Regular readers of this blog will have noticed my absence for the last few weeks. I wasn\u2019t able to blog because I have been travelling on assignment for this magazine. My Dispatch will appear in the next edition of Standpoint.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m currently lining up a few blogs for later but this piece<\/a> on Harry\u2019s Place just caught my attention and needed uploading immediately. It is an excellent \u2013 and, in places, hilarious \u2013 deconstruction of MPAC\u2019s triumphalist claims about their influence during the recent general election.<\/p>\n From Harry\u2019s Place:<\/p>\n The Muslim Public Affairs Committee campaigned against seven sitting MPs in the General Election, on the grounds that they were variously \u201cZio-Nazis\u201d, \u201cpro-war Zionists\u201d or just all-round Islamophobes. Three of these MPs lost their seats, much to the delight of MPAC, who naturally (but not very convincingly) claimed the credit.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look a little closer at MPAC\u2019s successes for anti-Zionism.<\/p>\n In Watford, they campaigned against the Labour MP Claire Ward<\/a>, who was beaten by Tory Richard Harrington\u2026better known as the most recent Chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Hendon, they campaigned against Labour\u2019s Andrew Dismore, who was beaten by the Conservative\u2019s Matthew Offord. Dismore was definitely pro-Israel, but guess what? So is Offord. Perhaps even more so.<\/p>\n MPAC\u2019s other \u2018success\u2019 was in Bradford East, where Labour\u2019s Terry Rooney<\/a> lost his seat. Rooney is not only virtually unknown in the world of pro-Israel activism, he even signed the Palestine Solidarity Campaign\u2019s election pledge<\/a>, endorsing an arms embargo and economic sanctions against Israel.<\/p>\n Way to go, MPAC!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You couldn\u2019t make it up.<\/p>\n Incidentally, it seems that MPAC is being reported to the equalities and human rights commission \u2013 and not a moment too soon. <\/p>\n <\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Regular readers of this blog will have noticed my absence for the last few weeks. I wasn’t able to blog because I have been travelling on assignment for this magazine. My Dispatch will appear in the next edition of Standpoint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ondrocks2000.com\/standpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"\/standpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/A_Nearly_Ice-Free_Northwest_Passage_vir_2016222_lrg.jpg\"\/)
Staking claims on thin ice: the new Silk Road<\/a>
\n
\n![\"\"](\"\/standpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/canada.jpg\"\/)
Canada\u2019s election takes the shine off Trudeau<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"