View source for Document:With Panorama's hatchet job on Labour antisemitism, BBC has become pro-Tory media

{{Document
|type=Article
|publication_date=11 July 2019
|source_name=Middle East Eye
|source_URL=https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/panoramas-hatchet-job-labour-antisemitism-bbc-has-become-pro-tory-media
|authors=Jonathan Cook
|image=BBC_HQ.jpg
|image_width=300px
|image_caption=The [[BBC]] has become a pro-[[Tory]] enterprise
|subjects=Labour Party, Antisemitism, Jeremy Corbyn, John Ware, JLM, Shai Masot, JVL, Boris Johnson
|description=The question is why did the [[BBC]]’s flagship political investigations show decide that the marginal problem of [[racism]] in [[Labour Party|Labour]] was a much more urgent matter than the provable and significant [[racism]] in the [[Conservative Party]]?
}}
It is difficult to describe as anything other than a hatchet job the [[BBC]] ''Panorama'' special this week that sought to bolster claims that the [[Labour Party]] under [[Jeremy Corbyn]] has become “institutionally [[antisemitic]]”.  

The partisan tone was set from the opening shot. A young woman whose name was not revealed tearfully claimed to have been abused with [[antisemitic]] taunts at a [[Labour Party]] conference.

The decision not to disclose their interviewee’s identity is understandable in the circumstances. It would have discredited the whole narrative ''Panorama'' was trying so hard to build.

The woman’s name is [[Ella Rose]], a senior official in the [[Jewish Labour Movement]] (JLM), an organisation representing [[Jewish]] and non-Jewish members of Labour at the forefront of attacks on Corbyn. [[Ella Rose|Rose]] has a secret past too: she once worked at the [[Israeli]] embassy in London. 

==Self-fulfilling prophecy==
Two years ago she and other [[JLM]] officials were exposed collaborating with [[Shai Masot]], an Israeli embassy official. He had to be hurriedly removed from the UK after an undercover [[Al Jazeera]] documentary showed him plotting with activists in the Labour and Conservative parties to discredit British politicians seen as a threat to [[Israel]]. 

Most observers believe that [[Shai Masot|Masot]] was operating within the embassy, as part of [[Israel]]’s strategic affairs ministry, which in turn has been running black ops against western critics of [[Israel]]. Corbyn, we can safely assume, is high on that list.

[[Ella Rose|Rose]] is on record as saying she was a close friend of [[Shai Masot|Masot]]'s. 

Her emotional, quavering voice as she spoke to ''Panorama'' presented a very different image from her appearances in [[Al Jazeera]]’s undercover footage. There she is shown threatening to use physical violence – employing Krav Maga, a martial arts technique developed by the [[Israeli]] army – against another [[Jewish]] party member prominent in support of Corbyn. 

''Panorama'' chose to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the British media in ignoring [[Al Jazeera]]’s revelations, even though they provide vital context for challenging claims of a supposedly growing “[[antisemitism]] crisis” in Labour. For the past three years, the media have produced little more than anecdotal evidence, like [[Ella Rose]]’s, to support this narrative. 

In a self-fulfilling prophecy, however, the more the media has fear-mongered about [[antisemitism]] in Labour – despite the absence of objective data to back up such claims – the more polls have shown British [[Jews]] panicking at the prospect of Corbyn reaching power. 

The ''Panorama'' investigation, titled “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?”, will undoubtedly have further stoked such fear by interviewing a handful of disgruntled former employees involved in the party’s handling of [[antisemitism]] complaints.

==Bitter feuds==
Stripped of context, these testimonies offer a superficially plausible argument that the Labour leadership sought to minimise, or even indulge, [[antisemitism]] in the party. But the comments made by these ex-staff have to be viewed in terms of a wider power-play raging in Labour since Corbyn was elected leader.

The party has been riven by bitter, very public feuds between the old guard, which dominated under [[Tony Blair]], and the rapid rise of the party’s left wing under Corbyn, buoyed by massive support from the wider membership.

''Panorama'' referenced these rifts only to dismiss them as a conspiracy theory. Instead, the programme refashioned the split as a culture war between those presented as anti-racist centrists, like the disputes team’s former staff, and a supposed influx of anti-[[Israel]], Jew-hating “Marxists” cultivated by Corbyn.

==The purge==
Some of the former members of the disputes staff interviewed by ''Panorama'' appear to have served effectively as a Trojan horse within Labour’s head office, assisting the Blairites in damaging Corbyn. 

Though it was not mentioned by ''Panorama'', these staff members were caught repeatedly violating the party rulebook by excluding thousands of Corbyn supporters during the two leadership contests, in 2015 and 2016. These mass purges had nothing to do with [[antisemitism]]. People were ousted for “offences” such as retweeting the Green Party or, in one case, praising the band the Foo Fighters.

It was the enormous backlog created by these exclusions that overwhelmed the party machinery, leaving it incapable of handling disciplinary matters involving [[antisemitism]].

Labour officials note that, even after Corbyn was secure as leader, the obstruction continued. A small number of staff – the people ''Panorama'' interviewed – actively blocked the rapid resolution of high-profile [[antisemitism]] cases, dragging them out to embarrass the leadership. 

Since a new General Secretary, [[Jennie Formby]], was brought in and a new and larger disputes team appointed, including staff with legal training, the speed of handling [[antisemitism]] complaints is reported to have increased four-fold.

The paradox is that those telling ''Panorama'' that Labour is “institutionally [[antisemitic]]” are the very people who failed to deal effectively with [[antisemitism]] complaints when they were in charge.

==Fears of a stitch-up==
The most astounding and intentional omission from the programme, however, are the countervailing voices in support of Corbyn. The Labour leader himself and senior staff like his chief strategist, [[Seumas Milne]], declined to be interviewed. That is understandable. They had strong grounds to suspect that ''Panorama'' planned a stitch-up.

Interviews of Labour leaders denying “institutional [[antisemitism]]” set against footage of tearful [[Jewish]] party members like [[Ella Rose]] speaking of abuse would have been a bad look.

But what was undoubtedly inexcusable was ''Panorama''’s failure to interview even one of the many [[Jewish]] Labour members who deny the [[antisemitism]] narrative, or to note that many of the most high-profile party members suspended or expelled for [[antisemitism]] are, in fact, themselves [[Jewish]]. 

==Jewish members expelled==
One of the expulsions briefly mentioned by ''Panorama'' was [[Jackie Walker]], who is herself [[Jewish]], as well as black.

The fact that [[Jewish]] activists have been disciplined for their criticisms of [[Israel]] or disputing the Labour [[antisemitism]] narrative suggests that the furore, in part at least, represents the redrawing of battle-lines within the [[Jewish]] community about who gets to speak for [[Jews]] about [[Israel]].

This was vital, but missing, context for understanding one of ''Panorama''’s central charges: that Corbyn’s inner circle had interfered in the complaints process by offering advice to the disputes team. 

What ''Panorama'' failed to mention was that the advice was actually sought by the disputes staff. And it related to the need to handle sensitively the issue of the party being seen to take disciplinary action against [[Jewish]] members accused of [[antisemitism]] by other [[Jewish]] members. 

Labour administrators were effectively being asked to take sides in an ideological fight between different kinds of [[Jewish]] activists – hardline [[Zionist]]s and anti-[[Zionist]]s.

=="Wrong kind of Jews"==
Why, one can reasonably ask, did ''Panorama'' ignore [[Jewish Voice for Labour]] in this supposed “investigation” of Labour and [[antisemitism]]? The group was specifically set up by [[Jewish]] members to counter the claims being made by activists like Rose. 

Groups like the [[Jewish Labour Movement]] have implied that [[Jewish]] supporters of [[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]] are the “wrong kind of Jews” – an extremely ugly insinuation that ''Panorama'' appeared to endorse by entirely sidelining them. This was one of the reasons the Labour leadership censured the programme-makers in a 50-page document presented to [[BBC]] boss [[Tony Hall]], in which it argued that ''Panorama'' had “pre-determined the outcome of its investigation”.

As Corbyn’s office noted, ''Panorama'' had cherrypicked and distorted evidence, presented only one side of the story, and relied almost exclusively on staff who have very large axes to grind.

Score-settling may make for lively TV, but it is execrable journalism.

As a public service broadcaster, the [[BBC]] is subject to an editorial policy requiring it to be impartial. Its guidelines also state that audiences should not be able to infer “the personal prejudices of our journalists or news and current affairs presenters on matters of public policy, political or industrial controversy, or on 'controversial subjects' in any other area.” 

But the fact that ''Panorama'' made no attempt at even-handedness or fairness in its programme on Labour should have come as no surprise. The man in charge of the investigation was [[John Ware]], a former ''[[Sun]]'' journalist. He cannot be considered dispassionate either about Corbyn or the prospects of Labour defeating the [[Conservative Party]] at a general election, which may be just around the corner. 

==Strident supporter of Israel==
Two years ago, [[John Ware|Ware]] wrote a lengthy article for a right-wing magazine warning of the danger of Corbyn reaching power. He was a politician, wrote [[John Ware|Ware]], “whose entire political career has been stimulated by disdain for the West, appeasement of extremism, and who would barely understand what fighting for the revival of British values is really all about”.

Shortly after Corbyn’s leadership election victory in 2015, [[John Ware|Ware]] headed a ''Panorama'' documentary that sought to malign the new leader. [[John Ware|Ware]] is also a strident supporter of [[Israel]] and of its state ideology, [[Zionism]]. In a 2005 edition of ''Panorama'' he suggested that Muslims in Britain who spoke out about [[Israel]]’s crimes against [[Palestinians]] were “extremists”. 

In an article in the [[Jewish Chronicle]] last year Ware concluded that anti-[[Zionism]] had “morphed into [[antisemitism]] – itself a Corbyn legacy”. 

But the truth of that claim – whether criticism of [[Israel]] really is equivalent to [[antisemitism]] – needed to be interrogated rather than, as it was, assumed by the ''Panorama'' special. It lies at the heart of both the split between the right and left wings of Labour, and the divisions within Labour’s [[Jewish]] membership.

==‘Witch-hunt against Muslims’==
Equally disturbing is [[John Ware|Ware]]’s apparent view that some kinds of [[racism]] matter far more than others. This appears to be what he means by “British values”.

While he has repeatedly expressed concern about criticism of [[Israel]], and has himself conflated it with [[antisemitism]], his work has shown an apparent indulgence of [[Islamophobia]]. Over nearly two decades [[John Ware|Ware]] has produced reports for the [[BBC]] that have antagonised Britain’s Muslim community. 

In 2003 [[David Blunkett]], Labour’s home secretary of the time and no ally of Corbyn’s, compared a programme by [[John Ware|Ware]] on asylum seekers to the notoriously racist rhetoric of [[Enoch Powell]] back in the 1960s. 

Two years later the [[Muslim Council of Britain]] accused a ''Panorama'' documentary headed by [[John Ware|Ware]] of amounting to a “witch-hunt against British Muslims”. 

==Islamophobia "rational"==
In 2013 [[John Ware|Ware]] claimed that [[Islamophobia]], or what he called the “I-word”, was stopping people – though not himself, it seems – from talking about Muslim “extremism”. [[John Ware|Ware]] argued that [[Islamophobia]], unlike [[antisemitism]], was rational and justified – or in his words, hatred of Muslims was simply “reactive”.

He wrote in the [[Jewish Chronicle]] newspaper: “It is surely Muslim radicals who have brought it [anti-Muslim bigotry] on their fellow Muslims – by their promotion of Islam as a political ideology, and by invoking [[Islamophobia]] to close down criticism of this ideology.”

Imagine how that would sound if one replaces “radical [[Muslim]]s”, “political [[Islam]]” and “[[Islamophobia]]” with the equivalents of “[[Israel]] zealots”, “hardline [[Zionism]]” and “[[antisemitism]]”. Let’s try it:

“It is surely [[Israel]] zealots who have brought it [anti-[[Jewish]] bigotry] on their fellow [[Jews]] – by their promotion of hardline [[Zionism]] as a political ideology, and by invoking [[antisemitism]] to close down criticism of this ideology.”

Suggesting that [[Jews]] are to blame for the racism they face because some extremists among them are fanatical supporters of [[Israel]] and its oppression of [[Palestinians]] would surely amount to [[antisemitism]] in most people’s view. 

==Skewed political priorities==
The relevance of this is that [[John Ware|Ware]] and the [[BBC]] made a highly politicised decision to choose to focus exclusively on Labour and [[antisemitism]], while ignoring the well-documented [[racism]] of the [[Conservative Party]]. That choice matches [[John Ware|Ware]]’s own skewed political priorities.

The [[BBC]]’s flagship political documentary assumed that Labour suffers from an “[[antisemitism]] crisis” so severe that it needed to be the sole focus of an investigation into [[racism]] in British politics.

The decision to ignore the more visible issue of racism in the [[Conservative Party]] smacks of dangerous interference by the state broadcaster in the democratic process.

''Panorama''’s choice is even more astonishing given that the objective data – again overlooked by the programme – indicates that Labour has much less of a [[racism]] problem than the ruling [[Conservative Party]]. 

A survey this week confirmed what was already widely known: that [[Islamophobia]] – racism towards Muslims and Arabs – is rampant in Conservative ranks. A [[YouGov]] poll showed an astounding 56 per cent of party members believe Islam threatens the “British way of life”.

The [[Tory]] party’s former chair, [[Sayeeda Warsi]], has long been ringing the alarm about senior officials, warning that they are indifferent to, or supportive of, [[Islamophobia]] in the party. 

==Rampant Tory racism==
In addition to rampant [[Islamophobia]], figures show that the Conservatives also have a greater problem than Labour with [[antisemitism]].

While [[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]] has been critical of [[antisemitic]] world leaders, the Conservative leadership has been cosying up to figures like [[Viktor Orban]], [[Hungary]]’s prime minister, who is known for his Jew-baiting and expressions of support for former Hungarian pro-[[Nazi]] leaders. 

[[Boris Johnson]], the Conservative MP widely expected to become the next prime minister when [[Theresa May]] steps down, has a long track record of making inciteful, [[racist]] statements. 

==Antisemitism data ignored==
While the Conservatives’ undeniable [[racism]] problem has failed to attract any sustained media attention, the [[Labour Party]]’s much less serious [[antisemitism]] problem has been blown out of all proportion.

The ''Panorama'' team ignored the most elementary facts undermining the now-pervasive narrative of a Labour “[[antisemitism]] crisis”

First, surveys show Labour voters are less likely to hold [[antisemitic]] views than the wider general public or Conservative voters, and the proportion of Labour supporters expressing such views has fallen dramatically under [[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]. The data clearly refute suggestions that Corbyn has made the party more attractive to antisemites.

Second, Labour’s disciplinary process has found that instances of discernible [[antisemitism]] is marginal, at 0.06 per cent of its half a million members. And that is after Corbyn’s political enemies have been scouring party members’ accounts seeking evidence of [[antisemitism]]. 

And third, much of the media coverage has attributed often anonymous hate speech on [[social media]] targeting [[Jews]], including Labour MPs, to Labour activists when no evidence exists to support such attribution. The politicised climate is such now that far-right [[antisemitism]] is also being blamed on Corbyn.

==Questions for the BBC==
[[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]’s critics, of course, have been trying to deflect criticism of the [[BBC]], ''Panorama'' and [[John Ware|Ware]] by arguing that Labour’s complaint is some kind of [[Donald Trump|Trumpian]] attack on journalism. That is patent nonsense.

The [[BBC]] is a public service broadcaster paid for by British taxpayers. Its credibility and legitimacy depends on it being seen to maintain strict neutrality and a commitment to evidence, not become a media attack dog in the hands of the ruling party.

The question is why did the [[BBC]]’s flagship political investigations show decide that the marginal problem of [[racism]] in [[Labour Party|Labour]] was a much more urgent matter than the provable and significant [[racism]] in the [[Conservative Party]]? 

Unlike Labour, the Conservatives are actually in power and, through policy-making, are in a position to improve or damage the fabric of life for minority communities in Britain.

This isn’t about protecting [[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]. It is an expectation that the [[BBC]] sticks by its commitment to observe dispassionately British political life rather than interfere, as it did with the ''Panorama'' special, in an overt, partisan manner.