A Brighton Labour member has been suspended for calling on members to ‘march to the synagogue in Hove’ in protest at a candidate’s suspension for anti-Semitism.
Amanda Bishop was responding to Wish ward candidate Alex Braithwaite being suspended for allegedly anti-Semitic comments, including Israeli conspiracy theories.
As news of her suspension spread amongst local party members, many posted on the Brighton and Hove Labour Party Forum Facebook page, expressing solidarity with her.
But Ms Bishop went one step further, posting: “No, no, no! Solidarity is all well and good but it’s enough now. We can’t allow this to go on. We need to march about this to the synagogue in Hove, all of us members in Brighton.”
About eleven hours later, the following morning, the comment was edited to read: “We need to march about this, a demo, all of us members in Brighton.”
Amongst those also expressing solidarity with Ms Braithwaite were candidates Colin Piper, Anne Pissaridou, Denise Friend, Nikkie Brennan and Kate Knight. Danielle Cornish-Spencer also offered solidarity, although she added she wasn’t sure what had happened.
The final comment on the thread was another by Ms Bishop, tagging in Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle asking him to intervene – he did not respond.
However this evening, as her comments were published by the Red Roar website, Mr Lloyd-Moyle tweeted: “What she said was revolting and tonight, after I first read the comments today and reported them, she has been suspended.
“This is anti-Semitism and not acceptable in our society and our party; no excuses.”
The best riposte to Amanda Bishop’s racism is NOT to vote for those council candidates that clearly see anti-Jewish racism as acceptable.
Namely:
Kate Knight (Moulsecoomb & Bevendean)
Anne Pissaridou (North Portslade)
Colin Piper (Queen’s Park)
Nikki Brennan (East Brighton)
Daniele Cornish-Spencer (Hanover & Elm Grove)
Juan Baeza (Preston Park)
You have just libelled all these people. Literally. Libel laws say that you may not publish material in order to ‘bring them into odium and disrepute.’ You just broke the law, Jenny Mulligan. And so has the Brighton and Hove News. I will be talking to a lawyer friend about this. Oh, and he is Jewish by the way.
Save yourself some money as for it to be libel it has to be untrue….which this is not
DISGUSTING COMMENT ADDING “Oh BTW my lawyer friend is Jewish.” SHAMEFUL SHAMEFUL INCIDENT AND THOSE CANDIDATES SUPPORTING A MARCH TO A SYNAGOGUE SHOULD BE NAMED AND SHAMED AND ASKED TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY FEEL, AFTER PITTSBURGH AND SAN DIEGO ATTACKS, IT IS OK TO MARCH TO A SYNAGOGUE. DO DO WHAT, PRECISELY?
If you are threatened with being sued for libel, give me a call. Glad to help. Mark Lewis
Why are people making assumptions about candidates? Solidarity was offered to Ms Braithwaite not Ms. Bishop!
This newspaper should have redacted some of those names … data protection breach.
No it’s not. The information comes from an unofficial Facebook page run by individuals, not any formal organisation.
There is no data protection breach here and the newspaper has done nothing wrong.
All they have done is republish names that are now widely available elsewhere online.
Don’t forget to add Denise Friend (Preston Park) to the list, who protested against Brighton and Hove council adopting the widely accepted definition of antisemitism.
I’m sure there are others too. We need a list of which Labour candidates are safe to vote for. I’m sure there are some good ones. But which?
Emma Daniel (Hanover & Elm Grove)
Julie Cattell (Preston Park)
Tracey Hill (Hollingdean & Stanmer)
Peter Atkinson (North Portslade)
Les Hamilton (South Prtslade)
Alan Robbins (South Portslade)
Carmen Appich (Westbourne)
Chris Henry (Westbourne)
All three in Hangleton & Knoll
Daniel Yates (Moulsecoomb & Bevendean)
Joy Robinson (Brunswick & Adelaide)
Nigel Jenner (Hove Park)
Jackie Quinn (Goldsmid)
Clare Moonan (Central Hove)
There are a few names I recognise there. I now know who to vote for.
But aren’t there like over 50 councillors? Only 16 decent Labour candidates? Yikes.
Thanks, now can you also identify the ones that were not approved/endorsed by Momentum? According to the party manifesto, Labour seems more focussed on promoting far-left socialist policies rather than meeting the needs of residents, businesses and visitors?
It’s NOT widely accepted at all. It is against United Nations Directives. Get a brain!
If you can’t win on policy go fior people with bogus exaggerated or deliberately misrepresented remarks then. Is this what we’ve come to? People should be ashamed of themselves.
It’s not exaggerating to say that calling for a march on a synagogue is an antisemitic hate crime. Alex Braithwaite has shared antisemitic conspiracy theories and still some people in Labour will defend her at all costs and it’s appalling.
Will this March to the Brighton Synagogue be at night with a flaming torch lit procession while singing the Horst Wessel? & after I suppose the plan would be to attack Jewish homes and businesses and paint Jude on their Windows.
Do these far left fascists not get it? Anti-semitism is just SO wrong. Shame on the Labour Party.
Why has she not been removed from the Labour Party? If I called for a march on a Mosque, the Police would charge me with incitement.
This woman will probably be suspended from the party for a couple of months, and then be quietly brought-back into the fold
She won’t be removed from the party. Today’s labour party would end up with almost no candidates if they stood up to the nasty racism that Corbyn has allowed to fester or indeed encourage.
What kind of solidarity was given by the candidates supporting Alex Braithwaite? I know after the suspension Denise Friend was supporting Alex by saying online she agreed with Alex when Alex posted an article saying that fighting left wing antisemitsm was ‘white supremacism’. Otherwise I’m not clear.
Just when you thought Brighton and Hove Labour Party couldn’t sink any lower – candidates making vicious misogynist tweets, joking about rape, pushing file anti Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories, – now we have Amanda Bishop discussing marching on a local synagogue to protest candidate Alex Braithwaite being suspended for her open racism! And our MP Lloyd Russell Moyle was part of her Facebook group and only issued a statement on Twitter AFTER her naked racism was exposed in the media! Brighton and Hove Labour – I am a Labour voter (not a member) but for heaven’s sake stop pumping out all this anti Jewish hatred and racism into our city. You are destroying our community.
Thank God that Brighton and Hove website are reporting Brighton this anti-semitism
I am from Brighton but I am student at Swansea University, i not Jewish but I won’t be voting Labour because of their antisemitism
If none of you have seen M&s Brathwaite’s posts then you are acting on supposition.
She has been suspended and there will be an investigation to decide what action if any us required.
Until then can we keep to that good old tradition of ‘innocent until proven guilty’!
Which one of the 4 Hove synagogues was she thinking of marching on? Please advise and we will be sure to meet you Amanda Bishop.
Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism: “the Labour Party in Brighton has been shown to have a deep-rooted and longstanding problem with antisemitism. It is about time Jeremy Corbyn got a grip and placed the city’s Labour branches in special measures, before we find ourselves talking about real acts of racial violence being committed.”
Let her protest in front of a mosque. That eould be her first and last
Exactly!
Labour are for the many not the Jew
March on a synagogue? I’ve never heard of anything so disrespectful and dangerous in this country before – this woman has lost the plot – she has the cheek to say SHE’S had enough?!!! Enough of WHAT? It’s the Jewish community who have had enough of people like her, who defend the indefensible, the haters of Jews, the ancient hate tropes her and her ilk trot out, the sense of false hurt she and they feel while they constantly disrespect and tell lies about Jewish people while claiming they’re not racist! Like to see her try and ‘march’ on any synagogue near me and she’ll have me to contend with because I won’t tolerate ANY of that from the likes of her and her comrades from the extreme far left as well as any from the extreme far right, for that matter