An open letter to Hilary Benn MP
JVL Introduction
Hilary Benn MP, as former Shadow Foreign Secretary, said things to Labour Friends of Israel one hopes he is now discomfited by. He has been chosen as the recipient of Jacob Ecclestone’s letter.
Hilary’s father, Tony Benn, a brilliant and principled fighter for socialist ideas for so long, was also a doting father and family man. One suspects that inwardly he would have wished his son to have followed his radical politics, not just his parliamentary journey, a little more closely.
Whatever, Jacob Ecclestone’s letter surely speaks to the large numbers of Labour Friends of Israel supporters in the Party today.
Does your MP support LFI? If so, make sure s/he receives a copy of this letter.
The author was a member of South Norfolk Labour Party until his resignation in February this year after absurd accusations of “antisemitism”. He was a journalist on The Times between 1962-80. “Father” of the NUJ chapel between 1975-80, he left the paper a few weeks after Murdoch took control. Also Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists from 1980-1997.
Jacob Ecclestone writes:
Hilary Benn, MP
House of Commons
Palace of Westminster
London SW1A 0AA
11 November 2022
Dear Mr Benn,
I am writing to you in your capacity as a prominent member of Labour Friends of Israel.
In the aftermath of the recent general election in Israel, the editor-in-chief of Haaretz issued the following warning:
“All signs indicate that Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are plotting to turn Israel into an authoritarian state in which one can only dream of criticising or replacing the government.
The legal groundwork for turning Israel’s regime into one that persecutes its critics has been here for a long time. All that is needed is a government that will aim these laws inward while embarking on a journey of silencing and oppression. Such a government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, is at the gate.”
I think you would agree that, coming from a newspaper of international repute, it would be foolish to dismiss such a warning as hyperbole. Indeed, the alarm sounded by Haaretz has been echoed by the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, who is on record as saying that “the whole world is worried” by the prospect of Ben-Gvir being invited to join Netanyahu’s administration. The fact that President Herzog was unaware his remarks were caught by a microphone serves to give his views even greater weight.
There have been other prophetic voices in the past – most famously in 1948 when Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and an array of distinguished Jewish scholars wrote to the New York Times to protest against the visit to the United States of Manechem Begin. They described Begin’s Freedom Party as a:
“disturbing political phenomena ….. a political party closely akin in its organisation, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.”
[The letter continued: ]“The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.”
Why is this sombre warning relevant to the situation in Israel today?
Because there is a clear and direct line from the Einstein/Arendt letter to the formation of a new government in Israel today. Begin’s Freedom Party grew out of the Irgun, a terrorist gang, and later morphed into the Likud. In 1977 Likud replaced Labour as the government of Israel and Begin became prime minister. The leader of Likud today is Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking in 2012, Netanyahu described Begin was “a great role model for me….. Israel and the Likud are inspired by the spirit of Menachem Begin.”
When Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and their Otzma Yehudit party are described as fascist or neo-fascist, perhaps it is because they espouse and propound fascist political values. At least, the editor of Haaretz and the President of Israel seem to take that view.
That is why I am concerned – perhaps appalled would be more honest – that more than a quarter of all Labour MPs at Westminster continue to support the activities of Labour Friends of Israel.
The stated purpose of LFI is to “promote the State of Israel.” That means you and 60 or so of your fellow Labour MPs are willing – with no apparent twinges of conscience – to promote the interests of a state which Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and our own Trades Union Congress have described in clinical detail as enforcing a system of apartheid. Do you ever ask yourself whether it is logically possible (much less politically principled) to reconcile your claims to seek social justice, racial equality and freedom of expression for the people of Britain, when the state to which you and other Labour MPs give such uncritical support is the embodiment of racial supremacy and social injustice.
Back in 2006 your father declared:
“There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians have a state under internationally recognised boundaries and Israel will have to withdraw, but they haven’t the slightest intention of withdrawing and the US are supporting them.”
Those sentiments stand in sharp contrast to your speech at a LFI event in 2016 when you praised Israel for its “progressive spirit, vibrant democracy, strong welfare state, thriving free press and independent judiciary.” Can you still square those words with the fact that the Labour Party of Israel – which formed the government of Israel between 1948 and 1977 – is now so shrivelled that it is the smallest political party in the Knesset, having won only 3.69 per cent of the vote in the recent general election?
Do you still believe in the boast about a “thriving free press” when, six months after the deliberate murder of the Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, the army sniper responsible has not even been arrested, much less arraigned before the “independent judiciary”?
Year by year, the failure of Labour MPs to speak out on such issues has corroded public trust in what the party claims to stand for in Britain. Now, with the almost certain inclusion of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich as ministers in the government of Israel, the continued existence of Labour Friends of Israel becomes a stain on the reputation of its parliamentary members and the Labour Party as a whole.
It seems to me that you and other Labour MPs have a choice. Either you declare publicly that you are no longer willing to support the activities of LFI and you condemn the racist policies of the Israeli government or you stand accused of the most foul hypocrisy: that you deny the people of Palestine the policies and political principles of racial justice which you claim to espouse in Britain.
I think you should read and ponder on the meaning of this short extract from the political platform of Ben-Gvir’s party, Otzma Yehudit
“To wage war on the enemy is not racism; there is no freedom of speech to incite against the State and IDF soldiers; settling the Land of Israel is not occupation; we will not allow our State to be destroyed in the name of democracy. “
……. and then ask yourself whether the editor of Haaretz may be right when he issues such a grim warning about the future of Israel?
Yours sincerely,
Jacob Ecclestone
cc Jewish Voice for Labour
How any fair-minded person can, publicly, commit themselves to a state based on the theft of land (legitimised, seemingly, by Balfour in 1917), of culture, and of fundamental human rights simply defeats me. That the Labour Party can tolerate such an invasive entity as LFoI to operate openly not just in its membership, but in its leadership too, tells me that this is NOT a party which I can support. We need a new party NOW.
This is an excellent letter from someone who is a committed and tireless fighter for freedom for the Palestinians.
Perhaps Jacob could have said that a state that raises ethnicity and racial kinship and blood lines to the supreme value is destined to go the way of the State of Israel.
Even before its foundations Israel was destined to turn into what it is becoming today. In response to a question about the fears of the Arabs that they would be turned into a minority Einstein answered, in his testimony before the Anglo-American committee of inquiry on Palestine on Jan 11 1946:
before going on to say of a Jewish state that:
and in his book Out of My Later Years he wrote:
What we are seeing today is the fulfillment of Einstein’s predictions
If it were possible Tony Benn must now be turning in his grave at the political behaviour of his son. As for the Labour Party’s right-wing supporters of the LFI? Their silence at Netanyahu’s fascist bed fellows is deafening. As well as them doing the Tory gutter press’s dirty work in the smearing of Jeremy Corbyn prior to, and since, the 2019 general election, these elements keep their traps shut on the Israeli election results & events which have brought open Israeli fascists into the political bed-chamber with Netanyahu’s Likud Party.
What a bunch of political scoundrels who are welcome to each other and providing more political clarity as to exactly who are the enemies of socialism, as if any more proof were needed.
Brilliant letter. Shame on LFI.
Excellent!
So there you have it, if it was good enough for Einstein and Arendt to call them Nazi’s
Jacob: it’s good to see you are continuing your battle for justice for the Palestinians.
The Labour party as it is now being driven is a sad corruption of its original reason for existence. I marvel at the ease in which former members of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet have morphed into his detractors. No suggestion of course that personal ambitions for advancement have any bearing on the switcheroo. Great letter. Best wishes.
I have been given a 29 day ban off Facebook for my criticism of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians. This is not the first…and won’t be the last, no doubt….Mention Israel on Facebook, and all their red flags pop up? Why?
I don’t blame Jacob for using the latest Israel election result to attack LFI, but the approach is badly flawed. If there were another election where LFI’s ‘sister parties’ (which are self-proclaimed Zionist organisations) did better, would that mean it was OK to support Israel again? After 74 years of ethnic cleansing, land and property theft and oppression, the worst of which happened under Labour-led governments, this election is of some concern to liberal Jews (though most will cope), but is more of the same for Palestinians.
And if you want to communicate its nature to English speakers, why not call Otzma Yehudit by its official English name, Jewish Power?
It would be interesting to read Hilary Benns reply to Jacob Ecclestones excellent letter.
Tony Benn and Eric Heffer were originally very pro-Israel. I think that they were both members of LFI and only resigned when Israel invaded the Lebanon in 1982.
As for ‘Bomber’ Benn, this is what he said during the 2016 leadership election:
“I will give my full support to whoever is elected if someone other than Jeremy (Corbyn) is chosen by the members in September.”
Hilary Benn, 19 July 2016, The Today Programme.
Excellent letter reminding us all that Hilary Benn is nothing like his father, certainly no socialist.
An outstanding statement from Jacob Ecclestone, and some superb responses below the line. It is clear that Einstein especially would have been done for antisemitism in Starmer’s Labour Party. As in many other places, the idea of forming another party rears its head. The problem is first of all that our electoral system would ensure that it strengthened the Tories. Second, what First Past the Post didn’t do the pattern of media ownership, together with the Starmer-supporting Guardian and Observer (at it again), and the BBC with its hand-picked board, would finish the job. Surely we need to take a step back to look at this strategically. We know that the popular vote for Labour in 2017 and 2019 was enormous in its historical context, in the teeth of overwhelming character assassination. I think if we learn the lessons and channel the skills of campaigning under the radar, together with direct assault on the lies of the media from the corner shop to the neighbourhood to the constituency to the national level, we can give the political establishment a nasty shock if effort is targeted to sensitive points. Our disadvantage, that the progressive political wing, which is very large, is in pieces, needs to be turned into a strength. The unattached 150,000 who have left the Labour Party should be joined with the many people of goodwill in the Greens, Plaid, SNP and the many others who share our values but cannot sign up to a rotten process: they need to find common cause outside our toxic party politics. Now is not the time to work from behind imaginary barriers. It’s not the labels but the thing itself. Using established but neglected skills of community empowerment and campaigning, with the impressive but fragmentary resource of alternative media, of which JVL is a small but important part, there is space for a Campaign for Honest News. The material is brilliant already, but rolling news is disposable news. I am working on a unifying and energising vision in a paper called ‘Democracy Made with Honest News’. Almost there, but poor health has slowed progress. Compass have the right idea with its cross-party appeal to support electoral reform in a way that puts reactionaries on the back foot – but it is not nearly enough. In a word, grab the megaphone and remove the earworm. In a dozen carefully selected constituencies, a movement could scare the hell out of them, including Starmer’s (and of course some Tory ones).
Will you send us Benn’s reply when and if he bothers to reply.
Hillary Benn is a right wing, careerist opportunist who is morally weak. We all saw when he turned on Jeremy Corbyn. Sickening.
Paul Seligman is right, of course, about the behaviour of Labour governments in Israel. But my central purpose in writing an open letter to Hilary Benn is to draw attention to the fact that those Labour MPs at Westminster who are members of Labour Friends of Israel are lending their name to Israeli government policies which can reasonably be described as fascist. If Labour MPs can support fascist policies when implemented in Israel they are betraying what they were elected to do in this country.
A clever and interesting open letter to Hilary Benn.
Hilary Benn, by supporting Israel, is supporting an Apartheid State, one that is committing International Crimes against the Palestinians, bulldozing their Farms, Villages in the West Bank and building Israeli Settlements in an ongoing invasion, beating or even killing any Palestinians that try to resist. They’ve created the Worlds largest Concentration Camp in Gaza, bomb it at regular intervals with HiTec missiles, killing innocent men, women and children, they also turn off the water and electricity at strategic times of the day to make life more miserable for the Palestinians. Anyone supporting this is as bad as the perpetrator and should be called out for it.
Thank you Jacob Ecclestone
We should share this far and wide, because the MSM, including the BBC, which never reports any of these incidents, yet has the Ukrainian war on the News every day.
It’s a knock-out brilliant letter, except that, really, sons should not be expected to live up to their fathers when it comes to their politics! There are many socialists, anti-imperialists, feminists etc who hold their views in spite of their parents. Unless we treat progressive ideas as some sort of holy writ, which adhered to by one generation must be equally observed by the next, we must allow the children of those on the left to depart from their parents’ political positions. Hilary Benn’s continued membership of LFI is a disgrace in itself. I would be astonished if he replied to Jake Ecclestone – but I am superstitious enough to keep my fingers crossed that he does!!!