I unashamedly class myself as a liberal. Like vast swathes of liberals I marched against Labour’s Iraq war and have given the party little but criticism since. You were a Labour member and activist long after that, one who campaigned door to door IIRC, so I really don’t need any lectures here!
I don’t need any lectures about how to run a discussion forum either given how the left’s attack dogs behaved online! Not as bad as the political right admittedly, but still many levels below what I would tolerate. Contrast my response to frothing racist Israel/Palestine arguments compared to Labour’s. Absolutely zero tolerance here, a highly embarrassing public enquiry finding much at fault there.
No need to take it personally. The debate on here is better than it is on lots of forums, but it's still not great. Contributions from intelligent folk like matthewr, PsB, seanm, etc. keep me here. Also, for what it's worth, I think you are pretty consistent in your defence of liberal values. I
would criticise some of what you say from a socialist perspective, but that's a different story.
As for Israel/Palestine, you're behind the times. Israel's actions, both within its own boundaries, and in the occupied territories, have been judged to amount to a form of apartheid by:
Palestinian human rights organisations (unsurprising)
Israel's leading human rights organisation
Amnesty International (after an investigation of several years)
A UN special rapporteur
The tide is turning and you are on the wrong side of history.
The EHRC report is too complicated to go into here. Suffice to say that its findings are more consistent with the leaked report that was buried by the media, than with the established narrative. But this is too complex and grave an issue for cheap political point scoring.
EDIT: This is too good an opportunity not to share the following article:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/art...ur-fighting-anti-semitism-or-faction-fighting
It's really good, I think. Although it is published in The Morning Star (so its politics are never really in doubt) it does a good job of giving all parties in the dispute a voice (a much better job than The Jewish Chronicle article it cites, which is nakedly factional - and, frankly, disgustingly cynical. I often think it's impossible to discuss the recent history of accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party sensibly, because to do so would require unpacking years' of distorted news coverage. This article makes a good start by focusing on a small incident (in the grand scheme of things) and on the
human beings involved in what has become a highly charged debate. The article is also good on the problems inherent in the IHRA definition (see above for a list of huan rights organisations that could be labelled anti-Semitic, if the letter of the IHRA definition were followed). More than anything, the article displays nuance that was sadly lacking in mainstream media coverage.