who were behind an avalanche of complaints?
While these groups played a pivotal role in, not only harassing pro Palestine activists and people who are close to Jeremy Corbyn, but also in generating a narrative the Labour Party was full of so called anti Semites they operated predominantly on Twitter.
They would post screenshots of activists saying very innocuous things, nothing anti semitic or anti Jewish at all and claiming that this was some sort of major crisis in the party and of course, because staff in the Labour Party and in the leaders office and people around Jeremy Corbyn were very obsessed with Twitter, in my opinion, they then had a sort of inflated view of how big the "problem" was in the Labour Party and so one way that they would try to generate this narrative, that the Labour Party was full of bigots was by, you know, being trolls on Twitter.
But they would have another strategy which is they would directly get in contact with the Labour Party, send them a deluge of screenshots and posts asking them to take action against Labour Party members.
They would also send press releases files and information to right wing hacks in the mainstream media. And we know that this was a concerted operation sometimes by a very small group of individuals, you know, 23% of all the complaints around so called anti semitism originated from a single complainant, 12% originated from one group, Labour Against Anti semitism, which is run by people, many people, who are not even Jewish.
Danny Taylor, the person who founded it, Ewan Phillips their spokesperson, and one of their most prominent activists. None of these people are Jewish. So it was a very concerted operation. They had lots of influence.
Ammar Kazmi, Former Labour Activist
What do you make of the board of deputies waiting until 2020, their 2020 trustees report, to quietly acknowledge their close working relationship with the Israeli embassy, I mean, it wasn't mentioned in any of the trustees reports during Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader. Is that significant in any way?
Well, it's significant in the sense that we now know from the Labour files that leaked material that the board of deputies was actually regularly supplying to the party lists of people who it wanted suspended or expelled from the party.
So it was deeply into this whole process along with the troll accounts that Ammar has been talking about. So they were doing this all the way through this process and that's really significant in itself.
And of course, that's a part of the strategy which was adopted by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in Israel. So it may well be that they felt that it was easier to put that information out by 2020 when they hadn't, when they didn't have so much pressure on them and they were able to to fess up to that.
But it's clear that all the way through they were operating with the same agenda, which was to attack people who were Corbyn supporters and to get removed from the party on spurious claims.
David Miller, Former Academic
It was interesting because the previous Al Jazeera documentary that the lobby showed that there was also a close working relationship between the Israeli embassy and the Jewish Labor Movement, wasn't there?
But what about the role of internal groups, like the previously mentioned Jewish labor movement, who were, effectively, a sort of fifth column in Labour's ranks during Corbyn's tenure?
While there were many internal groups, there was Labour First, Labour Friends of Israel, all of these groups were responsible for helping to subvert Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. In terms of the Jewish labour movement specifically I mean, they're an openly Zionist, pro Israel organization.
They used to be called Poale Zion, which means "The Workers of Zion". Basically if you're Jewish and you're not a Zionist, if you don't support Israel, you can't really be a member of the Jewish Labour Movement. So yeah, it was re-founded, actually, in 2015 by a man called Jeremy Newmark, who had previously been found to have made false allegations of antisemitism against the University and College Union.
He specifically re-founded, and this was also revealed in Al Jazeera 2017 documentary "The Lobby", in order to fight Jeremy Corbyn.
I mean, this is what the Jewish Labour Movement was specifically set out to do; to fight pro Palestine activism, to promote the State of Israel.
Ammar Kazmi, Former Labour Activist
I mean, Poalei Tziyon particularly were pushing the antisemitism agenda and obviously very, you know, unhappy about kind of pro Palestinian activism and you mentioned that a number of other groups like Progress and so on.
Were they sort of piggybacking on the back of groups like the Jewish Labour Movement who were kind of using antisemitism?
There was definitely lots of piggybacking; I would say there was also lots of cross pollination in terms of activists and personnel between these organizations.
For example, let's look at Labour First, which is you know, headed by Luke Akehurst. He is an Israel lobbyist, he is the director of "We Believe in Israel", so all of these groups in some way had a pro Israel slant.
Ammar Kazmi, Former Labour Activist
Innocuous names - nefarious activities
Leaked documents imply that the embassy was uncomfortable about some of the ministry’s activities with the Israel lobby groups.
What can you tell us about the internal competition between the Israeli embassy and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs during this time?
It wasn't only the embassy, it was some elements of the Zionist movement in the UK who were uncomfortable about this, because, of course, what the ministry was planning to do was to put covert money into pro Israel groups, who would then campaign against Corbyn or some similar areas, and the worry was, in the embassy and indeed in some Zionist groups, that this would be illegal and that they would be found out and that the charity status would be threatened.
So there was a worry about that and that led to some groups, it seems, not taking the money, while other groups we know like "Sussex Friends of Israel" or "North West Friends of Israel" did take the money straight from the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. So there was a bit of a conflict there.
David Miller, Former Academic
How Jeremy Corbyn's closest advisors conspired against him
The hidden truth about the labour files is the opposite of the view advanced by critics. They say the party leader Jeremy Corbyn interfered to slow down the progress of antisemitism cases.
The truth was he speeded up massively the number of expulsions over antisemitism, which rose exponentially once Corbyn appointed a new General Secretary in April 2018.
In 2019 there were 45 expulsions, in 2017 there had only been one! Was this because of a widespread and increasing problem of antisemitism in the party? No. All the evidence shows that levels of antisemitism were lower than in society in general.
The Corbyn led party took over and extended the witch hunt by internalizing Zionist talking points on antisemitism. Three people were appointed to deal with complaints. Each had drunk the antisemitism Kool Aid. Harry Hayball says he learned about antisemitism on the left by reading two books, both by Zionists.
Patrick Smith, a former member of the AWL, who complained that members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign were essentially mad. And Laura Murray, who developed her understanding of antisemitism by working with Zionist stakeholders, and undertook an Israeli government sponsored training programme on ancient and pernicious antisemitic tropes.
This was a recipe for the dramatic escalation of the antisemitism witch hunt, with no basis on any rational or factual assessment of racism against Jews. In addition, Corbyn surrounded himself with advisers who were either soft on Zionism or were Zionists themselves.
Momentum, the so called hard left Corbyn supporters, was set up by Jon Landsman, who though previously critical of Zionism, moved to support the Zionist produced IHRA working definition of antisemitism. He repeatedly said that the party had to regain the trust of the Jewish community.
Another founder of momentum was James Schneider. He met someone called Ben Judah, a Zionist, at Oxford, and acted in a play he co wrote in 2008. It involved the inevitable Arab terrorist who turns out to be antisemitic. The pair were housemates in the period when James Schneider founded Momentum and remain friends today.
Judah did his bit for the witch hunt between 2015 and 2019, and now works for the NATO lobby group, The Atlantic Council. Schneider went on to become Corbyn's spokesperson.
It is understood that he was amongst the key people pushing the strategy of apologizing for alleged antisemitism. He argued that the ridiculous judgment of the EHRC should and must be implemented, and even highlighted what he thought were really good passages in a book by an employee of the extremist Zionist group Community Security Trust.
As the labour files and other key evidence shows, the bullets used to assassinate Corbyn were shaped and produced by the Zionist regime and carried to the scene of the crime by Zionist lobby group’s assets and fronts. But the key proximate actors that delivered the coup de grâce to Jeremy Corbyn were in his own office.
It has been suggested that there was a kind of Zionist capture of the Corbynite leadership of the party. Do you think that's a legitimate observation?
Absolutely, I mean, what happened was that they kind of inculcated and took on board, the key ideas of the Zionist critique of the party, which was that anti Zionism is effectively anti semitism and so that the people who were actually in charge of all the complaints in anti semitism were actually, in their own mind, implementing the Zionist witch hunt.
So that was the problem, they had been taken over, they've been captured by that set of ideas, all the people in charge, they were the same, and they were implementing what in the end were factually baseless conceptions to remove people from the party for, actually, for nothing.
David Miller, Former Academic
What about the role of Jon Landsman in the subversion of the Corbynite project? I mean, he was the owner of the supposedly pro Corbyn Momentum group at the time, wasn't he?
Yes, I mean, the influence of Jon Landsman in pushing this nonsense about antisemitism was absolutely pivotal, I think. I have to say I did kind of know John Landsman worked with him a few times, and at that time, I suppose I was a bit naive, you know, I didn't really quite understand his background or the role that he was playing, but this is a man who claims that he used to be a Zionist, I think he probably still is a Zionist.
He worked on a kibbutz, for example, in Palestine, so he has contributed in his own small way to the ongoing colonization of the Palestinian people, but in terms of, you know, what he did when he was working for Momentum, I mean, you know, he went to Israel, for example, to give a talk on Corbynism He helped to marginalize anti Zionist Jews in Jewish Voice for labour by saying that they weren't really part of the Jewish communities, that he was also assisting the Jewish Labour movement in policing who is the right kind of Jewish person.
So yeah, the role played by Jon Landsman was absolutely pivotal in normalizing Zionism, normalizing the State of Israel, and in attacking people for so called antisemitism he attacked the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, he attacked you, for example.
Ammar Kazmi, Former Labour Activist
What do you know about this organization, the Alliance for Workers Liberty, is it a formally pro Zionist group, and what influence does it have on the wider left in Britain?
Well, it's not formally pro Zionist, some of them say they are not Zionists but their positions are pro Zionist, and they have a conception of the world which leads them to support the State of Israel and, indeed, to be quite strongly Islamophobic.
I mean, this guy, Patrick Smith, who is one of the three people involved with the Labour Party, and during the antisemitism complaint, he left the AWL over the fact that there were too Islamophobic and he still ended up taking decisions inside the Labour Party, removing people for ludicrous things, but it's had a wider influence.
They have this kind of Zionist approach which has a wider influence on the left more generally. So there are many people who are on the left post 911 who have become involved with Zionist campaigns.
Obvious people, like David Hirsch, for example, who set up "Engage", the anti BDS campaign, Jane Ashworth was also involved in that campaign. She was formerly a socialist organizer, the predecessor of the Alliance Workers Liberty, Alan Johnson, who works for BICOM, an Israel lobby group, again, a former member of AWL, so it has had an influence on a whole strata of left (leaning) Zionist intellectuals, and that's really quite limiting for the ability of people in the left to see what Zionism is.
David Miller, Former Academic
Let me ask you about Harry Hayball, the author of the leaked labour antisemitism report, who made scores of complaints about antisemitism when he was a leading staff member at Momentum, long before he joined the antisemitism unit in the Labour Party, what can you tell us about him?
He was, before he was actually formally charged, working for the Labour Party and dealing with anti semitism complaints, he was making complaints himself, he made scores of complaints against people, some of whom weren't even members of the Labour Party.
And most of the complaints were the kind of complaints which were thought to be problematic, i.e. largely anti Zionist things, he then ends up in that position and if you look at the weak report, which seems he wrote, he certainly seems to have written a large biographical section on himself.
He says, you know, one of the reasons he got the job was because he was making all these ridiculous complaints.
So they, they had already, in employing him, taken a decision effectively, that they were going to implement the witch hunt. And that was what this unit was for.
David Miller, Former Academic
Would you say that the position of pro Palestine activists in Britain has become better or worse as a result of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership?
Well I think the conventional wisdom would be to say that it's got better because he, you know, people say that Corbyn gave a platform to people who stand in solidarity with Palestine, but I would say, actually, it has had a net negative effect, because the Corbyn leadership effectively helped to normalize Zionism, they took on Zionist talking points, and the damage of that is almost incalculable, people on the labour left, you know, we see them now they still continue to spout these Zionist talking points.
They have these quite racist positions, actually, in respect of the settler colonial project that's taking place against Palestinian people, and on questions of, you know, anti imperialism and Islamophobia.
So, in terms of that effect, of giving legitimacy to these right wing views, which I don't think were necessarily that prevalent, or as prevalent, on the pro Palestine left in Britain beforehand.
That's been a(n) effect that's taken place because of Jeremy Corbyn and Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, as we know, prosecuted the war against pro Palestine activists, they took on the witch hunt on behalf of the Israel lobby.
Ammar Kazmi, Former Labour Activist
Yes, indeed, that is a fact that perhaps a lot of people aren't as fully aware of as they should be.
Some people argue that James Schneider and the Momentum leadership were actually part of a conspiracy against the membership, and indeed Corbyn himself, is that suspicion credible, in your opinion?
I don't think that we have the evidence to suggest that, I think what seems to me to be the case is that they were under attack by the Zionists, they felt they had to do something about this anti semitism problem, which was being encouraged, the perception, which was being encouraged by the media, and what they wanted to do with that was they wanted to deal with all the complaints much more rapidly, efficiently and effectively.
But they didn't do that. But what that meant was that, in order to do that, they took on the ideas which were being berated wth by the Zionists and they started to expel huge numbers of people who weren't really guilty of anything. And so they started off by trying to defend themselves and they ended up by doing the bidding of their enemies.
David Miller, Former Academic
Source: Media
