Steve:

Well, robomatic, he did not attend that ceremony. That ceremony was taking place close to where he was attending something different. Don't believe everything you read, especially when it comes from the pen of an inveterate Corbyn-basher with ulterior motives. I looked at that mural with the bankers before any of this controversy arose, and I got the message, but I didn't think "Jew." My mindset does not accommodate and never has accommodated the concepts of Jews having hooked noses or the concept of Jewish bankers ruling the world or treading all over the working classes. So when I saw the mural I didn't think "Jew." I don't walk round Prestwich and Salford, with their thousands of Jews, and look at people in the street and think "Jew." I think there's something wrong with people who do that. The artist who made that mural had no antisemitic intent. I think if you look at that and see things that it isn't intended to convey then you are simply looking for trouble. In fact, it makes you a damn sight more antisemitic than the person you're accusing. It's you who's walking around with those stereotypes embedded in your brain and you'd better ask yourself why you're harbouring them. Not you personally. It's a bit stiff sometimes to keep typing "one" instead of "you."

Steve: I did look at the mural in an earlier thread and made comments at the time. Here and now I was merely linking to an article where someone expressed his feelings over a running sum of Corbyn's actions and sayings. As I've writ earlier I am no UK political person. I am reading up on your politics which of course are substantially different from the US, I get the impression that the UK is a hotbed of radicals and reactionaries who fight like cats and dogs yet can close ranks behind rows of beefeaters during an Imperial ceremony and give the world an impression of centuries long stability. The truth is more like you all ARE a hotbed of cats and dogs but your're stuck there on an island with each other and no one has successfully invaded and taken on that mess for almost a thousand years.

As for Corbyn's remarks about Hamas, he has long since expressed, very publicly, his regret for using the words he used. You either accept that or you don't. If you don't, I can't help you. One thing's for sure. Hamas and Hezbollah exist only because of the plight of the Palestinians. There are rotten people in the ranks of both, they frequently carry out wrong-headed actions but there's hardly anyone else speaking up for the Palestinians. That could be our fault for permitting Israel to carry out atrocities with impunity far worse than anything Hamas does, refusing to engage with those speaking up for the Palestinians. The "terrorists" in the IRA of The Troubles are now in government. We had to sit down with them in the end and so a lot of lip-biting. Bit of a learning curve, is history.

It's a LOT of history. There has always been someone speaking up for the Palestinians, sometimes some of them have been Israelis. Taking refuge in extremists (tempered by corruption) was a poor choice, in my opinion. Over the long view the Palestinians and those who spoke for them have not opted for compromise. They didn't accept the UN partition plan in 1948 and they somehow threw over a serious proposal in '98. They plain do not accept the existence of Israel. And it's not all on one side. There was real hope before Rabin was assassinated by a radical fundamentalist Jew. But on the whole, the Israelis have gotten on with things and the Palestinians have simply seethed which is their tragedy. As Abba Eban has said "They do not miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." Mr. Corbyn needs to make that distinction, not merely perceive Israel's successes as those of oppression. Well before the Six Day War Israel was multi-ethnic, diverse and democratic. And the Palestinians were yet seething, and that was PRIOR to Hamas and Hezbollah. And the PLO and the PFLP were hijacking airliners and boats and killing civilians for being JEWISH.