Serious Concerns

There are no "legal reasons". It is an editorial decision. But if 19-year-old convicts are no longer going to be named, for the sake of their mothers or what have you, then let us look forward to the application of that policy to black men. And should any such mother chose to be interviewed, then doubtless her words, too, will now be spoken by an actress with a voice that was decidedly more Radio Four than her own. 

What sort of woman would even want to have sex with 12 different men or boys, more sexual partners than a normal woman would have in her entire life? What sort of woman do you think? We are not talking about the Covington Boys here. At least some of the Ayia Napa Twelve hired a prostitute, filmed the proceedings, and uploaded the footage to the Internet. I for one would certainly give them a piece of my mind. 

And yes, of course I know about the IDF that at least some of them were about to join, about the fact that one of them plays for the favourite football club of the Israeli Far Right, about the increasing influence of Israel and the lessening influence of Britain in Cyprus, about the role of Israel in egging on the Turkish invasion and occupation of Northern Cyprus for divide and rule purposes on both sides of the frontier, about how Israel used the Americans to block British military action against that invasion, and all of the rest of it.

But what of any of that, in this case? It is neither here nor there that these are really, really, really not my sort of people; that they embody the sad fact that their section of Israeli society is indeed an integral part of what the West has become.

Freya Heath has been convicted of a far lower charge than she might have faced, and even for that it has been as good as announced that she can expect a very lenient sentence, possibly as little as time served. The judge took care to exclude anything that might have necessitated either a greater charge or a greater penalty. 

That she was already appealing indicated that she could afford to do so, yet more than £100,000 has been crowdfunded for this obvious prostitute, convicted liar, and self-confessed child molester. On what, exactly, is that money going to be spent?

Meanwhile, hear the silence of those who are loudest in demanding that Julian Assange remain incarcerated, and who continue to insist that he is a "rapist". At most, they are pointing out the fact that Heath would not necessarily have been given a lawyer as a complainant in Britain, either; claims about her legal representation once she had become a suspect and a defendant were dealt with by the court, for anyone who can be bothered to check.

Apart from that, they can do no more than promote the suggestion that confused and inconsistent testimony on the part of one who alleges rape is itself proof of the guilt of the accused. Watch out for that one. Ordinarily, however, they would be all over a case such as that of Heath. But to make her cause theirs, then they would have to criticise Israelis, and secular Jewish nationalist Israelis at that.

Yet they have already made such criticism expulsionable from the Labour Party, which will therefore be as unable as it will be unwilling to oppose the criminalisation of it that the Government now intends to enact. So they can make indistinct noises about the wogs and their kangaroo courts, but nothing more than that.

Of course, such racism and imperialism are to be expected. The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism is itself a thoroughgoing betrayal of the anti-racist and anti-imperialist struggle. It denies Black And Minority Ethnic, refugee and migrant experience in the way that leads to the Windrush scandal and to the fire at Grenfell Tower. And it denies the ancient indigenous Christian presence in the Holy Land, thereby contributing significantly to the worldwide persecution of Christians.

Richard Burgon breached it before he or anyone else had ever heard of it. He expressed a view that, agree with it or not, was perfectly mainstream at that very recent time. I have heard Conservative MPs say the same thing publicly. Their party has still never adopted the IHRA Definition, preferring to do so by a kind of default through legislation enforcing it on the rest of us as well.

All this, and while Burgon is not quite exactly working-class, he is a Northern trade unionist (uniquely in modern times, every affiliated trade union nominated him for his parliamentary seat) who probably voted Leave, and who is certainly committed to making Brexit work from and for the Left. He is the natural running mate of the indisputably working-class Ian Lavery.

All hell would then break loose in the Parliamentary Labour Party, which does not want to win back the lost votes and the lost seats. But I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.