Maxine Peake accepted her original remarks were anti-Semitic; it took RLB rather too long to do so, and she got sacked.
The UN says it didn’t say the Minnesota police were trained by Israel.
I think Israel behaves disgracefully much of the time, and because of their superiority in arms, and politically, over the Palestinians they behave more reprehensibly than Palestinians.
The anti-Semitism point is very subtle. You might not agree - and I’m not sure I do - but it is possible to interpret the original remarks as a reference to a trope which has been around for decades, that the Jews are somehow in control of things and the source of much of the evil in the world. Israel is the only Jewish-majority nation. Therefore it sounds anti-Semitic.
Had RLB been prepared to withdraw her tweet, there might have been a different outcome.
I respect your right to an opinion, John, but still think your way of expressing it tends to immoderacy. Extreme Lefty Trots are the same thing as anti-Sémites is, I suggest, inflammatory language in any sense of reasonable discourse.
If we were face-to face I would take the same position. To challenge you is not to disrespect you and, as you say yourself, my observation was made in question form, and invited a response.
I taught myself Yiddish in the East End of London where I worked among the Jewish community there in the 1950s, and was often taken for a Jewish lad myself. It wasn’t easy to persuade others that I was indeed a goy who spoke and understand their language, and read their Yiddish newspapers. In fact, I was often rebuked by elderly Jews for being “ashamed of” being a Jew, because I spoke their language and their culture, yet wasn’t Jewish.
So I have a good understanding of how Jews feel, although I am a committed “Lefty” socialist and internationalist.
For those of us long opposed to the occupation of Palestine and the blockade on Gaza it has certainly become increasingly difficult to voice any critical opinion without being branded an anti-Semite…
Our mayor in Leicester (labour council) was in a long running battle over BDS…
Now he’s contesting the government decision to extend the lockdown in Leicester for a further two weeks just as we were about to begin reopening…
And now covid has also delayed the departure of the freedom flotilla…
@Anna_Cowper-Canaux, sorry I accidentally referenced your comment in my last reply, which was intended for John McKenna @Rathcoole.
I strongly endorse you own views.
Sorry for any inconvenience or distress caused by my mistake 
Hey not at all.
I think my faith in the British journalism is lost forever; I’m not sure I will ever recover from how the Guardian - and the BBC - reported on the Labour leadership and policies leading up to the last election.
You’re absolutely right Anna. I’m still a Guardian ‘supporter’ and read it almost every day - I’m particularly a fan of Aditya Chakrabortty, who I see has just been nominated for the Orwell Prize - but I stopped reading Freedland during the ‘antisemitism’ shenanigans and haven’t bothered with him since - not because I didn’t agree with him - that would be no problem - but because my disagreement led me to check on whether what he was saying was actually accurate - and I found it wasn’t.
The best we can do at the moment perhaps is support the BDS movement - it does seem to be one of the few things that make the Israel government think twice…
https://bdsmovement.net/
I am so glad that the Council won.
I have not been buying Israeli goods or produce for many years now.
He’s trying to keep himself out of jail Peter.
Interesting response to Freedland’s bias on Israel and antisemitism…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/06/clarifying-remarks-made-about-israel?