Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Joan Ryan Likens Corbyn to Trump in Becoming Eighth Labour MP to Resign Over Anti-Semitism

Yesterday, longtime Labour MP Joan Ryan quit the party she has belonged to for over 40 years joining seven other Labour MPs in the newly formed Independent Group.


Ryan's resignation statement does not hold back. Here are some excerpts.


On anti-Semitism in the Labour Party under Corbyn:


That requires and demands that we stand up to racism in all its forms; a principle which all previous Labour leaders and the Labour governments of Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown upheld and honoured.


Over the past three years, however, the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn has become infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism. The problem simply did not exist in the party before his election as leader. No previous Labour leader would have allowed this huge shame to befall the party.


I have always believed that we must be especially vigilant against the oldest hatred; history teaches us the tragic and horrific results of a failure to do so.


I have been horrified, appalled and angered to see the Labour leadership's dereliction of duty in the face of evil.


On why she cannot remain in Labour:


I cannot remain a member of the Labour Party while its leadership allows Jews to be abused with impunity and the victims of such abuse to be ridiculed, have their motives questioned, and their integrity called into doubt.


I cannot remain a member of the Labour Party while its leadership singles out for demonization and delegitimization the world's only Jewish state.


And I cannot remain a member of the Labour Party while this requires me to suggest that I believe Jeremy Corbyn - a man who has presided over the culture of anti-Jewish racism and hatred for Israel which now afflicts my former party - is fit to be Prime Minister of this country. He is not.


On likening Jeremy Corbyn and Labour to Donald Trump and the GOP:


The anti-Semitism crisis has thrown a harsh light on the values and behavior of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.


Like its populist ideological bedfellows, it evinces a disdain for the rights of minorities, and adopts a bullying, aggressive attitude to those who dare to question its cult-like received wisdom.


It engages in bizarre, offensive and dangerous conspiracy theories - ones often founded on classic anti-Semitic tropes evoking the powerful hidden hand of "Rothschilds", Zionists and the "Israel lobby" - and sets aside the truth when politically inconvenient.


And it has replaced Labour's traditional message of openness, hope and optimism with an all-consuming narrative founded on rage, betrayal and the hunt for heretics.


I do not believe that such an attitude -- one that is all too reminiscent of Donald Trump's Republican Party, the European far right and some, but by no means all, Brexiteers - is in the least bit healthy for society or for our democracy.


It was a point I tried to make with Trump supporters earlier this month when I pointed out that Corbyn's statement about Jews not being fully British was no different than Trump denigrating Judge Curiel as "a Mexican". Not surprisingly, this fell on deaf ears as expected. Trump supporters are every bit as irrational as the Cult of Corbyn.


I'm glad that Joan Ryan has a clear understanding of fanaticism whether it comes from the left or the right. Whatever fate befalls Ryan, she has made her stand and is prepared to die in that position rather than live on her knees. At this point, I can only hope that Ryan's words will inspire more defections by Labour MPs.

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