How UK media, Army and Israeli lobby colluded to demonize Corbyn

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Declassified UK
30 May 2023 16:32
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In 2015, the intimidating rise of Jeremy Corbyn sparked a multifront war against the man who fought against the tide, mainly spearheaded by the media and Army, as well as the Israeli lobby and the US.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. (AFP)

A new book unmasks that Former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been the prey of character assassination and real-life assassinations by Britain’s mainstream media, its army alongside the “Israel lobby”. The trio exerted strained efforts to guarantee that Corbyn did not become Prime Minister.

The hatchet job was a result of a string of stances taken by Corbyn in solidarity with Palestine, stances that awarded him the title “anti-Semitic”, Declassified UK explained in a report on Asa Winstanley’s new book, Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn’s solidarity with the Palestinian people, a smear event in Labour leadership and even more so in British textbooks, mirrored a dangerous shift away from old England’s colonialist narrative and its much-maligned “Balfour Declaration,” which facilitated the theft of Palestinian lands and the creation of the Israeli colonial entity.

The Hostile Media Effect

In 2015, the intimidating rise of Jeremy Corbyn threatened Britain's image, beginning a multifront war against the man who fought against the tide, which was mainly spearheaded by the media.

The Israeli media led and the British followed: Israeli Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy had an aggressive, hostile interview with Corbyn back in 2015.

“So you’ve got no problem with somebody coming from abroad as a migrant with five kids,” Guru-Murthy said, “and claiming five lots of child tax credits, five lots of child benefits, housing benefit, no limit on their benefits at all.” The aggressive interviewer made statements more than he asked questions. He also hushed Corbyn on several occasions, preventing him from defending his stances.

“Why do you think people who voted Conservative in 2015 would suddenly vote for a socialist in 2020?” And: “Would there be no super-rich people in Britain if you were prime minister?”

“Let’s briefly talk about foreign affairs,” the interviewer added. “Why did you call Hamas and Hizballah your friends?”

Corbyn began to answer, however Guru-Murthy interrupted again. “I asked you a question and you’re ignoring it,” he challenged.

“If you’d give me a minute I’ll answer it,” Corbyn responded. At last, he made a full sentence: “I spoke at a meeting about the Middle East crisis in Parliament. And there were people there from Hezbollah. And I said I welcomed our friends from Hezbollah to have a discussion and a debate. And I said I wanted Hamas to be part of that debate.”

He continued to explain but was interrupted once again. “So are they your friends or not?”

“Can I finish?” Corbyn said, frustrated.

“Well, you can’t if it’s a long answer.”

“Hamas and Hizballah are part of a peace process,” Corbyn said.

However, the journalist appeared to be fixated on a single word: Corbyn calling them ‘friends.’”

According to British media, freedom fighters from Lebanon and Palestine cannot be brave resistance fighters, Declassified UK noted; rather, they are "terrorists". The word "friends" was considered blasphemy in the textbook of British media.

“To bring about a peace process you have to talk to people with whom you may profoundly disagree,” Corbyn expounded.

A Maverick vs British army

In 2015, the British army threatened to stage a "mutiny" under Corbyn if he was elected Prime Minister, the Sunday Times reported. At the time, the Labour leader was considered a "maverick" and was constantly slammed for his refusal to give Labour MPs a free vote on extending British air strikes against Syrian civilians.

“There would be mass resignations at all levels and you would face the very real prospect of an event which would effectively be a mutiny,” the British general said.

A couple of years later, Corbyn reiterated that this had been “a sort of shot across the bows, a warning to me.” When a snap election was planned in the winter of 2018, two conservative papers publicized that Corbyn had been “summoned” for a “facts of life” talk with the head of MI5 and an “acquaintance” meeting with the head of MI6.

The discussions were intended to be private, but they were quickly leaked by the two espionage agencies—on purpose, according to Corbyn. "It was leaked by them, and it was leaked in such a way as to undermine," Corbyn explained, "that somehow or other I'd been summoned and given a dressing down," he explained.

According to the book that was recently published, Corbyn was the subject of 34 significant national media stories that were publicly supplied by past or present officers in the UK's intelligence and military establishment, including MI5 and MI6. All of the reports painted him as a threat to British security.

US and the Corbyn conundrum

The US did not sit idle: In a private meeting with Israeli lobby officials, US Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo hinted that the US government would organize its intervention to prevent Corbyn from becoming Prime Minister.

Pompeo said “It could be that Mr. Corbyn manages to run the gauntlet and get elected,” as per a leaked audio recording released by the Washington Post. “It’s possible. You should know, we won’t wait for him to do those things to begin to push back. We will do our level best. It’s too risky and too important and too hard once it’s already happened.”

Despite decades of anti-racist activism, there has been a steady stream of worrying headlines about Corbyn's claimed threat to Jews.

In an interview with Al Mayadeen, Corbyn said that he spent his “life opposing racism in any form whatsoever,” noting that “there is racism within our society. It has to be opposed. Being anti-black, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic.. any form of racism has to be opposed. And I will always be the one opposing it."

"I want to be proud of living in a culturally diverse, mutli-ethnic, multi-racial society."
Will the #UK accept a non-white Prime Minister?@jeremycorbyn @MoussaSrour pic.twitter.com/YOeAd1kwPJ
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 30, 2022

‘Sacrifice him’

During the 2019 general election campaign, right-wing commentator Simon Heffer alleged on live radio that Corbyn "wants to reopen Auschwitz"—the most prominent Nazi death camp where Jews were methodically slaughtered on a large scale during the Holocaust.

Prominent Israeli lobbyists also approved Corbyn's extrajudicial killing. "I think we should sacrifice him for all the trouble he's caused," Lionel Kopelowitz suggested, noting the linguistic resemblance of Corbyn's surname to the Hebrew phrase for a sacrificial victim.

"Labour MUST kill vampire Jezza," pleaded Mail on Sunday columnist Dan Hodges. Later, serving British Army soldiers were recorded using Corbyn's picture for target practice. Increased agitation against Corbyn had unavoidable consequences, leading to an assassination attempt in June 2017.

Spilling blood

Darren Osborne, a 48-year-old Cardiff Islamophobe, attempted to murder a group of Muslims in Finsbury Park (Corbyn's constituency). He purposefully crashed a rental van into the throng, killing Makram Ali, a 51-year-old grandpa.

However, it was shown in court that Osborne's intended goal was Jeremy Corbyn himself. Osborne acknowledged that he intended to plow down protesters at an annual Palestine solidarity rally. "Another reason for [attacking] the Al-Quds [Day] march was that Jeremy Corbyn would be in attendance," he explained.

Corbyn was also the victim of an unprovoked assault while visiting Finsbury Park Mosque. CCTV footage showed right-winger John Murphy striking Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in the head while yelling pro-Brexit slogans.

Corbyn announced his resignation as Labour leader in December 2019 after losing the general election. Keir Starmer succeeded him in April 2020 and stepped up the party's purges of Corbynites, declaring his support for "Zionism without qualification."

Corbyn was then expelled from the Labour Party in October 2020. He had stated frankly that the extent of anti-Semitism in Labour had been overstated by his political opponents.