The left excusing the barbarity of Hamas is no surprise
THE LAST FEW DAYS have had me thinking back twelve years to when I was President of Stirling University Jewish Students Association. Back then I recall fearing a rising moral relativism and Israelophobia risked twisting anti-Zionism on parts of the left into outright antisemitism. Yet I could not have ever imagined by 2023 we would witness the sight of elected Scottish politicians – consumed by an illiberal faux-progressive identity politics – blaming Jews for their own slaughter.
It is an urgent responsibility to understand what has been said, and dig deeper in order to deconstruct this dangerous new illiberalism on parts of Scotland’s political left. Scots must stop walking on eggshells and compel the sensible left to confront the elephant in the room: there is a dangerous illiberal faux-progressive identity politics presenting itself as a ‘new leftism’.
In what follows I will sum up the recent incidents which triggered my desire to write this and then explain the origins of the illiberal faux-progressive identity politics tragically consuming the political left, where this antisemitism comes from and why – to the far-left – Jewish people are never the victimised, only the victimiser.
Spontaneous sincerity
Spontaneous sincerity can be tremendously revealing. We have all witnessed that moment when contrived premeditation falls away in our everyday lives. For most, usually when imbibing our favoured brew at the pub and that one bloke intoxicated beyond the safe limits of good judgement and health opts to ‘tell it like it is’. Impacted by alcohol, the sudden impulse – unrestrained by fear of embarrassment – gives us a window into honest thoughts. Spontaneous sincerity in politics is often rarer, perhaps only caught when the live microphone catches the politician out saying what he really thinks (as Gordon Brown once discovered) or when Nicola Sturgeon could not control herself at the defeat of Jo Swinson. But in these rare moments the absence of pretence or the contrived is often extremely revealing.
The Scottish Greens in recent days have experienced this phenomenon following the brutal terrorist assault on mostly Jewish people in Israel. As news flowed out, most reacted with justified spontaneous horror and disgust at the criminality of Hamas. Thankfully the condemnation of Hamas as the terrorists they are was swift from most corners of the political sphere. Yet, amid that heady maelstrom of emotions as the scale of the savagery filtered out, we witnessed spontaneous sincerity of a darker more malevolent form. Scottish Green politicians, unrestrained by fear of embarrassment and acting on impulse, provided an illuminating window into how they really think.
It provides a window into this ‘new leftism’ of moral relativism, illiberalism and faux-progressivism which needs to be condemned.
On the day when the largest single massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust filtered across our newsfeeds, Ross Greer MSP tweeted “Palestinians have a clear right under international law to defend themselves, including by attacking their occupiers”
His post on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, was not a product of careful consideration by a politician. It was spontaneous sincerity. To Mr Greer, Hamas consists of freedom fighters rather than terrorists. Nobody ought to be surprised at this position a Green would impulsively take; after all since 2015 the Scottish Greens refuse to recognise Hamas as a proscribed terrorist organisation.
Worse followed as Maggie Chapman – risibly a member of Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee – also shared her thoughts.
As scenes played out of Jewish women being kidnapped, blood covering their bodies due to rape and hundreds of youngsters at a peace concert were slaughtered en-masse, Ms Chapman blamed the victims.
Maggie Chapman also surreptitiously helped prevent Holyrood from displaying the Israeli flag in solidarity with the victims of Hamas terror. Andy Maciver, founder/director of Holyrood Sources and contributor to The Herald, said in response to this, “I just feel quite a lot of shame.”
Scotland’s Jewish community has learned an invaluable lesson in the last seven days. Our country has raised the flag for Ukraine, even in the past for Palestine, but not Israel. Scotland is presented as showing support for victims of terrorism – but with an asterisk. It does not apply if you’re an Israeli, or Jewish.
Thankfully what followed as rounded criticism from across the political sphere. Such was the opprobrium and outrage at these displays of how the Scottish Greens really think, the inevitable calculated backpaddling soon occurred and days later the Scottish Greens backtracked telling us they “condemn Hamas without hesitation”. Days after the Hamas slaughter of more than 1,200 Jewish men, women and children occurred Chapman tweeted out a ‘clarification’. She insists he “condemns” Hamas “wholeheartedly”.
Too little. Too late.
Ms Chapman’s problem is that she and the Scottish Greens didn’t and don’t condemn Hamas. Thanks to the phenomenon of spontaneous sincerity, we now know they don’t “condemn Hamas without hesitation”.
Since 2015 they have insisted, they aren’t terrorists. On the day when 1,200 people (and counting) were murdered, Greer and Chapman told us what they really thought, “Palestinians have a clear right under international law to defend themselves, including by attacking their occupiers” and “Viva Palestine”.
There is no placing this genie back in the bottle later, like the drunk propping up the bar suddenly waking up the next morning and decrying what they said. No amount of clarifying can make us forget. The fear of social opprobrium didn’t stop them victim blaming in real time, that was their moment of spontaneous sincerity when the mask of ‘cuddly party’ slipped.
And you will notice, there is not one hint of the word ‘sorry’ in any of the Scottish Green statements. Not even a ‘sorry not sorry’ political apology that us jaded writers of politics have come to anticipate. This is because their initial reactions on the 7th and 8th of October were spontaneous and sincere.
That really is what they thought and felt.
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Photos through public domain and Wiki Commons via the Green Party
