The Israeli army have killed 15 Palestinians and wounded a staggering 1,400 more after Israeli forces opened fire on protestors marching near the Israel-Gaza border today.
Following the shocking killings, the Palestinian authority have declared tomorrow a day of mourning.
The incidents occurred as Israeli forces opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas against reportedly unarmed protestors who were marching as part of a major demonstration marking the 42nd anniversary of Land Day.
Land Day marks the incident in 1976 where the Israeli army killed 6 unarmed Palestinian civilians who were protesting against the Israeli government forcibly taking over huge swathes of Palestinian land.
Despite this latest murderous incident being yet another clear violation of international law by the Israeli army, one prominent Corbyn-supporter social has been branded as ‘anti-Semitic’ for posting about the incident.
Before the death toll had risen to 15, pro-Jeremy Corbyn disability activist, Nadeem Ahmed had initially tweeted about the incident, saying:
“Israel just killed 10 young Palestinian protesters. The Israeli Government have committed many war crimes and mass murder of innocent Palestinians. When will our world leaders speak out and put an end to this horrific crime.“
However, Ahmed’s criticism of the Israeli government – who have been accused of committing numerous counts of war crimes by the United Nations during the withering aerial bombardment of Gaza in 2014 – was labelled as anti-Semitic by another social media user.
Tax Attorney, and prominent Israel-supporter Chaim Gordon, quote tweeted Ahmed branding him a ‘Corbyn supporting anti-semite’ for his statement denouncing Israeli’s extra-judicial killing of 15 Palestinian protestors earlier today.
Ahmed replied, asking Gordon “How is criticising Israeli gov ant Semitism“, with Gordon responding alleging that ‘these protesters are being sent by Hamas. You know that.‘ and ‘also, you support Corbyn.’
However, many Twitter users were quick to defend Ahmed’s stances, with one telling Gordon “You do the campaign against bigotry no favours labelling someone anti-semitic simply for supporting Jeremy Corbyn.“, whilst another said “Your hollow cries of antisemitism belittle those who have actually suffered and died at the hands of antisemites. Shame on you Chaim.“
Gordon’s labelling of Ahmed as an anti-Semite comes amid a sustained assault on Jeremy Corbyn by the British mainstream media, who have accused the Labour leader of not doing enough to stamp out anti-Semitism within the party.
However, research by YouGov shows that anti-Semitic views by Labour voters has actually declined dramatically since Corbyn became leader, with the data also showing that Conservative and right-wing voters appear to hold significantly higher proportions of anti-Semitic views that their left-wing counterparts.
But now with Gordon’s branding of the prominent Corbyn supporter Ahmed as anti-Semitic, coupled with data that clearly shows anti-Semitism is a far bigger problem amongst right wing parties (who are generally supportive of Israel over Palestine) – suspicions that supporters of Israel may be using such tactics in order to silence legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s deadly actions could well be further fueled.
