Why do you think she just randomly made a completely unfounded accusation out of nowhere? Like what on earth did it have to do with anything? Why bring up the Israelis? Why's that the relevant part? Especially when it's not true?
Because she's anti-semetic and it was an insane way to pin anti-black racism at least partially on Jewish people.
It's also relevant because it was yet another mask-slip moment from the progressive in-crowd.
It is "unproven" and likely inaccurate, but it is not "completely unfounded":
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-did-israel...
Why did she do it? Because she read something online that upset her, remembered it as fact, then just forwarded that information. That's a very human thing to do.
Furthermore, in this case, the connection appears to have been made by an Israeli activist[1]:
The only link to this tactic in the story is made by an activist, Neta Golan, who told the paper: “When I saw the picture of killer cop Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd by leaning in on his neck with his knee as he cried for help and other cops watched, I remembered noticing when many Israeli soldiers began using this technique of leaning in on our chest and necks when we were protesting in the West Bank sometime in 2006.”
I would agree that the left has an obsession with this particular issue that is disproportionate, but if hatred of Jews is the motivation, where is the smoking gun?
If you are thinking the progressives in the UK are making reasonable and legitimate criticism of the state of Israel and nothing more, then you're dangerously ignorant of what's going on at polite dinner-parties in middle-class London.
The reality is that the former leader of the left-wing party in the UK is liking on Facebook murals like this:
https://twitter.com/lucianaberger/status/977183210051338241
This is parody-tier anti-semitism.
So let's examine this "piece of art":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_for_Humanity
Indeed, if you were to conflate the depiction of Freemasonry/Illuminati and big noses with the "Jewish World Conspiracy", you might interpret this mural as "antisemitic":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Masonic_conspiracy_theor...
However, only two of the depicted figures are actually Jewish. As with Israel, you can make the same distinction between "antagonists that happen to be Jewish" and Jews in general.
If you buy into "horseshoe theory", you may well assume that some leftists must be stashing copies of "The Protocols" somewhere, ready to distribute when the time is right. However, for now I still don't see the smoking gun.
Even if you could argue for some reason the particular people were relevant and actually looked like this... christ why woudln't you stop yourself and say 'wait a minute this could be misconstrued as anti-semetic, maybe I should adjust it'?
How many examples of anti-semitism in the British progressive left do you need?
How many people sacked by their own party and described by their own party as anti-semetic before you think 'oh right maybe these people are anti-semetic'?
https://news.sky.com/story/12-shocking-claims-of-abuse-in-le...
'This is fine, nothing to see here', huh?
If it was "obviously" intended to portray Jews, where is the "Star of David"?
At best, you could argue that this is a dog-whistle to all these supposed closet antisemites among the left.
> Even if you could argue for some reason the particular people were relevant and actually looked like this...
I can argue that, because that is what is being portrayed here, according to the artist himself.
> christ why woudln't you stop yourself and say 'wait a minute this could be misconstrued as anti-semetic, maybe I should adjust it'?
Adjust how? Is there a guideline by the ADL on the proportion of Jewish noses for the purpose of caricature? By some standard, anything involving a Jew can be misconstrued as "antisemitic" one way or another.
Unfortunately, if you want to portray "the masonic elite oppressing the masses", you can't get around the fact that this trope has been used by out-and-proud antisemites and ordinary anti-capitalists alike.
> How many examples of anti-semitism in the British progressive left do you need?
Let's start with "one". You have moved the goalpost repeatedly. First, this actress, now this artist. In either case, you failed to provide the smoking gun.
Now we're moving on to allegations of harassment by low-level party-members. By that standard, you'll have trouble finding any political group that has a clean shirt.
If I don't accept the conflation of Trumpism with anti-semitism or white nationalism, then I'm not going to accept the case you just made either. An allegation of antisemitism (or other -isms based on identity) is quite serious. It must be supported by solid evidence, not hearsay, not interpretation.
I think that's quite a spin there. First of all, here's the claim:
"During the interview, Maxine Peake claimed that police in America who knelt on George Floyd's neck had learned the tactic from 'seminars with Israeli secret services'.
This may or may not be factually accurate, but seminars with Israeli security forces do exist, it is plausible that Derek Chauvin attended such a seminar, and that this particular method of restraint was presented.
Many people don't realize that this method of restraint is (or was) in the police books. Derek Chauvin may have applied poor judgement in using it, but it was part of his training material.
Making this connection between Israeli security forces (of all) and this particular incident may well have anti-semitic intentions, but this actress does deserve the benefit of the doubt.