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Chris Williamson (politician)

From Wikiquote
Chris Williamson in 2017

Christopher Williamson (born 16 September 1956) is a former British member of parliament for Derby North which he represented from 2010 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. Elected as a Labour Party MP, he was barred from standing as a Labour candidate in the 2019 general election following his suspension for comments about Antisemitism in the Labour Party. He stood as an independent, but did not retain his seat and lost his deposit. Williamson hosts the programme Palestine Declassified on the Iranian government-owned TV channel Press TV with David Miller, a former academic sacked by the UK's Bristol University in 2021, as the only other regular participant.

Quotes

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  • [On antisemitism in the Labour Party] I'm not saying it never ever happens but it is a really dirty, lowdown trick, particularly the antisemitism smears. Many people in the Jewish community are appalled by what they see as the weaponisation of antisemitism for political ends.
    It is pretty repellent to use that to attack somebody like Jeremy Corbyn, who has spent his whole life fighting for social justice and standing up for the underdog.
    But I feel people have stopped listening to the smears and lies and dirty tricks. I think for all the talk about Venezuela and antisemitism, and the latest thing is sexism now, Jeremy’s overwhelming landslide victories in the leadership elections and the general election mean people have stopped listening to the smears.
  • Hands off Gilad Atzmon - sign the petition! [initial tweet, soon deleted]
  • Earlier today I tweeted a petition about an Islington Council ban against the Blockheads performing with their chosen line-up. The council has blocked jazz musician Gilad Atzmon from playing with the group [...] Since then I've learned that Atzmon, a former Israeli soldier, is not confined to the jazz world. I am told that in various blogs and in speeches he has adopted anti-Semitic language. [...] I wasn't aware of this until after I tweeted the petition. As soon as I was informed, I deleted the tweet. I've always condemned all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, and strongly disassociate myself from Atzmon's anti-Semitic views.
    I therefore apologise for tweeting this petition and any distress or offence it may have caused.
  • I deeply regret, and apologise for, my recent choice of words when speaking about how the Labour party has responded to the ongoing fight against antisemitism inside of our party. I was trying to stress how much the party has done to tackle antisemitism.
  • The pearl clutching hyperbole by sections of the "left" about this [David Miller] tweet is depressingly familiar.
    Stop letting the bad faith racist Zionist movement frame our narrative. That's what killed the Corbyn project, and it was the liberal left who wielded the knife.

About Williamson

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In alphabetical order by author or source.
  • The idea of an all-powerful Israeli or Zionist lobby is one that has found swathes of appeal among the British left. It is common for British Jewish organisations or institutions to be referred to as an "pro-Israel lobby group." By using such a term as a preface to a UK Jewish organisation, the implication is being made that those Jews hold dual loyalty or are working against the interests of their own country. Ironically, it's on Iranian state broadcaster, Press TV, where former Bristol University professor David Miller and former Labour Member of Parliament Chris Williamson respectively produce and present a series called Palestine Declassified almost entirely devoted to trying to prove that British Jewish organisations have a Zionist or Israeli affiliation, thereby (it is claimed) doing the nefarious bidding of the Israeli state.

See also

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Wikipedia
Wikipedia