Seumas Milne is the perfect partner for Jeremy Corbyn. Hamas is one touchstone which makes this abysmally clear.
Look at Milne in this tape from a furious Israel hatred rally in London on 10 January 2009.
Note how he frames his support. Hamas is one part of a great war against the demons of Milne’s world:
There is one war that is taking place across the whole region, from Pakistan to Palestine, and the West stands behind all of this to protect its interests across the region. But it’s a war that will fail and is failing. Even now, despite the horrific casualties, Hamas is not broken and will not be broken because of the spirit of resistance of the Palestinian people.
This puts him right in line with jihadi thinking. So many Satans, so little time.
“Context” has become a word as familiar in matters Corbyn as it is when Islamist extremists are exposed. It is equally empty, of course. Consider the horde of Hamas lovers Milne joined that day, all cheered wildly on as they delivered their nastiest lines. They included the following:
– Azzam “Kaboom” Tamimi bellowed “today we are all Hamas”, “Israel has dug its grave, Zionism has dug its grave”.
– Lauren Booth rolled out the Israelis-are-Nazis slur, calling Gaza a “concentration camp”.
– Ismail Patel cried “Hamas is no terrorist organisation. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”
– Pathetic “rapper” Lowkey offered anger for evil corporations . “Every coin is a bullet, if you’re Marks and Spencer, And when your sipping Coca-Cola, That’s another pistol in the holster of a soulless soldier, You say you know about the Zionist lobby, But you put money in their pocket when you’re buying their coffee, Talking about revolution, sitting in Starbucks.”
– George Galloway shrieked for “victory to the Palestinian resistance” and demanded people “shut down the Israel shops in the shopping centres”.
Entirely predictably, the mob then engaged in horrid violence on High Street Kensington, including the ritual trashing of Starbucks.
This is Milne’s world. This is Corbyn’s world. This is Labour.
