How the Israel Lobby Tried to Tank Jeremy Corbyn: In-Depth Analysis w/ Asa Winstanley
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2023
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A massive, years-long smear campaign was launched against anti-war, anti-elite Jeremy Corbyn shortly after his election to lead the British Labour Party. The campaign targeted Corbyn and his supporters as being anti-Semitic. What's the truth and what really happened?
Walter Smolarek is joined by investigative journalist Asa Winstanley, who writes for the Electronic Intifada and on Substack at asawinstanley.substack.com. He’s also the author of the new book “Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How The Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn,” which you can buy from OR Books.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Jeremy Corbyn's election to lead the Labour Party of the UK in 2015 sent shockwaves through world politics. |
| 0:09.4 | A lifelong socialist and opponent of war and empire, Corbyn was unacceptable to political elites not only on the right wing, but within the Labour Party itself. |
| 0:20.3 | Shortly after he became leader, a massive, |
| 0:23.6 | years-long smear campaign was launched to convince the public that Corbyn and his supporters were |
| 0:29.1 | anti-Semitic. |
| 0:30.6 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have |
| 0:36.6 | sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, |
| 0:39.8 | but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. Welcome to the Socialist Program. I'm Walter Smallerick, sitting in for Brian Becker, who's traveling. |
| 1:20.7 | If you enjoy or rely on this show or both, please show your support by subscribing to our show on patreon.com slash the socialist program. |
| 1:28.6 | Today we're talking with investigative journalist Aesda Winstanly, who writes for the electronic intifada and on Substack at Asa Winstanly.substack.com. He is the author of the new book, Weaponizing Antisemitism, |
| 1:36.0 | How the Israel Lobby, brought down Jeremy Corbyn, which you can buy from ORBooks at |
| 1:42.8 | ORBooks.com. Well, Asa, glad to have you on the show. |
| 1:48.6 | The book that you wrote reviewed this very, you know, harrowing period in British politics |
| 1:55.5 | that began with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the Labor Party, one of the two principal |
| 2:02.5 | parties in the UK. If you would, just help our listeners understand what a huge political |
| 2:08.9 | earthquake this was. I mean, why was this such a huge shock to the political establishment? |
| 2:14.5 | Yeah, great to be with you, Walter. Yeah, I mean, I think for US audiences, a comparable |
| 2:20.2 | change would be, let's say, Bernie Sanders becoming the leader of the Democratic Party. I mean, |
| 2:29.3 | I suppose there's differences and there's similarities, right? Because in the UK, we have a, obviously, we have a parliamentary system and the political parties work differently. And the Labour Party is a parliamentary party and it has a formal leader who, you know, has a certain role within the party rather than just a generalised leadership role. |
| 2:52.3 | And obviously we don't have a president. |
| 2:54.6 | We don't have an elected head of leadership. |
| 2:56.8 | But yeah, I mean, it would be akin to something like, you know, perhaps be more like Mike Graval |
... |
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