Once again, Diane Abbott has given us a glimpse into Labour's dark soul
Even under Starmerite rule, however, she's still clinging to that red bonnet, keffiyeh fluttering. Thank God for that. From wearing two left shoes on the campaign trail to brain-freezing spectacularly in interviews, Abbott has long provided the nation with a great deal of mirth (tempered, it should be added, with much compassion for her medical complaints).
But her value is greater than that. When the veteran socialist took to X this week to lambast the hated Israel Defence Forces based on highly dubious reports that it had apparently opened fire on civilians for the fun of it – how else do Jews spend their time, amirite? – she did the nation a service by showing us Labour's true colours.
'Beyond horrific that the Jewish Defence Force is gunning down Palestinians as they queue for food #Gaza Genocide,' she wrote. The Jewish Defence Force? Oops!
When it comes to slips of the mask, the Hackney MP does it more ham-fistedly and more frequently than anybody else. If she was half as slick as her colleagues, she'd be selling us snake-oil with the best of them. Instead, she can't help but show us what's in the bottle. (Though she has since deleted her tweet).
Think, for example, of when she wrote to the Observer a few months before October 7 to assert that Jews were unable to suffer racism, only 'prejudice, like redheads'. (She later apologised for and retracted her comments).
Now, I don't know if any kibbutzim of gingers exist anywhere in the world, but if they did, I'd be fairly certain they'd be safe from the marauding butchery of Hamas.
After being suspended from the party, she vehemently denied a report that she refused to go on an anti-Semitism awareness course to have the ban lifted. In any event, it would have been fatuous to sit through a lecture on the topic and be awarded a clean bill of health when your passions run that deep.
Yes, the best kind of bigot is one who lacks self-awareness. When the whip was finally restored to the member for Hackney North, there was no mistaking the hollowness of her leader's pledges of zero tolerance on the subject of anti-Semitism. And now we have her tweet this week.
The fundamental truth is that like Leftist movements all over the world, Labour has a problem with Jews. The moderates do their best, equivocating, browbeating, overthinking and smarming, but when the chips are down they can't restrain their instinctive repulsion for Israel.
Did anybody believe that Keir Starmer, who campaigned hard to put Corbyn in Number Ten, would have any scruples whatsoever when it came to selling Britain's Jews down the river?
Sadly, many people did. Great numbers of Jewish voters of the Left who had abandoned their natural home during the Corbyn years were only too willing to give Sir Keir the benefit of the doubt.
I know. I couldn't work it out, either, at the time. One year on and where do we find ourselves? With a Government that singles out Israel for repeated condemnation while downplaying the depravity of Hamas and failing even to stand firm against the Islamic Republic of Iran, whether overseas or on our own shores.
Which brings me back to Abbott. Here she is on Iran: 'Trump knows that Iran is not close to building a bomb. But he is directing the attacks on Iran anyway… Netanyahu is aiming for regime destruction.' She also argued a military campaign would be 'catastrophic'.
Here she is on banning Palestine Action: 'It really is wrong… What Israel is doing is terrorism. What Palestine Action is doing is protesting it.' In fact, she would rather proscribe Israeli politicians than the thugs who sabotaged an RAF aircraft. 'The entire Israeli government should be sanctioned,' she ranted.
It doesn't end there. Here, for good measure, are Abbott's thoughts on the child rape gangs: 'There is a lot of nonsense and deliberate misinformation about child sexual grooming. Some media only 'care' about certain predators, some politicians talk as if they are the only perpetrators.'
Abbott is the gift that keeps giving. She is the true, unfiltered voice of the Left who insists on saying the quiet part out loud. From Starmer's point of view, he should have dumped her ages ago. For the country, however, the longer she remains pinned to the lorry the better.
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