Following Keir Starmer’s decision to sack Rebecca Long-Bailey for retweeting an Independent article by Maxine Peake Jon Lansman, Chair of Momentum and Labour NEC member, said:
“Sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey for sharing an interview in the Independent with one of Britain’s most loved actors is a reckless overreaction.
I’m a Jewish member of Labour’s National Executive Committee who has sat on countless panels adjudicating antisemitism complaints and has often been criticised for my tough approach to antisemitism on the left.
I don’t believe there is anything antisemitic in the interview and sacking Rebecca is a reckless overreaction by Keir Starmer.
It’s been clearly documented by Amnesty International that many US police departments do train in Israel. The original Independent article even backed up the claim.
In the leadership campaign Rebecca signed up to the Board of Deputies pledges and made clear she is committed to tackling antisemitism in our party.
More than 135,000 Labour members voted for Rebecca in the leadership election. Keir says he wants to party unity, yet sacks her from the front bench for no good reason.
I stand in absolute solidarity with Rebecca Long-Bailey, as does the rest of Momentum.”
See:
Other comments:
John McDonnell: “Throughout discussion of antisemitism it’s always been said criticism of practices of Israeli state is not antisemitic. I don’t believe therefore that this article is or
@RLong_Bailey
should’ve been sacked. I stand in solidarity with her”
Ash Sakar: “Keir Starmer sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey is an utterly disgraceful decision. It undermines the position the Labour Party has insisted on all along that it’s possible to criticise Israeli policy without being antisemitic. Shameful, shameful stuff.”
James M: “eagerly awaiting starmer’s condemnation of [checks notes] amnesty international”
Aaron Bastani: “Long Bailey being sacked is clearly absurd, & shows a clear double standard with many others. In 2005 the party were set to run Fagin posters, recently Rachel Reeves commemorated Lady Astor. And yet…
For the left it should be an educative moment, the right don’t want ‘unity’.”
David Osland: “Two years ago, Angela Rayner described Norman Finkelstein’s The Holocaust Industry as a ‘seminal work’ on her Facebook page. Luckily she wasn’t treated as harshly as Rebecca Long-Bailey has been today.
This isn’t about what Long-Bailey did or didn’t Tweet. This is Starmer sending a clear message to the Labour left.”
Barnaby Raine: “Imagine caring so little about Jews that you casually equate opposition to global police violence with hating us, just so you have an excuse to sack an old political opponent”
Owen Jones: “Sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey for sharing an interview in the Independent with one of Britain’s most celebrated actors because of a sentence uttered by Maxine Peake which the Independent initially justified with a link to an Amnesty International report is an absurd overreaction”
Ronan Burtenshaw: “After weeks of undermining Rebecca Long-Bailey’s efforts to stand up for teachers and their unions, Starmer sacks her to protect the reputation of the Israeli occupation.
You would call him a coward – but a man who stands for nothing never has a need for courage.”
Matt Zarb-Cousin: “Apparently we’re now more willing to sack our own front-benchers than call for the sacking of government front-benchers “
Tom Mills: “What can be said at this stage? Starmer promised party unity & socialism with a lawyerly face. He lied.
Imperialist states have always learned techniques of violence from colonies, satellites, & outrider states, Israel included. But it’s not about what RLB tweeted, it’s about Starmer signalling to the Establishment – & to socialists – that the left has no influence in the party.”
Andrew Fisher: “Seems like a massive over-reaction to me, and damages the unity message.”
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