Born in Britain to Sephardi Jewish parents from Greece and Spain, his father abandoned the family when he was a young child and Mr Sassoon spent seven years living at the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Orphanage in Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale.

After starting as an apprentice hairdresser in London’s East End, he opened his first salon on Bond Street in 1954, expanding his business across the Atlantic and developing a successful line of hair products.

During the Second World War he joined the 43 Group, fighting fascists alongside former servicemen, and later served in the Palmach fighting for the fledgling Israeli state.

Also see Left Foot Forward:

As soon as I showed an interest I was assigned to a particular group, like everyone else. My guv’nor in the East End group was Jackie Myerovitch, and from him we would get a phone call to be in a certain place at certain time to disrupt a Mosley speech, or one of the pubs. There was even a plot to kidnap the quisling himself, strip him and dump him naked in Piccadilly Circus. Then these incidents, or actions, would begin. It was pretty terrifying. I remember Jackie being badly slashed, but there was no time to worry about such things.

… and this long piece from 2008 in the Daily Mail, a goodie in The JC, plus a shorter appreciation in Hope not Hate.

Sebastian Hammelehle provides the following commentary at Spiegel online:

Grass makes a remarkable comparison, which is supposed to sound logical, but which is actually not. He implies that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. But shouldn’t one call such statements “anti-Israeli” or perhaps “anti-Zionist”?

And does one actually get punished in Germany for criticizing Israel? Just recently, Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party, wrote on Facebook that he had witnessed “apartheid” in the West Bank city of Hebron. Did he get punished for saying that? No.

When he was chairman of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Ignatz Bubis once complained that people referred to Israel as “his” country when they were talking to him. Bubis was a German citizen. Günter Grass has still not understood that “the Jews” are not the same as “the Israelis.”

But in his case, even this realization wouldn’t help very much. It doesn’t really matter whether one calls the supposed sinister puppet masters who punish any criticism of themselves with social ostracism Jews or Israelis. It’s the same stereotype that lurks behind it: the global conspiracy. And yes, at this point one unfortunately has to admit that Grass is right — it is indeed anti-Semitic.

Less of Grass, let’s have some Camus.

Indeed, as he listened to the cries of joy that rose above the town, Rieux recalled that this joy was always under threat. He knew that this happy crowd was unaware of something that one can read in books, which is that the plague bacillus never dies or vanishes entirely, that it can remain dormant for dozens of years in furniture or clothing, that it waits patiently in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, handkerchiefs and old papers, and that perhaps the day will come when, for the instruction or misfortune of mankind, the plague will rouse its rats and send them to die in some well-contented city.

A short while ago my blog was the subject of a complaint. As a result, I have had to temporarily remove one image. The image is of a man named Arthur Kemp. In the image — a photo — Kemp is sitting down and there is a Nazi symbol in the background. To the best of my knowledge, the image appears on (a) few other sites. Prominent examples include:

Edmund Standing, The BNP: Not very British, January 3, 2010 | [img]
Harry’s place, Arthur Kemp: BNP Reichsminister des Auswärtigen, October 25, 2009 | [img]

A former South African policeman, Kemp (1962–) left South Africa for England in 1996, joining the British National Party. According to Heidi Beirich, in 2004 he began work for the BNP and “is well respected by the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany”. Having previously conducted ideological training for party members (2007), in early 2009 Kemp became responsible for selling merch for the BNP (via ‘Excalibur’), then from late 2010 administered the BNP website (a role he had undertaken previously, along with being spokesperson on ‘foreign affairs’). In March 2011 he left the party under acrimonious circumstances. You can read a fuller profile on Kemp on the SPLC site: Heidi Beirich,Dangerous Liaison, Intelligence Report, Winter 2007, No.128.

Apart from his activism on behalf of the BNP and his authorship of several crackpot treatises on race, history and politics, Kemp is probably best known for his involvement in the trial of the murderers of Chris Hani. Hugh Muir and Matthew Taylor, White supremacist aids BNP, The Guardian, June 10, 2004:

Mr Kemp was one of a number of far-right activists arrested after Hani’s murder. He was later released without charge, but Clive Derby-Lewis, to whose wife Mr Kemp was said to have supplied a list of names and addresses, including Hani’s, was one of two men sentenced to death. He was said to have organised the shooting.

The Polish-born Janusz Walus, who was convicted of shooting Hani, was found to have material drawn from Mr Kemp’s list in his flat. Their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

At the murder trial Mr Kemp admitted producing the list but denied having knowingly supplied a “hitlist”.

From 1989 until 1992 Mr Kemp worked for Die Patriot, the newspaper of the extremist South African Conservative party. According to the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, he has spoken at Nazi meetings in Germany and written for the magazine Nation und Europa, which was founded by a former SS officer.

Most recently, Kemp has been denounced by former wife Karen on a now-deleted blog (and elsewhere by his son), while winning favour with the Australian Protectionist Party, which in May 2010 featured a video of one of Kemp’s “excellent” speeches on its site. Otherwise, with Ostara Publications Kemp is keeping busy (re-)publishing racy tracts, including seminal works by Arthur de Gobineau (1816–1882), Madison Grant (1865–1937), Lothrop Stoddard (1883–1950) and of course The Great Man himself. Inter alia,Nell Irvin Painter provides a really useful overview of such literature in The History of White People (WW Norton, 2010; see also the work of Theodore W Allen).

As for the BNP, it appears to be in serious political and financial decline. It may survive the current crisis or give way to some other party, of which several have formed in the few years since Griffin and Brons won seats in the European Parliament.

Carole Swords was participating in a demonstration organised by a group called London BDS, who work alongside the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Carole Swords with “Natasha” of London BDS, August 13th 2011

Of course, Swords is responsible for her own actions, and her political allies in the PSC and London BDS are not guilty of attacking Harvey Garfield. What is instructive, however, is how the PSC and London BDS have portrayed the events of August 13th 2011. In order to understand this, we must understand something of the PSC’s policy of BDS against Israel.

On the “About” page of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, we read about the PSC’s Boycott Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel:

After few weeks campaign, we get real momentum,now . This Friday 5th August we will visit 4 Mosques. Join us to become a member of the glorious BDS movement.

Brent PSC will be at [...]

West London PSC and London BDS will be at [...]

Camden PSC will be at [...]

South London PSC and London BDS will be leafleting [...]

Clearly the PSC is proud of both London BDS, and its local chapters. You will notice that Holocaust-denier Gill Kaffash is still listed on the main PSC page, as the go-to person for organising the boycott of Israeli dates. (The date boycott, in turn, is driven by Ismail Patel,  and backed by the Shadow Justice Minister).

Here we see how the PSC co-operates with its local PSC chapters in anti-Israel activism, disregarding extreme political views or Holocaust denial.

Last year the PSC promoted the London BDS’ campaigning against the Ahava store in Covent Garden. The PSC also promoted the London BDS protests against Tesco in Covent Garden, due to Tesco stocking Israeli produce from settlements.

You can see the PSC promote these London BDS demos throughout 2011, including here, here, here and here.

Indeed, PSC director Sarah Colborne turned up at an Ahava/Tesco demo in July 2011, and started the chant,

“Dead Sea Mud: Palestinian blood”.

Here is footage via Richard Millett. Notice Colborne starting the chanting, with Carole Swords joining in:

This all demonstrates PSC support at a national level, both for London BDS’ campaigning outside Ahava and Tesco in Covent Garden, and for its local PSC activists.

On August 13th 2011, this is the footage that was recorded from the BDS action against Ahava and Tesco:

You will notice Carole Swords very prominently in the video. Two minutes in, you hear Swords joining in a song, to the tune of Hava Nagila, about boycotting Israeli goods. The camera appears to focus on Swords, throughout much of the video.

The video was posted by Seymour Alexander, of the (Atzmonite) Kingston and Richmond PSC. Lest anyone think that Kingston and Richmond PSC is somehow disconnected from the main Palestine Solidarity Campaign, consider this:

The national PSC has previously posted stateents from Kingston and Richard PSC, supporting their boycott action against Veolia. We read in April 2011 on the PSC website:

“SLWP’s decision is a victory for the coalition of Palestine solidarity activists, local human rights groups and concerned local residents from the London boroughs of Kingston-upon-Thames, Sutton, Merton and Croydon, who have been campaigning tirelessly for the past year against Veolia’s involvement in the procurement process due to its activities in illegally occupied Palestine. [...]  Samrina Mir (Merton PSC) and Ben Jamal (Chair, Richmond & Kingston PSC) said “This is a significant victory for the Bin Veolia campaign [...].”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign are allies and supporters of Richmond & Kingston Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Here is Alexander’s description of his video -posted on the London BDS website:

Saturday 13th August 2011 – With London still in a state of shock, Zionist Federation counter-demonstrators at Ahava and TESCO tried to stir things up in their usual malign way, even though the similarity between the riots in London and the antics of the settlers on the rampage in the West Bank apparently passed them by.

Protesters at TESCO were entertained by a passing Hare Krishna group and by a nearby Zimbabwean demonstration.

We also read:

Last week, the Daily Mail published an article by Richard Waghorne, entitled “French downgrade shows that Marine Le Pen’s role in French public life is not just legitimate but increasingly necessary“.

The elegant and increasingly incisive leader of the French National [Front] appears to be free of many of her father’s drawbacks. She is additionally the only significant voice in France to diagnose the Euro-federalist threat to her country’s future accurately. Before yesterday’s sovereign downgrade, the prospect of her displacing either Nicholas Sarkozy or his Socialist challenger to make it through to the two-horse second round of the French presidential election was gaining in likelihood.

This has traditionally been viewed as a threat and is still spoken of with alarm in Parisian political salons. As France continues to decline on account of the European empire-building decreed by its established political class, however, it is becoming steadily more obvious that Marine Le Pen’s role in French public life is not merely legitimate but increasingly necessary.

Plus ca change.

As Hitchens said himself during his destruction of Galloway in New York:

“There comes a point where what some people say just becomes self-discrediting and requires no further comment”.

A reminder: While Hitchens was attacked by thugs of the fascist Syrian Social Nationalist Party for daring to deface one of their neo-swastika signs in Beirut, Galloway was pleased few years earlier to address a celebration of SSNP supporters in Canada.

The SSNP of course is standing firmly behind the murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad in his efforts to crush the Syrian uprising.

“[A] fucking guttersnipe… and thug and liar and ponce for fascism”

–Hitchens accurately describing Galloway

Update: Expressing a sentiment similar to Galloway’s– who appears to believe that Hitchens is deservedly burning in Hell– Inayat Bunglawala titles a blog post: “Christopher Hitchens – The World Is A Better Place Without Him.” He quotes another Harry’s Place acquaintance, Craig Murray, who wrote:

The world will undoubtedly be a duller place without Christopher Hitchens. Oh, and a better one too.

British journalism is full of people of the same generation who have lurched from the Trotskyist far left to a crazed neo-con agenda with no intervening period of sanity. I suspect the available riches for zionist propagandists are a major factor. Hitchens, Aaronovitch, Phillips, Cohen. You can probably think of others. A strange and extremely unpleasant manifestation of intellectual prostitution.

Given Hitchens’s own lack of respect for the dead he despised, I am sure he would not have expected (or wanted) his own enemies to behave any differently.

But to call Hitchens “a zionist propagandist”? If you’re going to hate someone, at least be accurate.

Atzmon encourages his audience to chant “NO” to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who had voiced opposition to racism.

Atzmon, of course, doesn’t have the guts to encourage his audience to chant “NO” to Britain’s leading anti-racist and anti-fascist campaign, Hope not Hate.

Hope not Hate leads the campaign against Gilad Atzmon’s racism and promotion of Holocaust denial.

There is no substantive difference  between those who joined with Gilad Atzmon at this rally, and those who jeer and attack anti-fascists at a British National Party or English Defence League rally.

If you can identify any of those in this video, feel free to post their names below.

Meanwhile, I see that the official Palestinian Mission in Britain is a fan of Gilad Atzmon.

I wonder how the Palestine Solidarity Campaign feels about that.

Until his remarkable outburst in Parliament, in which he suggested that Jews who supported Jewish self-determination were disloyal to Britain, I had largely associated Paul Flynn with cannabis.

The JC’s editorial puts it well:

There is no more classic antisemitic trope than the idea of the Jew as agent of a foreign power, lacking loyalty to his ‘host’ country. Add to that the idea of a Jewish conspiracy and you have a double whammy. In accusing Matthew Gould, the British Ambassador to Israel, of acting not on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government but the government of Israel, and of conspiring with the Mossad, Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, is guilty of an unambiguous antisemitism of a directness not seen from an elected politician for many years. It is good to see Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, making clear his disgust at his colleague’s remarks. But we need now to see the same from Ed Miliband, who has so far refused to condemn Mr Flynn, despite repeated entreaties by the JC.

But what is most disturbing about this whole episode is that a senior and experienced politician such Mr Flynn can utter words which a neo-Nazi might shy away from speaking in public, and yet have no compunction in defending them when challenged and no conception that he has said anything in any way offensive, let alone antisemitic. There has been a sense for some time in which certain antisemitic themes have appeared to become acceptable in polite society, as if positing a Jewish conspiracy and the issue of dual loyalty is not antisemitic, merely a statement of fact.

Flynn’s remarks have been broadly attacked, by MPs of all parties including Labour:

The Foreign Office and MPs from across the political spectrum sprang to Mr Gould’s defence and condemned the remarks.

Middle East Minister Alistair Burt said: “Paul Flynn should take some time to consider his comments, which could easily be misconstrued. There is absolutely no reason why our ambassador to Israel should not be Jewish. Any allegations about Matthew Gould’s conduct are utterly unsubstantiated. He is a first-class ambassador.”

Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “The faith of any British diplomat is irrelevant to their capability to their job. To make suggestions otherwise is wrong and offensive.

“On a personal note I know from my time in government Matthew Gould embodies all that is good in British diplomacy.”

John Mann MP, another Labour MP has been fierce in his criticism of Flynn:

John Mann, the chair of the group on antisemitism, said he was in no doubt “that when candidates are selected for parliamentary constituencies under new boundaries that Paul Flynn will be summarily retired”.

Mr Mann, also a Labour MP, added: “I suggest he starts his retirement with a workers’ education course on understanding racism, its language and its impact.”

There is also an article by Tory MP, Robert Halfon MP here.

I want to make two brief observations about Paul Flynn MP’s conduct.

First, have a look at what this obnoxious man had to say for himself when challenged on his racism.

“In the past there hasn’t been a Jewish ambassador to Israel and I think that is a good decision – to avoid the accusation that they have gone native.”

Mr Flynn added that the same question of divided loyalty would apply to anyone with a “foreign” family background, including former Foreign Office Minister Denis MacShane, whose father was Polish.

“Imagine Denis MacShane as ambassador to Poland? Heaven forbid,” Mr Flynn said.

Let’s take a closer look at this statement. Paul Flynn MP appears to be arguing that he is not simply an anti-Jewish racist, but believes that all British people of non-British heritage are to be suspected of divided loyalties.

That hardly excuses his racism. In fact, it makes it worse!

But here’s the thing. I don’t believe Flynn. I don’t think he would raise similar objections to a public servant of any other ethnicity. In other words, Flynn is pretending to be an equal-opportunities racist, to cover his specific racism against Jews. Isn’t that both surreal and disgusting?

The second point I’d like to make is this. Paul Flynn MP raises this racist argument in support of Pippa Bartolotti.

He said doubts had been raised about Mr Gould’s loyalty by two of his constituents, Pippa Bartolotti and Joyce Giblin, who had been held in prison in Israel after taking part in the “flytilla” demonstration against the Gaza blockade in July.

“When they were briefly imprisoned in Israel, they met the ambassador, and they strongly believe… that he was serving the interest of the Israeli government, and not the interests of two British citizens,” he told the committee.

Here is Pippa Bartolotti with the Hamas leadership:

Here is Pippa Bartolotti with Hamas’s Mahmoud Al Zahar, a founder and leaders of Hamas:

Zahar is of course the man who said Jewish children around the world should be murdered to avenge Israel’s attack on Hamas in the Gaza war.

“They have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine,” Mahmoud Zahar said in a televised broadcast recorded at a secret location. “They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people.”

Not that any of this troubles Bartolotti. This is from her blog:

Mahmoud al Zahar was clearly a knowledgeable man, well educated and by the nature of his knowledge, anti Jew. It seemed to me that he no longer separated Zionism from the ordinary Jew, but living under siege as he did with warplanes and warships continually threatening his people, killing his children and destroying his homes one could hardly blame him.

Here is some more of Zahar’s wisdom, this time about the West, shared in an interview with Reuters.

We have the right to control our life according to our religion, not according to your religion. You have no religion. You are secular.

You do not live like human beings. You do not [even] live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?

We are the ones who respect women and honor women … not you.

You use women as an animal. She has one husband and hundreds of thousands of boyfriends. You don’t know who is the father of your sons because of the way you respect women.

We understand you very well. You are poor people. Morally poor. Don’t criticize us because of what we are.

And here is Pippa Bartolotti waving the flag of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Its symbol is reminiscent of the Nazi Swastika – deliberately so. The SSNP is influenced by the philosophy of German Nazism: hence the give-away inversion: “Social Nationalist” rather than “National Socialist”.

Here’s a little background on the SSNP. Here’s some more.

And here is Bartolotti talking to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s propaganda station, Press TV:

“It’s only the people that are going to make a difference because the governments are pathetically weak. They’re in the pockets of Big Money and Big Money supports Israel”.

More Pippa here: smashing the doors at Tel Aviv airport

So, to draw a parallel: what Paul Flynn MP has done is the equivalent of a Labour MP expressing concerns about the trustworthiness of non-Anglo Saxon British public servants, at the behest of a British National Party activist.

Labour List reports:

Paul Flynn has been called in by the Chief Whip Rosie Winterton to discuss his comments. The Labour leadership are thought to be unhappy with the remarks – a Labour source said that “Ed [Miliband] thinks these comments are totally unacceptable.”

He really ought to go, and soon.

UPDATE

Sarka asks:

Could someone find out whether Paul Flynn spoke up bravely against the following:

Anwar Choudhury (Bengali: আনোয়ার চৌধুরী; born 15 June 1959) is the Director of International Institutions at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He was a High Commissioner to Bangladesh (2004-2008), and was the first British Head of Mission to be of Bangladeshi origin. Although born in Sylhet Division, in north-eastern Bangladesh, he is a naturalised British citizen; Choudhury has dismissed suggestions of a conflict of loyalty, stating that he would support the English cricket team against Bangladesh…

UPDATE

Now the idiot racist Paul Flynn MP responds. Apparently, some of his best friends are Jewish.

Hysteria rampant.

If you are in politics long enough, I suppose everyone is accused of everything.

Today’s accusation is  that I have made an anti-Semitic remark is ludicrous. I have been a lifelong friend of Israel and Jewish causes.I have visited Israel on four occasions  including a private family holiday. Never before in my long political life has such an accusation been made. But I have been accused of being too friendly to Israel on many occasions.

I would advise those making these accusations to read my blog and that of my friend Robert Halfon’s . There they will read the substance of my criticism. It is a demand for a legitimate inquiry into the Liam Fox/ Werrity affair by Phillip Mawer to include a full probe into the USA  anti Neo-con groups influence in advancing their agenda. The Neo-cons groups financed Werritty.

The issue is the possibility of the UK stumbling into a war with Iran.

Others are active fascists. How about an inquiry into that?

Judy in the comments below points out that Paul Flynn’s “grand neocon Jewish conspiracy” argument appears to be based on an article from Counterpunch by Jonathan Cook.

Jonathan Cook is a supporter of Gilad Atzmon. Gilad Atzmon is the subject of a campaign by Britain’s leading anti racist and anti fascist group, Hope not Hate.

Counterpunch itself is a strong supporter of Gilad Atzmon. Here is an article on Counterpunch in support of Atzmon by the lunatic racist, Kathleen Christison. Here one by his one time fan, Mary Rizzo. And another one by Southampton based academic, Oren Ben Dor. And another by Jeffrey St Clair.

Here are some articles by Gilad Atzmon on Counterpunch. They are only a few of those they have published. In this piece, Atzmon bigs up the neo Nazi, Eric Walberg! In this one Atzmon attacks the veteran Jewish anti-Zionist, Lenni Brenner (and identifies Jews with Christ killers).

Counterpunch also repeatedly publishes the neo Nazi and Holocaust denier who calls himself “Israel Shamir”

Paul Flynn MP has fallen in with the Far Right. He doesn’t even realise it.

I hope you’ll forgive a short diversion. I became interested in anti-Zionist politics in the United Kingdom, not because of  concern for Israel, but because I was astounded by the extent to which parts of the Left were not only “in solidarity” with genocidal antisemitic movements like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, but had also allied itself with domestic far Right racists. The promotion of Gilad Atzmon by the Socialist Workers Party, and the denial that he was an antisemite, was a moment of clarity for me. That was the point at which I realised that there are parts of the Left which are not to be trusted on the question of anti-racism: which are not only silent about antisemitism, but which play an important part in normalising and promoting racism against Jews.

The leadership of the PSC knew full well that a certain percentage of its membership are attracted to pro-Palestinian politics because, to be frank, they hate Jews.  The Socialist Action leadership have no enthusiasm for Nazi style antisemitism for reasons of both principle and tactics. However, until the last few months, the PSC have failed to address racism in their own movement. Indeed, the PSC voted down a motion opposing Atzmon’s friends, the Holocaust deniers Paul Eisen and Israel Shamir, proposed by Sue Blackwell, Tony Greenstein and Roland Rance. Remember, Greenstein and Rance are opponents of Israel’s existence in any shape or form, and were a faction within the PSC who openly spoke out against Fatah’s historic agreement with Israel at Oslo.

As far as the PSC is concerned, the important thing is to build the movement. In doing so, they have gone for quick growth by encouraging semi autonomous local branches. Those local branches, at Lauren Booth points out, contain  activists who are openly racists and supporters of Gilad Atzmon. The PSC leadership, to its credit, have responded by expelling a number of its high profile activists who are racists, including their former Chairman, Francis Clark-Lowes.

But there will come a point at which the PSC leadership loses control over its branches. Lauren Booth’s article indicates the extent to which members are unhappy at the sudden crackdown on antisemitism. How many more activists can the PSC leadership expel, before they have a full scale rebellion on their hands? For example, will they expel the officers of Exeter PSC who hosted Atzmon at a horrific meeting, at which he made a series of racist “jokes” and declared that he could imagine people saying “Hitler was right”? Will they expel Atzmon supporter and Bradford PSC organiser, Karl Dallas? How do they feel about their supporters attacking Hope not Hate, this country’s foremost anti-racist campaigning organisation?

More to the point, when push comes to shove, who will their members follow? The anonymous and grey Socialist Action leadership, or the  outspoken and high profile Lauren Booth?

The choice for the PSC should be an easy one. It is entirely possible to campaign for Palestinian self-determination, without invoking antisemitism. The PSC could emerge from this mess as a movement which does not tolerate racism or support for racists in any form. In doing so, it would lose a number of its lunatic and antisemitic supporters: but if it openly embraced both Palestinian and Israeli self-determination, then it would find itself fully in the political mainstream, and would end up a larger and stronger movement.

That will not happen, for a simple reason.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is a “solidarity campaign”, not a campaign for a Palestinian state. To those on the far Left, solidarity politics is driven by anti-imperialism: in which the worth of a cause is judged by the extent to which it is an ally in the class struggle against capitalism.  These days, they’re happy to line up with Palestinian factions and individuals – including Hamas supporters – many of whom are antisemites and Holocaust deniers: as long as they’re seen to be “fighting imperialism”. However, as a “solidarity” campaign, the PSC does not see it as their obligation to criticise these hatemongers.

We saw this politics in action, with the PSC’s championing of the racist hate preacher, Raed Salah

This dynamic puts the PSC leadership in a double bind. As they expel members for supporting Atzmon and other antisemites and Holocaust deniers, their disciplined activists can fairly ask them why they’re being punished for saying things which are unproblematic when said by Hamas (and in some cases, Fatah) politicians. As Gill Kaffash notes:

‘How long do you think it will be until the Jewish Chronicle demands that PSC unreservedly condemn Hamas? And how long before PSC complies? After all, Hamas is obviously ant-semitic – most of the people it attacks are Jewish’.

By the nature of its politics, the PSC will never oppose racism within Palestinian politics. They will continue to tour racists around Britain. They will similarly attack any anti-racist who opposes that racism. While doing all this, they will attempt to keep a lid on the evidence that a significant portion of their own membership is fiercely antisemitic.

But when it comes to opposing racism within the PSC activist base, the leadership is caught between a rock and a hard place; in part of their own making. They will be attacked and condemned, as “Zionist tools” by some of the stars of anti-Israel politics. It is far from clear that the PSC will win this battle. After all, it is the PSC who has told its membership, repeatedly, that antisemitism is a mirage, cynically raised by “Zionists” in order to prevent criticism of Israel. Is it any surprise that, now the PSC had got around to accepting that antisemitism exists, that some of its activists have decided that it, too, must be “Zionist”?

It will be interesting to see what the PSC leadership does next. It has few options. I’d imagine that  to keep as quiet as possible and hope that the issue goes away.

That is most unlikely to happen.