Messages

["Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor."]

The IHRA definition is here if anyone wants to read it.
https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

The following is an extract from a piece by Norman Finkelstein warning the Labour Party against adopting the IHRA definition. The full piece is here.

https://skwawkbox.org/2018/08/28/excl-finkelstein-critiques-ihra-definition-and-rejects-it-whole/

WHY THE LABOUR PARTY SHOULD NOT ADOPT THE IHRA DEFINITION OR ANY OTHER DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM
By Norman G. Finkelstein*

...........The IHRA definition of antisemitism includes 11 illustrative examples. Fully seven of them home in on criticism of Israel. If the Labour Party adopts these taboos, respected scholarship will be suppressed while Israel will become the beneficiary of a pernicious double standard. Consider these examples culled from the IHRA text:

*"Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor." - But, according to Israel's leading historian, Benny Morris, "transfer [i.e., expulsion] was inevitable and inbuilt into Zionism," while according to Israeli writer Ari Shavit, in his widely acclaimed bestseller, My Promised Land, "If Zionism was to be, Lydda could not be." The upshot is, if Israel's founding necessarily entailed ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population, then realization of the Jewish people's right to self-determination must have been a racist endeavor.

*"Applying double standards by requiring of it [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation." - But, far from holding Israel to a more stringent standard, overwhelmingly its critics have targeted Israel's immunity to any standard. For example, since 1979 the UN Security Council has repeatedly condemned Israel's policy of building settlements in occupied Palestinian territory as a "flagrant violation" of international law, while in 2004 the International Court of Justice unanimously declared Israeli settlements "in breach of international law." Yet, Israel persists in its settlement policy, while the UN, although repeatedly imposing sanctions on other member states, has not imposed any on Israel, even as its settlement policy constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.


*"Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis." - But Israeli hasbara (propaganda) itself promiscuously exploits the "blood libel" charge (i.e., that Jews murdered Christian children for ritual purposes) in order to silence critics by reversing its sting. Thus, mere mention of Palestinian children killed by Israel typically prompts accusations of a "Global Blood Libel against Israel."


*"Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis." - But, on the one hand, Israelis across the political spectrum freely make such bone-chilling analogies, while, on the other hand, Israel has itself routinely depicted its antagonists, be it Nasser's Egypt or Saddam Hussein's Iraq, be it Iran, Hezbollah, or Hamas, as reincarnations of Hitler and Nazi-like. Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has—in certifiably mad defiance of every scrap of evidence—declared that Iran might pose an even greater threat to humanity than did Hitler and that not Hitler but a Palestinian leader masterminded the Holocaust.


*"Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel." - But, by representing itself as the Nation-State of the Jewish people, Israel itself collectively implicates Jews in its actions, just as Netanyahu collectively implicates Jews when he touts himself as the "representative of the entire Jewish people".

In sum, these examples of antisemitism allegedly hiding behind criticism of Israel comprise factually accurate depictions by Israel's critics (first bulleted example), factually inaccurate depictions of Israel's critics by its watchdogs (second bulleted example), and questionable practices of which Israel is as, if not more, culpable than its critics (third, fourth, and fifth bulleted examples). If the Labour Party adopts them, it will become a willing dupe of Israeli hasbara; it will disgrace the Party's noble traditions; and it will betray Jeremy Corbyn's promise to set the Party on a new-old path of upholding Truth and Justice, wherever it may lead and whatever the price.

Finkelstein was always a straight talker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw7FJ9y8m4M

[The KamWah?]

That talk of ther Bot brought back memories. Was at QUB myself from 99-03. Great time sin the Bot. The Eg. The Parlour. Renshaws - and Dukes. Often finished off with a trip the Hat for an after hours carryout

In the lates 80s it was always spuds for good after a session it the Chinese carry out in botanic

The KamWah?

Some spot.

[god knows why she stuck around]

Ah the aul Bot, its had its day unfortunately, location location location... Mid 80's it was outta Belfast City center which had a ring of steel around it and closed around 7pm at night, so the options for students were limited..

 Wed nights when I was 16 through to early 20's and Sundays for the first of the Super Sundays during the hey days of the PL, wife (girlfriend at the time) was pouring me into the car, god knows why she stuck around!

A question she has asked herself many times!

The old Bot with the bar in the middle upstairs and the tiny dancefloor was a great spot for laps back in the day. I think it was in the process of being replaced when I was in first year, 1994-1995. with the Bot, the Eg, QUBSU, the old Fly and The Elms just down the road, that part of town was heaving mid- to late-90s.

Great times.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m284gym0vo

My God, they are planning to flatten the Bot.

As good a place as any.


https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/keven-bell-trust-founders-to-take-step-back-after-13-years-and-2500-loved-ones-returned-home-VE2GDTMGZJB7PD76LV7JJI6JPE/

Good people who turned a tragedy into help for people.

The freedom of the nation to them.

Fantastic people who have made an unbelievable contribution to society being there for people when it mattered most.  If the politicians in this country were even a 1/10th as effective as them it would be an miracle.

[The majority of the human race appears to be regressing, at an alarming rate & it's quite scary.]

My da recently made the comment that young ones have it so much better now because there are far more channels on the TV.

When I grew up, believe it or not, we had 1 black & white TV, with 3 channels on it.

With the proliferation of TV channels, 99% of them are churning out complete & utter shite, simultaneously.

More channels certainly doesn't equate to better quality.

TV, social media.....everything has dumbed down considerably; it's all low cost dross, for the most part.

That probably points to a failing educational system, whereby a lot of people nowadays simply cannot grasp any concept that requires any degree of independent thinking, wit, or intelligence. It's beyond them.

The majority of the human race appears to be regressing, at an alarming rate & it's quite scary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWK_DN1zoK4

A sad reflection on parts of the UK today who no doubt are / will grow up thinking the likes of Farage will fix everything for them.  Their world stops and ends in Grimsby so if there are no jobs will then that's it, no point trying at school or no pointing looking for a job.  The idea of moving away to somewhere to get a job is not even on their radar.

Winners win

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/belfast-apartments-removed-from-tourism-ni-website-as-boss-bids-to-have-company-struck-off/a/151088565.html

A bid by businessman Tom Smyth to have the company behind his Belfast holiday apartments firm struck off has been suspended, it can be revealed.

It comes as negative reviews of Dream Apartments accommodation mount up, while pictures of the inside of the Obel Tower — where it has a large number of serviced apartments — show piles of rubbish inside.

A spokeperson for Tourism NI, which had listed Dream Apartments on one of its websites, said the business had ceased trading.


Mr Smyth, also known as a motivational speaker, applied for the voluntary strike-off of Dream Apartments Belfast Ltd on April 21. It follows voluntary strike-off actions by Mr Smyth in relation to more than 10 other apartment-letting companies around the UK.

But a filing with Companies House on Wednesday states that the voluntary strike-off action relating to the Belfast company has been suspended.


Creditors of companies can object to strike-off action where they're at risk of losing money if a company is struck off.


Mr Smyth established Dream Apartments serviced accommodation businesses around UK cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Dundee and Middlesborough. The Belfast company was set up in 2016.

Dream Apartments operates 49 serviced apartments at The Obel Tower on Donegall Quay and the building next to it, and others at St Thomas Hall on Lisburn Road.

Until Tuesday, Tourism NI listing website DiscoverNI.com featured Dream Apartments at the Obel Tower, which were being marketed under the name 'Bee Hosting'.

A spokesperson for Tourism Northern Ireland said on Tuesday: "All accommodation properties certified by Tourism NI have the option to be listed on the www.discovernorthernireland.com website.

"Tourism NI had not been made aware of the company's voluntary notice to be struck off at Companies House.


"This product will now be delisted from the website with immediate effect."

They confirmed that the properties were no longer certified by Tourism NI. "Dream Apartments has ceased trading. The properties at the Obel Tower in Belfast are no longer certified by Tourism NI."


The company's website is no longer taking bookings for Belfast, while its telephone number in Northern Ireland is not working.

Mr Smyth has written a self-help book, Fear Less, and operates a coaching business, Dream Mentoring.

Negative reviews have continued on TripAdvisor and other websites. TripAdvisor's own blurb states: "Dream Apartments — Obel Tower receives mixed reviews from travellers. While its location near attractions is praised by many, the noise and occasional relocation issues are noted by some.

"Cleanliness perceptions vary, with reports of both spotless and neglected conditions. The atmosphere is often described as lacking vibrancy.

"Reviewers frequently criticise unexpected charges and poor value for money. Amenities and services also face scrutiny, with complaints about basic offerings and disorganised service. Room conditions further disappoint, with reports of neglect and maintenance issues."


Mr Smyth did not respond to a request for comment on the strike-off proceedings and whether the company was continuing to let out properties.

According to accounts for the year ending November 30 2024, which were filed on March 19, there is equity in Dream Apartments Belfast of £328,562, down from £618,601 the year before.

Debts of £266,124 were due within one year, with debts due in more than a year's time of £80,936.

In 2012 the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) secured an order from the High Court in Belfast forcing Mr Smyth to hand over 19 of his houses.

Mr Justice Treacy said that Mr Smyth's property portfolio, including his then home in Ballynure and 18 buy-to-let properties in Co Antrim and in Liverpool, had been acquired through the proceeds of crime.


In a civil recovery application, SOCA said Mr Smyth had obtained his vast portfolio through a combination of mortgage fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

Between 2000 and 2007, the investigation by SOCA found Mr Smyth had made numerous fraudulent mortgage applications to receive nearly £2m in property loans.

Speaking to Sunday Life previously, Mr Smyth said of the case: "I have massively moved on over the last 10 years and I'm now very proud to be a global entrepreneur.

"I am truly blessed that my companies have survived the pandemic and I totally believe there's an incredible boom of prosperity coming which everyone should welcome with open arms and positivity.

"I'm doing positive work, doing incredible charity work, paying people's wages and expanding the business," he added. "I love my wife and kids, I haven't had a drink in six years and life just keeps getting better.

"If someone wants to genuinely take a punch at me I can't stop it either."

[If there is a place called hell, people like her need to get to it as soon as possible.]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/05/05/keir-starmer-attacks-arts-council-england-anti-semitism/


Asked if he felt the Government should go further and ban marches as in France, Starmer said there were "instances" justifying it.

"Many people in the Jewish community have said to me it's the repeat nature, it's the cumulative effect. Now I accept that, which is why we intend to deal with cumulative effects," he said. "We need to look at what further powers we can take.

If you thought that hungry, traumatised, orphaned child amputees, living in wet, rat-infested tents in a post-apocalyptic concentration camp, with the constant hum of drones overhead and the threat of death raining down from the skies at any moment had it tough, just try to imagine being a Zionist living in the UK and having to hear people chanting about freedom between the river and the sea. Now, imagine the cumulative effect of that happening once a week. Puts everything into perspective.

100%. Would love to see what Keir would say to that

There was clip of Melanie Philips right up in face of Mick Lynch on some talk show or other saying the Israelis aren't committing mass murder in Gaza and the West bank, "it's a lie"

If there is a place called hell, people like her need to get to it as soon as possible.

https://x.com/i/status/2050923349035847803

You could add several more to that category

https://news.sky.com/video/gaza-investigation-a-familys-fight-to-find-their-missing-relatives-13540688

The IDF / Israel Government and those who support them are a disgusting group of people with not a shred of humanity in their body. 

I've still not seen a shred of evidence that it's a hate crime, apologies if I've missed it. The airbrushing of the third Muslim victim out of so much of the reporting shows the real, dangerous discrimination at a political level.

Far from being marginalised, the Jewish community is hyper-protected and pandered to by Western governments and media. The contrast with Palestinians in their homeland who are regularly murdered (often on camera) while quite clearly posing no threat to anyone and their Israeli murderers enjoying total impunity, is stark. In the West Bank too, people can look up the conviction rates and sentences for Israelis who commit crimes against Palestinians and vice-versa. There's zero justice and almost zero protection from settlers.


Our media and political establishments talk all the time about "Islamic terror". Yet, we've had 2+ years of the most unimaginable terror being inflicted on people in a concentration camp, including the murder of 20,000 children and endless, indisputable acts of terror caught on camera, many by the IDF soldiers themselves, so confident were they in their own impunity, but I've not seen or heard the same media outlets/politicians once talk about "Jewish Terror".


I have nothing but admiration though, for the Jewish people speaking out against Israel and the work of people like Ilan Pappé, Norman Finkelstein and Gideon Levy is so important as a historical record of the injustice that's been done.

Getting back to the recent incident, the weaponising of that stabbing across the globe, and the lack of pushback on it in the media is genuinely frightening stuff. If any media outlets/journalists are brave enough, this story(or as it appears to me, the amplification and distortion of a non-story) is an opportunity to highlight the Ziofascism that's taking over the West.

More details may emerge later, but regardless, the parroting of the claim without known evidence that this was a terrorist attack, by media across the Western world, so that it could be weaponised by politicians to shut down protest against the Western-backed genocide, should be the huge story here imo.

It feels more and more like Orwell's 1984. Kemi Badenoch tweeted a photo of herself with Graeme Linehan a couple of days ago saying that Free speech must be protected. She also called for marches in support of Palestine to be banned. So, being charged with criminal damage because you grabbed someone's phone and threw it away is an attack on free speech but not being allowed to protest against a genocide led by a wanted war criminal isn't. Deeply sinister times.

Well said.

[Maybe just maybe the attack had f**k all to do with their religion and just the fact that the attacker was a nutter/sc**bag/both, but that narrative doesn't suit...]

The attacker apparently stabbed a Muslim before the 2 Jews. Maybe just maybe the attack had f**k all to do with their religion and just the fact that the attacker was a nutter/sc**bag/both, but that narrative doesn't suit...

You are spot on.

There are few out there who's pitch evolves around '.....I quit working in construction now I am making £000s sitting in front of a laptop in Dubai.....' no idea what they are doing but I would imagine I would have to buy their course to find out.

https://news.sky.com/video/investigating-israels-destruction-of-southern-lebanon-13538666

Southern Lebanon being turned into another Gaza.

What a f@#ked up world we live in that this can happen and nothing is being done about it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgjp4nqwzj0o

If there is no admission of liability on the part of the MoD (which seems to be common in these cases) you wonder why families put themselves through this torture which no doubt takes years to go through the legal system.

[Not that there is a ceasefire in the Lebanon.]

Has the TACO Trumpmeister extended the ceasefire again?

Not that there is a ceasefire in the Lebanon.

As the far as the media is concerned they do not give a sh#t about Lebanon.

Media all focused on that incident in London yesterday, if a brick had been though a window in that part of town it would be called a terrorist incident.

I saw that the Met Chief was on the scene yesterday giving interviews, you could imagine him getting the phone call to drop everything and get his arse down there.  Would the same urgency have been there if it had been two black / asian / white people?  Doubt it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05d3zm42dqo

A potential few white elephants it would seem.