Holocaust denial

When I heard that David Baddiel was making this film for the BBC, I did wonder if a notoriously pro-Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and a comedian could really make a credible job of such a delicate subject. After all, does Baddiel look much like an historian? (Does he even look much like a comedian?) And is the BBC an honest broker all of a sudden?

Alarm bells went off when I heard Baddiel was off to see a Professor from the SOAS. Whose idea was that? The SOAS’s reputation (as a wing of Islamophillic academia) didn’t auger well for the programme's prospects.

Achcar’s contribution interested me the most, and unsurprisingly, it interested the MSM the least.

Mick Hartley absolutely nails it.

“…..But, about half-way through, he started talking about places where Holocaust denial was strongest, and came up with Gaza and the West Bank - ie Palestine - with a figure of 82%. So he headed off to SOAS to meet a supposed authority on the subject, Professor Gilbert Achcar.
[…]
So what did Achcar have to say for himself here, to Baddiel? Basically, he argued that because the Palestinians live in such a state of miserable oppression under the Israelis, their Holocaust denial should be seen as a “provocative” means of hurting their enemy - a kind of "fuck you" to their oppressors. “I don’t think you can generally, without some degree of pathology, be a Holocaust denier in Europe. But you can be perfectly sane and be a Holocaust denier in the Middle East because of ignorance of the topic,” he said. In other words there's "bad Holocaust denial" - the Western kind - and "good Holocaust denial" - the Arab kind. 

Arab Holocaust denial, in other words, gets a pass. As does Arab antisemitism...as always. No mention of Holocaust denial in the Middle East outside Palestine, so comprehensively documented, for instance, at MEMRI. No mention of Iran, or Syria, where denial is government sponsored.  

The subject wasn't pursued. Achcar's vile excuse for Palestinian Holocaust denial - understandable because of what the Jews are doing to them - was left unchallenged. Baddiel, to his credit, wasn't happy with that "good Holocaust denial" vs "bad Holocaust denial" distinction. But the episode still left a bad taste in what was otherwise an excellent programme.

You will have to read the whole thing and follow the links if you want to make sense of the following observations from me. (Forgive the proliferation of parentheses.)

Suffice it to say that just because an ideologically antisemitic individual like the good professor has been gracious enough to concede that the overwhelming documentary evidence of (the enormity of) the holocaust may have some validity, it doesn’t mean that this person is committed to impartiality where Jews are concerned. It doesn't guarantee consummate objectivity where personal prejudices might colour his judgement. 

Therefore his attitude to the Israeli / Palestinian situation is likely to be as objective as a fox in a henhouse.

Me and David Baddiel, (an unlikely couple)  can’t be the only non-observant, secular Jews who have only come to appreciate the significance of our heritage comparatively late in life. The question of confronting our ‘identity’ hasn’t been urgently thrust upon us by the (current) rising tide of antisemitism or the (thankfully) transitory threat of a Corbyn regime. Not quite yet; and unfortunately, forbidding political atmospheres are just as likely to propagate a seasonal crop of  ‘AsaJews’ who align themselves with antisemites as a glut of secular Zionists like me. 

My ‘Talmudic-like’ thoroughness (that’s a semi-insult I’ve had thrown at me) has compelled me to look at as many reviews of this programme as I can digest, and I have to say that Anthony Julius’s advice (“don’t go there”) was well worthy of consideration. Julius knew, of course, that it the MSM would automatically bestow the oxygen of publicity upon Holocaust-denying self-publicists like songsmith Dermot “Mulqueer”. Mul very queer indeed. 

Predictably, that was the only part of the programme that ‘OMG The Daily Mail’ was interested in. Mind you, the musical interlude can’t have done the poor chap’s musical career much good, and it was heartening to see that the comments in the Mail were overwhelmingly negative about the Irishman and supportive of Baddiel.  

The verdict? A curate’s egg. While Baddiel was thoughtful and sympathetic, it was unforgivable that he wasn’t able to challenge Professor Achcar on the most pertinent aspect of Holocaust denial, and the one with the most relevance to the rise in antisemitism. The selective blindness which pointedly (and necessarily) avoids acknowledging the driver behind it - Islamic antisemitism.

The highest Holocaust denial statistic (82%) was gathered from the Palestinian territories. Mahmoud Abbas’s so-called academic credentials are based on it. The BBC’s inability and unwillingness to address Islamic antisemitism is another manifestation of the same old missing link.  The unwillingness to confront something so basic makes its absence all the more glaringly conspicuous and its very absence propels it.

When Jeremy met Gerry, and Twitter met David Baddiel

The first episode of the second series of Tracey Breaks the News went after a number of political targets, many of them 'the usual BBC suspects' - Donald Trump, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Gove and Teresa May - plus Tracey Ullman's old favourites, Nicola Sturgeon and Angela Merkel. But...

...there was also a sketch about Jeremy Corbyn:

TWO LADS OUTSIDE AIRPORT TERMINAL (spotting Jeremy Corbyn with a suitcase): Oh, it's Jezza. Oh, hey, Jeremy. Jez. Jezza! It's Jez! _ (Sing) Oh, Jeremy Corbyn. _ 

JEREMY CORBYN: All right, lads. Selfies all-round, is it? Yeah, yeah. All right. Here we are. I'm going to pop the hat on. (Puts on a Corbyn-style hat). Stay on brand. You might want to put that on social media, promote the gig.  

LADS: What gig?  

JEREMY CORBYN: What gig? Oh, you've been out of the country. We're doing a massive rally at White Hart Lane... ..Recreation Ground. Labour Live. You might want to come along, if you can still get tickets. You CAN still get tickets. Oh, selfies all-round, is it? Ah...(A Jewish man approaches).  

JEWISH MAN: I'm very angry with you, Mr Corbyn. You need to do more about the anti-Semites in your party.  

JEREMY CORBYN: I hear you. I am all over it like cream cheese on a bagel. It's all right to say that, is it?  

JEWISH MAN: Some of the guys you hang around with are very bad people. (The Jewish man walks off).  

JEREMY CORBYN: Yeah, well, it's very good talking to you. Right. Bit awkward. But I want you to know that I'm completely on top of all this Jewish stuff, lads. I've spoken to every single anti-Semite in the Labour Party and I've told them, in no uncertain terms, tone it down a bit. Actually, I've always been very careful about the company that I keep. (Gerry Adams approaches).  

GERRY ADAMS: Jeremy? Gerry Adams.  

JEREMY CORBYN: Oh, God.  

GERRY ADAMS: How the hell are you, you old devil?  

JEREMY CORBYN: Well, I'm fine, actually. What are you doing here?  

GERRY ADAMS: Well, I always promised myself when I retired from Sinn Fein I'd come to London and do all the touristy stuff - Madame Tussauds, the London Eye... I got a few funny looks at Buckingham Palace, but, sure, what can you do? Friends of yours?  

JEREMY CORBYN: Admirers.  

GERRY ADAMS: Quite right too. He's my kind of guy, this fella. A real rabble-rouser back in the day. Some of the stuff you used to say, at those old Bobby Sands commemorations. Lads, will you take a selfie of us?  

JEREMY CORBYN: Oh, oh, well, is this really necessary? Everybody's just obsessed with photographs nowadays.  

GERRY ADAMS: I'll tell you one thing, Jeremy was always a great supporter of the Republican armed struggle.  

JEREMY CORBYN: I'm going to have to correct you there, Gerry. All I ever tried to do in Northern Ireland was bring about peace. I never supported the military campaign. 

GERRY ADAMS: No. And I was never a member of the IRA.  

JEREMY CORBYN: Is that the time? Well, could we car share, lads? Yeah, the environment and all that. I'll see you around, Gerry.  

GERRY ADAMS: Slan! (Jeremy Corbyn and the lads get into a taxi).  

JEREMY CORBYN: You can drop me anywhere. Bit awkward. I barely know the bloke.  

TAXI DRIVER: Jeremy Corbyn?  

JEREMY CORBYN: Yeah, that's right.  

TAXI DRIVER: It's me, Ismail from Hamas. 

JEREMY CORBYN: Oh, bloody hell!  

TAXI DRIVER: How are you, my friend? I haven't seen you since you invited me to the House of Commons. It was you, me... those guys from Hezbollah. 

That didn't go down well with many of the Corbynistas on Twitter. To put it mildly. A right brouhaha ensued.

There's nothing unusual about that these days of course, but things took an odd turn when one Corbyn supporter sent this tweet out into an unsuspecting world:

I see David Baddiel wrote Tracey Ullman's Corbyn sketch last night. More BBC propaganda masquerading as satire. Tip for Tracey  - sitting in make up for hours to look a bit like Corbyn is a waste of time if you can't do the voice or mannerisms, or comedy.

And then it began!:

Corbyn Conundrum: Baddiel and Ullman have one important thing in common that gets in the way of any attempt at producing comedy. They are both Zionists (like Lipman). They can’t see beyond that. 

billm: Ullman and Baddiel must be BBC attempt to find right wing "comedians" to counter the usual Tory papers accusations of left wing bias. Failed again. 

Simon Maginn: More and more of BBC infested with anti-Labour propaganda. 'Comedy' now, scripted by the disgusting bigot Baddiel, painting Corbyn as someone not concerned about anti-Semitism.  Not funny of course (Baddiel), but also lazy stupid and false. BBC scraping the barrel bottom now. 

Abnormal Abner: Just seen a snippet of the Tracey Ullman snipe at Corbyn... written by that (increasingly obvious) hasbara bag of shite .@Baddiel 

Pete Best: Baddiel is about as funny as a hernia....told lies about the poll of Labour members on New World Order and now writing similar bollocks for equally unfunny Tracey Ullman.....you are rapidly turning into a one trick pony David.....maybe try something on Tory Islamophobia eh? 

This in turn didn't go down too well with David Baddiel and others: 

David Baddiel: Been told, hilariously, that Corbynistas like @jigsawman2014 have assumed that I wrote Tracey Ullman's JC sketch on her show: a brilliant example of how they truly eschew the idea of a Jewish conspiracy. #dontgiveafuckaboutfuckingIsrael #howmanymoretimes #cunts 

David Baddiel: FFS. This is the literally the weirdest conspiracy theory I've ever seen. I've now seen it stated as fact that I wrote that sketch. Maybe I should ask for royalties. Or will that confirm the stereotype for the anti-semites? 

Tracy Ann Oberman: I’ve also had people saying that obviously  Tracey Ullman is Jewish and that’s why she did that sketch. Corbyn’s finest, the lot of them. And he maintains he doesn’t attract racists. She isn’t Jewish. 

Nick Cohen: BBC runs a satirical sketch about Corbyn. His supporters fake the news  that David Baddiel wrote it.  That one lie, so easily made and accepted, reveals a whole deformed mentally. 

Tracy Ann Oberman: Tonight's an eye opener Nick Cohen - Tracey Ullman labelled a Jewish Zio stooge, David Baddiel the Jew who wrote it .And all by Jeremy Corbyn 's die hard fans. Tracey Ullman is NOT Jewish. Baddeil did NOT write  the sketch. Jeremy's fans call this #FakeNews. I call it racism.

All of you who still aren't on Twitter, are you regretting it now? (I suspect not).

P.S. Guido Fawkes has a post about this now and the BBC has posted most of the sketch on YouTube:

P.P.S. I'm not sure about Tracey's Derek Jacobi-like Jeremy Corbyn impersonation but that toothy Gerry Adams was spot-on and funny.

Not the Jew

For the many, not the you know who. Do please read Philip Collins in The Times (£). It would be such a shame if the paywall stopped you.

For those without online access, one below-the-line comment warns: 

“The only problem with this article is that it’s too well written, and the vocabulary too complicated, for the Corbyn/Lansman supporters to understand.”

For those without online access, (or in a hurry) I’ll try to abridge it.

The three-way Twitter spat between David Baddiel, George Galloway and Jon Lansman encapsulates the antisemitism problem in the left. (Collins doesn’t say this, but a good deal of what he says also applies to the BBC.)

“Mr Galloway started it by calling Baddiel “a vile Israel-fanatic” which accusation he later refined to suggest that Baddiel was prone to using the label of “antisemite” as a slander. Mr Lansman waded in to declare his solidarity with Baddiel who, as a “non-Zionist” is neither vile nor a fanatic.”

The litigious Galloway threatened to sue for defamation (What, moi? an antisemite?”) citing Jeremy Corbyn as a potential witness.

Jon Lansman, the founder of the pro-Corbyn Momentum movement, is a Jew, and his ‘asaJew’ brand of anti-Zionism allows him to align himself with Jewish non-Zionists like Baddiel, that is, as long as Baddiel doesn’t suddenly come over all Zionisty. (So far Baddiel’s declared attitude to the Jewish State is “Meh”.)

“The Labour Party is led, indeed, by a man who only ever talked to one side, who called himself a friend of Hamas, a body which seeks the destruction of the Jewish state; a man who happily took money from Press TV, a channel owned and controlled by the Iranian government which denies the truth of the Holocaust.” 

Yup. This we know. But does it make any difference to your average Corbynista?

Ever since Jeremy Corbyn publicly disgraced himself on the Marr show with that shameful porky-pie about his fondness for the Iranian regime, the nasty media has been awash with revelations and exposés. Detailed iterations of which have appeared on Harry’s Place, Guido Fawkes and in the Spectator. 

The romantic part of the relationship may well be over, but the conviviality between the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Islamic Republic was clearly not about the former’s concerns over the latter’s attitude to human rights. Saying something so easily debunked and so very economical with the actualité on the Marr show seemed particularly rash. Perhaps Jeremy thought no-one was watching, or maybe he mistook the TV studio for the ideal venue for a cosy, off the record chat with a mate. 

Why the hell haven’t these shocking things dented his popularity? (Because they haven’t, not one jot) Don’t bother beating your brains out worrying about this. It’s simple.

Love is blind. His besotted followers actually believe Jeremy will abolish inequality, poverty, racism and evil. “We like what Jeremy stands for, and we’re not interested in stuff that has nothing to do with his policies.” I really, really saw that written somewhere.

This bit could have been written with the BBC in mind:

“The left’s antisemitism is in the tone of voice, the severity, the passion, the elevation of an issue that should be one among many to a defining idea of political identity. It connects to a loathing of America and of capitalism and of alleged western interference in the Middle East. For the uncomplicated racist, hatred of the undesirable people is the starting point. For the complicated, confused leftist, the denigration of a people is their conclusion. The ingenious ones among them even sound as though they arrive at their argument with great reluctance. This is the mindset that might one day inform British foreign policy and, if that is a realistic prospect, then it is the errors hidden in Mr Lansman’s world view that will matter more than the errors evident in Mr Galloway’s.

That  article alone is worth the subscription. Bravo, Philip Collins.

"Sorry to royalists about Queen round. R4 rescheduled, that ep meant to go next week"

I usually always listen to programmes before posting about them, but in this case I'm going to make an exception....

Wherever I look on social media tonight - whether it be on Twitter or at Biased BBC - I'm seeing something of a rare consensus (from Left and Right) about one particular BBC Radio 4 programme: David Baddiel's Don't Make Me Laugh.

No one seems to have liked it. Some just found it deeply unfunny; others found it grossly distasteful; while most found it be both deeply unfunny and grossly distasteful.

On the day of the Queen's 90th birthday, the programme apparently discussed "Does the Queen go to the toilet?" and "Has she had sex more than four times?" The Queen's vulva was also apparently mentioned for humorous effect. 

It just beggars belief, doesn't it?

Given that there weren't any nice tweets about it, I suspect David Baddiel was being sarcastic at the start of his Twitter response. The jaw-dropping bit, however, is his accompanying 'apology' and 'excuse':

BBC Radio Scotland presenter Louise White asked the obvious question in reply: 

The newspapers are bound go to town on this. Hopefully they'll bear in mind the utter incompetence of whoever was responsible for that rescheduling as well as the programme's content.


Update 22/4: And, yes, the newspapers are going to town on this (well, one of them - the one Radio 4 comedians love to hate):

Why did Radio 4 put out this vile prime-time show on Her Majesty's birthday? BBC listeners stunned after programme mocks the Queen's sex life and makes reference to her on the toilet