Corbyn's Antisemitism Documented in Arsenal FC Attempted Boycott

Corbyn called for boycott of Arsenal FC

in 2006 in protest of club’s deal with Israeli tourist board

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn offers an Arsenal shirt to the EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Brussels, Belgium, July 13, 2017 © Pool / Reuters

Jeremy Corbyn urged fans to boycott his favorite football club, Arsenal FC, in 2006, after they struck a sponsorship deal with the Israeli tourist board, saying it’s wrong to treat both 'Israel and Palestinians as equals'.

The Labour leader, who is a lifelong Arsenal FC fan and supporter of the Palestinian people, called on fans to boycott the club, after Israeli holiday destinations were advertised at the stadium. The £350,000 deal was signed off by Dubai-based Emirates airline, Arsenal's prime sponsor, before going ahead, the Mail Online reported.

Speaking at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Trade Union Conference in 2006, Corbyn said: “We must campaign against and boycott Arsenal football club for their arrangement with the Israeli tourist board.”

“It is wrong to treat both parties [Israel and the Palestinians] as equals,” he said, adding:

“The situation is the running sore of US foreign policy.”

The revelation has been met with anger from his opponents, with one social media user urging Corbyn to “stop digging” in reference to the anti-Semitism ‘crisis’ within Labour. Another hopes that he is “roundly booed” the next time he attends an Arsenal football match. The Labour supporters, meanwhile, are asking why the Mail has trawled through 12 years of history to find a “non-story.”

Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster said that this latest story on Corbyn is part of an ongoing campaign to push him to the point of resignation – and that it will continue so long as he is Labour leader.

"There is quite clearly a campaign to get Jeremy Corbyn to stand down or failing that to really smear him, try to keep this [story] so often, that he is an anti-Semite or that he is someone that has a problem with Jewish people,” Clark told RT.

He also insisted that people should not be surprised by this latest revelation, as Corbyn has long been “a strong critic of Israel” and that everyone should be free to criticize Israel just like any other country.

"Jeremy Corbyn has been throughout his career an opponent of imperialism and a strong critic of Israel and that's his position,” Clark said.

"His criticism of Israel is legitimate. Israel is a country that should be criticized, that can be criticized. We criticize America, we criticize France, people criticize Russia, and they criticize Germany."

But 'we' don't ever criticize Palestinians in spite of their murdering of innocent Israeli women and children, their firing thousands of missiles into Israel, their teaching their children to hate and kill Jews, their fire-bombing thousands of acres of crops, their refusal to even discuss peace, their single-minded goal of eliminating all Jews from the Middle East. No, we criticize the Jews because they do what they have to do to survive.

A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy has never boycotted an Arsenal game. He does support targeted action aimed at illegal settlements and the occupation of Palestinian territories, and has backed campaigns to bring it to an end.”

Corbyn is on record as saying that he opposes a boycott of Israel as a whole, but supports a a “targeted” boycott of produce from illegal settlements on the West Bank.

Even though many of them employ Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians work in the West Bank for Israeli companies and about 100,000 work in Israel. 

US, Canada, Latin American Group of Countries Won't Recognize Venezuelan Election

Corruption is Everywhere - Certainly in Venezuelan Elections

Voter turnout was under 50% as mainstream opposition boycotted the election

Thomson Reuters

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores wave to supporters on Sunday in Caracas after the National Electoral Council said he was re-elected in a vote marred by opposition boycott. (Ariana Cubillos/Associated Press)

Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro faced international condemnation on Monday after his re-election in a vote foes denounced as a farce that cemented autocracy in the crisis-stricken oil-producing nation.

Maduro, 55, hailed his win in Sunday's vote as a victory against "imperialism," but his main rival alleged irregularities and refused to recognize the result.

In a blistering statement, the 14-nation "Lima Group" of countries in the Americas from Canada to Brazil, said Monday it did not recognize the legitimacy of the vote and would be downgrading diplomatic relations.

The group deplored Venezuela's "grave humanitarian situation" behind a migrant exodus and promised to help co-ordinate with international financial bodies to crack down on corruption and block loans to the government.

In a statement on Monday, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called the election "illegitimate and anti-democratic."

"The Maduro regime has once again failed its people by restricting Venezuelans' rights and liberty and by preventing the free participation of opposition parties," she said.

"Canada rejects the Venezuelan electoral process and its results as not representing the democratic will of Venezuela's citizens."

Venezuela's mainstream opposition boycotted the election, given that two of its most popular leaders were barred from running; authorities had banned the coalition and its various parties from using their names, and the election board is run by Maduro loyalists. Turnout was under 50 per cent.

Thousands of Maduro supporters, many wearing red berets, hugged and danced outside the Miraflores presidential palace, showered in confetti in the yellow, blue and red colours of the Venezuelan national flag.

"The revolution is here to stay!" a jubilant Maduro told the crowd, promising to prioritize economic recovery after five years of recession in the OPEC nation of 30 million people.

"Let's go, Nico!" his supporters chanted until after midnight during party scenes in downtown Caracas.

"We mustn't cave to any empire, or go running to the International Monetary Fund as Argentina did. The opposition must leave us alone to govern," said government supporter Ingrid Sequera, 51. She wore a T-shirt with a logo featuring the eyes of Maduro's socialist predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.

Senior U.S. State Department officials declared Sunday's vote a "sham" and repeated threats to impose sanctions on Venezuela's all-important oil sector, which is already reeling from falling output, a brain-drain and creaking infrastructure.

Spain, which has led European Union criticism of Maduro, also weighed in.

"Venezuela's electoral process has not respected the most basic democratic standards. Spain and its European partners will study appropriate measures and continue to work to alleviate Venezuelans' suffering," tweeted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

However, regional leftist allies of Venezuela, from Cuba to Bolivia, sent their congratulations. China and Russia, which have both poured money into Venezuela in recent years, were also unlikely to join in the international condemnation.

'Tragic cycle' for Venezuela 

The election board said Maduro won 5.8 million votes, versus 1.8 million for his chief challenger Henri Falcon, a former governor who broke with the opposition boycott to stand.

Turnout was 46 per cent, the election board said, way down from the 80 per cent at the last presidential vote in 2013. Suggesting turnout was even lower, an electoral board source told Reuters 32.3 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots by 6 p.m. local time as most polls shut.

The government used ample state resources during the campaign and state workers were pressured to vote.

'Red spots' near polling stations

Falcon called for a new vote, complaining about the government's placing of nearly 13,000 pro-government stands called "red spots" close to polling stations nationwide.

Mainly poor Venezuelans lined up to scan state-issued "fatherland cards" at red tents after voting, in hope of receiving a "prize" promised by Maduro. The "fatherland cards" are required to receive benefits including food boxes and money transfers.

Some anti-government activists said the opposition coalition should have fielded a candidate regardless of how uneven the playing field might be. But the opposition coalition, which has been divided for most of the duration of the "Chavismo" movement founded by Chavez after he took office in 1999, appeared united after the vote and said its boycott strategy had paid off.

"I implore Venezuelans not to become demoralized, today Maduro is weaker than ever before. We're in the final phase of a tragic cycle for our country. The fraud has been exposed and today the world will reject it," tweeted opposition leader Julio Borges.

It was not yet clear what strategy the opposition would now adopt, but major protests seem unlikely given widespread disillusionment and fatigue. Caracas was calm and many of its streets were empty on Monday morning.

Protesters did, however, barricade some streets in the southern city of Puerto Ordaz, drawing teargas from National Guard soldiers, witnesses said.

Economic pressures

Maduro, who faces a colossal task turning around Venezuela's moribund economy, has offered no specifics on changes to two decades of state-led policies. The bolivar currency is down 99 per cent over the past year and inflation is at an annual 14,000 per cent, according to the National Assembly.

Furthermore, Venezuela's multiple creditors are considering accelerating claims on unpaid foreign debt, while oil major ConocoPhillips has been taking aggressive action in recent weeks against state oil company PDVSA, as part of its claim for compensation over a 2007 nationalization of its assets in Venezuela.

Though increasingly shunned in the West, Maduro can at least count on the support of China and Russia, which have provided billions of dollars' funding in recent years.

Maduro, still proclaiming 'the revolution', feeds off the American attempts to discredit and destroy the far-left government in Venezuela. It appears the American strategy is working against its purpose. If the US was to leave Venezuela alone, perhaps Maduro would be seen as the corrupt dictator he is rather than the skinny kid who stands up to the big bully.

Cuomo Issues Executive Order to Fight BDS

Photo by Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

By Jacob Kornbluh 

NEW YORK – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday signed an executive order that orders state agencies to divest themselves of companies and organizations who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the state of Israel.

“In New York, we lead by example. We are also a place of action. We want to take immediate action because we want Israel to know that we are on their side,” Cuomo said during a speech, attended by Jewish leaders, at The Harvard Club. “If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.”
The executive order – the first such signed by a governor – will command the commissioner of the Office of General Services to compile a list over the next six months of businesses and groups engaged in “boycott, divestment or sanctions activity targeting Israel, either directly or through a parent or subsidiary.”

Once the process is completed, all executive-branch agencies and departments will be required to divest themselves of any company on the list to be made public, according to the draft first published by The New York Times. “The State of New York will not permit its own investment activity to further the BDS campaign in any way, shape or form, whether directly or indirectly,” the order states.

“New York stands in solidarity with Israel today and always. This state will not stand for the politics of discrimination in any form, and we will continue to demonstrate our unwavering support for the people of Israel in the fight for freedom, liberty and democracy,” said Cuomo. “I’m proud to sign this nation’s leading executive order, which will help protect Israel from the threat of divestment.”

Cuomo called on governors from all states to follow his lead and take immediate action to fight the BDS movement. According to the governor’s office, Cuomo has been named as the Co-Chair of the American Jewish Committee’s Governors against BDS initiative. “This order sends the message that this state will do everything in its power to end this hateful, intolerant campaign. New York and Israel share an unbreakable bond and I pray that the Israeli and Palestinian people will find a way to live side by side and find peace, prosperity and security,” he said.

Following his speech, Cuomo marched in the Celebrate Israel parade on fifth avenue, alongside a truck blaring Israeli music. “I am the first governor in the country to sign an executive order saying we oppose the boycott of Israel. I am proud of it  and I hope other states follow our lead,” Cuomo told reporters before marching. “It is very important that Israel is strong, not just for the sake of Israel but for the sake of all democracies. Israel is an important strategic ally of the U.S. And we have to keep that relationship strong. And even in this difficult time of turmoil, I want Israel to know New York stands with them.”

Asked if he has responded to President Obama’s April letter requesting to lift state sanctions against Iran as part of the Iran nuclear deal, Cuomo said: “I would have to check. I don’t know if we have.”

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott informed the Obama administration that the state of Texas would reject the administration’s request, sent to all states on April 8, 2016, to “review” its economic sanctions against Iran in order to abide by the terms of the international accord. He also urged other states to follow his lead and reject the administration’s request to lift state sanctions on Iran in a letter sent to 49 governors on May 31.

Senator Chuck Schumer on Sunday said he would seek to introduce the same idea to fight BDS on a federal level. “I think what the governor has done is an excellent idea,” Schumer told reporters. “I think that the state (of New York) should not do any business with any company that participates in BDS, and I am looking at introducing a federal law to do the same thing. BDS is a movement that is just totally unfair to Israel. They hold Israel to one standard and hold the other countries, including those who are sworn enemies to Israel, to another standard.”