Reply To: Zionism and anti semitism
ZJW, her stupid and nasty remark has been widely mentioned in the media. Just type “McDonagh antisemitism” into a search engine. I wouldn’t say that it has been taken up as part of the current smear campaign against Corbyn and the Labour Party. In fact most commentators have been critical. I would agree with the view expressed in this headline in that sensationalist rag the Daily Express that the interviewer himself was surprised at what he heard. Listen to exchange there and judge for yourself.
McDonagh is a friend of Joan Ryan, the chair of Labour Friends of Israel until she resigned to join the breakaway “Independent” group of MPs. So I imagine that this is the sort of thing they will have discussed privately as something to say but the main reason for the antisemitism smear campaign will be Corbyn’s pro-Palestine position rather than the anti-banksterism of some new recruits to the Labour from the Occupy milieu. Still any stick will do, though I suspect this one could be counter-productive. After all, “capitalism” has become a bit of a dirty word again and “anticapitalist” sentiments (if not understanding) have a fairly wide audience.