Power and expediency

What to make of Andy Burnham’s speech on Gaza?

Certainly if anyone thought he would come out fighting for Jews and Israel, they will have been sadly disappointed. We had the normal measly words about the rise in antisemitism surrounded by the accusations of Israel’s war crimes, starvation and killing of innocent civilians. He apologised for Labour’s early stance, presumably that of vague support for Israel at the start, and said they were wrong . He talked about sanctions, restricting arms licences and even supporting a BDS stance.

So all in all, a classic case of swapping a frying pan for the whole fire.

Manchester Jewry had generally considered that he was strong on antisemitism but this stance shows he will blow in the wind as much as any politician. Whilst mayor of Manchester, he had a sizeable Jewish community but overall in the country, as any sort of bloc, we are far more dispensable to the ones who wanted to hear him go after the only Jewish state.

Jews all over the world, but especially in the UK, now see any political change through the prism of whether it is good for us, as Jews. Will our lives be more or less safe under the next incumbent. We have effectively been disenfranchised from our political beliefs because they now come with an added part of whether Jews have a right to exist in our sovereign state and whether we have a right to support that. We have to consider our safety first.

We may care about the social structure of this country, housing, justice, equality but politically that comes second to whether we have to support a party who refuses to look at Israel through neutral eyes. A party who, even as Starmer tells us he tackled antisemitism within the party, has brought about the largest rise in antisemitism that we have seen in the UK since possibly the Middle Ages when we were expelled.

Last week I was on grandparent duty and daily took my grandkids to school past 3 guards, 2 locked gates and then stood outside a building as they were collected by staff. For them it is normal. It should not be.

I don’t believe any more, that our next Prime Minister does not see that he is playing right into the hands of those that threaten my grandchildren and worse, threaten the freedoms and values of this country. The geopolitical map is changing and power is shifting and in his quest for power, he does not have the courage to stand up for it. Politician after politician knowingly flies the flag for terror and against the right to defend a sovereign state.

Burnham, Starmer et all are not Corbyn or Sultana or even Francesca Albanese. They are not riddled with antisemitism and Jew hate in the way these types are. But what they are is all too willing to jump on a bandwagon to retain or on Andy’s case, gain power. We are expedient, as ever. A convenient tool to gain votes and power be it nationally or internationally. We are being fed to the wolves but the wolves will remain hungry long after we have gone.

Ever rational person I speak to can see that allying ourselves with Islamists and those that perpetuate the demonising of Israel and Jews will not bring about a continuation of freedom and equality. So why are all our politicians silent or complicit, apart from Kemi Badenoch who is very eloquent but lacks power.

Burnham, you are a power grabbing, self-seeking, immoral man, using our electoral freedoms for your personal gain and setting out your stall by kowtowing to this latest new hatred by throwing a democracy to the wolves. We expected little, we got less.

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