• JANE Hassid repeats the official explanation for the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey, (Sir Keir Starmer is the best chance for change, July 30).

Now, had Maxine Peake and Long-Bailey tweeted “the US police learned the neck-on-knee chokehold from the Jews”, that would unquestionably have been anti-Semitic.

But to have suggested a possible link between the US and Israeli police forces was plausible given the long well-documented history of close collaboration, which doesn’t exist with other countries.

It is a technique routinely used by Israeli security personnel in dealing with Palestinian detainees. The US police clearly don’t need instruction in racist policing, but they could have learned the technique from the Israelis.

A statement may be inaccurate but if it is plausible, it cannot, logically, be anti-Semitic.

Again, “Jews” and “Israel” are not co-extensive, except in the minds of anti-Semites and hardcore Zionists who turn a blind eye to nearly 75 years of crimes against the Palestinian people.

Sir Keir Starmer is also open to criticism for apologising to the “whistleblowers”, former Labour Party staffers, to whom he has also agreed to pay huge sums of money.

According to a leaked report, these officials ignored anti-Semitism complaints in the Labour Party, seeking to undermine Jeremy Corbyn because of his left-wing views, including his support for Palestinian rights.

They even worked to engineer his defeat in 2017. But far from being “unelectable” Corbyn came within an ace of winning power.

In 2016 the Corbyn-commissioned Shami Chakrabarti report on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party found few genuine cases.

The home affairs select committee concluded similarly that anti-Semitism was not more prevalent in Labour than other parties.

However, labelling Israel a racist state is accurate: therefore, saying so cannot be anti-Semitic.

Let us hope Sir Keir shows integrity and decisiveness in regard to Palestinian human rights.

SABBY SAGALL
Chair, Camden Solidarity Campaign
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