Staffers in Westminster have been questioning why their offices have been contacted by the bizarrely named ‘Tactics Institute for Security and Counter Terrorism’. And what expertise its director (and only employee), Tom Charles, has in counter-terrorism…
The group was first registered in February and has since been producing pro-Iran, anti-sanctions content, including a letter to trusty Foreign Office minister Mark Field defending the Iranian regime and urging the UK not to impose sanctions. Charles has also written in support of the Maduro regime on his personal blog. Not an auspicious start…
It turns out Charles might have more expertise in terrorism than first thought. In 2011, while ‘Press and Parliamentary Officer’ for the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) – banned by Israel because of its links to Hamas – Charles took a group of politicians including Jeremy Corbyn to Lebanon to meet the terror group. Corbyn clearly enjoyed the experience enough to accept the CEPR’s subsequent invitation in 2014 to the notorious wreath-laying ceremony…
On his LinkedIn page, Charles also describes his past work on the “dissemination of its key messages in the mainstream of the Labour party” for the Labour Friends of Palestine group. What sort of “key messages” has Charles been disseminating?
Charles’ extensive commentary on Middle East issues includes “Hamas’ image problem”, where Charles bemoanes how they are “already widely seen as a “terrorist” [sic] group in the West” but suggests their new English language website will help Hamas to “improve and modernise its image”. His other insightful articles include “Will 2016 bring respite for Hamas and Gaza?” and “Hamas-Hizballah ‘association’ can’t stop Corbyn surge”. Given the current state of the Labour Party, Charles has clearly been remarkably successful in getting his ideas into the Labour mainstream…
Just hours after Labour chose to impose only a one-line whip on the vote on banning Hezbollah, meaning that Labour MPs – including Corbyn – are under no obligation to vote for the ban, a Labour spokesman has gone further and directly challenged Sajid Javid’s decision to ban it:
“The Home Secretary must therefore now demonstrate that this decision was taken in an objective and impartial way, and driven by clear and new evidence, not by his leadership ambitions.”
Hezbollah is already banned in its entirety – including the political wing – by numerous states and organisations from the United States to the Arab League. Even apart from their direct terrorist and military activities, Hezbollah are prolific spreaders of Holocaust denial and egregious anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and their ultimate goal remains the destruction of Israel. Hezbollah itself has mocked the supposed distinction between its military and political wings that its apologists like to promote in the West…
Corbyn once again shows why he is completely unsuitable to be Leader of the Opposition, let alone Prime Minister. Labour MPs who talked themselves into not quitting the party yet because of his second referendum pledge must be having serious second thoughts already…
We welcome the Home Office’s decision to proscribe Hezbollah in the UK but the international community must take unified steps to ban Hezbollah in its entirety.
Watch TBI’s @AzminaSiddique set out why action is needed now ↓ pic.twitter.com/nDlIvHyPnF
— Tony Blair Institute (@InstituteGC) February 25, 2019
The official Labour Party position was that Corbyn’s friends should not be banned, on the basis of a specious argument that the political wing is not connected to the military wing. Tony Blair’s Institute has been lobbying hard for a UK ban on the Iranian-backed terrorists Hezbollah. Entirely coincidentally the former Tony Blair got paid $12 million by Iran’s bitter rivals and his own client, the Saudi regime. Fancy that…
The JC has a story this morning that Labour has asked its MPs to oppose a motion calling for the political wing of Hezbollah to be banned in Britain. Guido has got hold of the PLP briefing document in full – in it Labour MPs are told “there is a balance” to be struck and that “Full proscription could be a move against dialogue and meaningful peace negotiations in Middle East”. The document, produced by Diane Abbott’s Shadow Home Affairs team, tells Labour MPs to lobby ministers against proscribing the terror group, even giving them suggested questions to ask in the Commons:
“Does the Minister agree with a balanced approach: that we condemn pursuing political ends by violent means in the current proscription of the military wing of Hizballah but acknowledge the difficulties for a lasting settlement in the Middle East if the political wing was proscribed?”
With “friends” like these…
UPDATE: Jennifer Gerber, Labour Friends of Israel Director, tells Guido:
“It is sadly unsurprising that the Labour frontbench would issue a statement on Hezbollah which fails to support banning the terror group in its entirety, and which makes no reference to its virulent antisemitism, its desire to annihilate Israel and its appalling role in propping up Assad’s murderous regime in Syria. It is, moreover, utterly delusional to think that, having wreaked death and destruction throughout the region, Hezbollah can play any role in promoting peace. We would urge Labour’s leadership to listen to this afternoon’s debate and reconsider its position.”
At a meeting of the Labour Party’s Queens Park branch last night a member argued that supporters of Hezbollah should be allowed to remain in the party. An astonishing account of the meeting was tweeted by a Labour member who took part in the discussion:
Following a discussion about expelling members who supported other political organisations I gave an example about wanting to be able…
— Harris (@talktoharris1) November 2, 2017
“I don’t think a member of Hezbollah should be expelled from the party”
But they’re a terrorist organisation.
— Harris (@talktoharris1) November 2, 2017
I explained how they blew up a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aries (which last time I checked isn’t in Israel) killing 85 people…
— Harris (@talktoharris1) November 2, 2017
As Camden Tory council candidate Henry Newman puts it:
“Last night Hampstead and Kilburn Conservatives were proud to mark a century since the Balfour Declaration. It’s frankly terrifying that Labour activists could be asked to justify why murderous terrorists such as Hezbollah should have no place in the Labour Party. Or that condemning terrorists could be seen as sowing division within Labour? When will the Labour Party get a grip on antisemitism?”
What is going on in Labour at the moment?
The annual Al Quds day rally took place in central London yesterday afternoon. The Khomeinist march – in support of the destruction of the State of Israel – openly supports Hezbollah, whose military wing is a proscribed organisation in the UK. Jeremy Corbyn was photographed in front of a Hezbollah flag when he spoke at the march in 2012. This year he sensibly chose not to attend…
As the march snaked to the US Embassy in Grovsenor Square, anti-Israel chants rang out under dozens of yellow AK-47 emblazoned Hezbollah flags. Addressing the rally, Mick Napier from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign accused “Zionists” of trying to depose Corbyn:
“This is a dramatic moment… Jeremy Corbyn has stood by the Palestinian people for 30 years, the Zionists hate him, they tried to get him prevented from becoming leader, they’re trying to get him removed.”
Meanwhile a speaker from Stop the War suggested Labour Friends of Israel are also trying to undermine Jez. “Zionists” were blamed for the Grenfell tower fire by a speaker at the rally, underlining the level of blatant lunacy displayed at the event. This is a terror-linked rally that lavished praise on Jeremy Corbyn and which he formerly backed…
