David Lammy: the trials and tribulations of an anti-racist Zionist

The more things change the more they remain the same

I can claim no ownership of the subtitle of this article. I read it in a Superman comic many years ago. But it constantly comes back, like a recurring ad dream to haunt me as I witness developments in the political landscapes around me. More especially following the recent dramatic election results in the United Kingdomhttps://www.lfi.org.uk/foreign-secretary-sets-out-support-for-israel-and-gazas-future-without-hamas/

Upon return from his first overseas trip in official; capacity, Britain’s newly appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Right Honorable David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, was keen to ensure that nobody had any doubts as to his position on the thorny topic of what Lammy and his ilk like to frame as the conflict in the Middle East and the rest of us call the Israeli Genocide in Gaza.

Writing on the website of Labour Friends of Israel Lammy lambasts those who, as he sees it, fail to “understand Israel’s predicament” residing in a “tough neighborhood” surrounded by enemies who wish to “annihilate “it. Furthermore, he goes on to assert that no comparison can be drawn “Israels democratic government and Hamas,a terrorist organization responsible for an act of barbarism on October 7th”(my emphasis)

Given these remarks it might be more pertinent to enquire as to Just who does David Lammy think he is? Where is he coming from and how does he reconcile, what apparently would seem to be irreconcilable views?

It’s a pertinent question to ask in the wake of our new Foreign Secretary’s recent trip to the Middle East, where he hobnobbed with such luminaries as Yoav Gallant, Israels Defense Minister, currently eagerly awaiting an arrest warrant for war crimes committed against the civilian population in Gaza. Likewise, his boss Netanyahu, with whom Lammy enjoyed a fairly amicable chat, will be on the lookout for a special delivery courtesy of the International Criminal Court.

On initial viewing there seems little to distinguish Lammy from most other neo liberal machine politicians inhabiting the higher echelons of politics upon both sides of the Atlantic. But on closer inspection the career of His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs becomes riddled with contradictions.

This is a man who upon his ascent up the greasy pole that leads to high political office, has posed as a champion for ethnic minorities without ruffling the feathers of the establishment.

Born of Guyanese parents in the north London borough of archway, Lammy, along with his four siblings, was raised by his mother after his father left the family when he (Lammy) was just 12 years old. A gifted singer, he received a scholarship to the Kings School where he excelled as a chorister. This set him on a path into the heart of the establishment that took him to Cambridge University, the London School of Oriental and African Studies and on to Harvard Law School.

A long way from the ghetto streets of London’s black community.

But it is Lammy’s conduct within the political arena that is of chief concern. From his entry into the UK parliament in 2000 Lammy has presented himself as a crusader for justice. A fierce, unrelenting opponent of social and racial inequality. His website proudly proclaims his record of leading campaigns for the Windrush British citizens to receive compensation. Along with a documentary on Britian’s Channel 4, The Unremembered in 2019 that revealed the absence of memorials for African soldiers who died fighting for Britain in the Great War. Lammy appeared to display genuine grief and anger in the wake of the tragic Grenfell Tower fire that claimed the lives of so many ethnic minority low paid workers in the summer of 2017.

Given this apparent predisposition to take up cudgels on behalf of those communities marginal to mainstream society it would seem slightly baffling when one examines his record on the Middle East. For it would appear that Lammy’s sense of solidarity with the oppressed and dispossessed ends at the white cliffs of Dover.

Since entering Parliament Lammy has been listed as a member of Labour Friends of Israel. This odious aggregation of opportunists, hypocrites and out and out racists proclaims itself dedicated to the Two State Solution in Palestine while simultaneously doing everything possible to thwart criticism of the Zionist state that is on record as vowing that such a thing as a viable Palestinian state will happen only over their dead bodies (a succulent thought). For many, membership of LFI is regarded as a shrewd career move. A kind of political Freemasonry. A look at the new cabinet would show all the key posts filled by LFI members. As a friend acidly remarked to me-a cabinet straight from Zionist Central.

Even before ascending to his lofty office, Lammy had made it clear where he stood on the Israel/Palestine issue. Like the majority his colleagues on both sides of the House, Lammy stood with Israel. Even as the slaughter in Gaza intensified, the death toll of civilians mounted. Even as atrocity followed atrocity -as the protests escalated around the world-Lammy stood true to what I suppose we must call his “principles”. Lammy stood firmly with Israel.

Most notably his condemnation of US college campus protests against what was seen as Israel’s genocide in Gaza, with the truly astonishing assertion that Nelson Mandela would have disapproved of these actions. The immediate result of this being his being slapped down by none other than Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, grandson of Madiba and a passionate campaigner for justice for Palestinians.

So is it any surprise to witness Lammy cozying up to some of the most repugnant creatures upon the world stage. The fact that his traveling companion to Israel was none other than Her Excellency Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s Ambassador to the UK might seem, at first glance, unworthy of note. Until, that is, one delves a little further into the background of Ms Hotolovely.

Even by Zionist standards, Hotolovely is a zealot. An ardent supporter of the Lehava-an organization committed to preventing romantic relationships between Jews and Gentiles, she is on record as saying “it is important to me to check systems to prevent mixed marriages and the Lehava are most suitable for this”.(my emphasis) Lotovely’s appointment disturbed British Jewry to the extent that even as fervent a Zionist Mad) Melanie Philips was drawn to criticize her appointment.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the publicly funded jet that conveyed the happy couple to Tel Aviv. One can only wonder at what they could they have discussed to while away the journey: genocides we have known!?

The guard might have changed at Westminster Palace, but the melody lingered on

Of course, he called for an immediate ceasefire along with the return of all hostages still alive in Gaza. A rapidly diminishing group following the IOF’s unremitting bombardment of the Strip. No comforting words for the 3,000 or more Palestinians rotting in Israeli prisons or concentration camps. Many held under Administrative Detention, without charge or trial, or if tried then before a military court that comes nowhere close to the standards demanded under international Human Rights protocols. Or mention of the 21,000 missing children presumed dead under the Gazan rubble.

But that was not the key objective of Lammy’s mission. That only began to emerge in the days following his return. He was charged to issue reassurance to Netanyahu and co that although the guard might have changed at Westminster Palace, the accompanying melody would linger on. There was to be no diminishing in the unreserved, unconditional support from His Majesty’s Government to the State of Israel.

Why these assurances could not have been given via an audience in London for the unlovely Notovely and thereby save the taxpayer the not inconsiderable expense of the flights only becomes apparent when one recognizes who this message was really aimed at: the USA.

Lammy, like his boss, Herr Starmer, is an avowed and staunch Atlanticist. Just as Starmer was cozying up to Biden by promising, in virtual perpetuity, billions of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money in support of the proxy war in Ukraine, Lammy was busy in covering the other flank in Tel Aviv.

If synchronized crawling ever becomes an Olympic sport Starmer and Lammy would be odds on for the gold medal.

One could be tempted to dismiss Lammy as an Uncle Tom- a coconut politician, no different from the likes of Lloyd Austin, the snakelike US Defense Secretary, or the heir presumptive to the White House, Kamala Harris, members of an administration that has not only facilitated an ongoing genocide in Occupied Palestine, but in the case of the latter, built a career in locking up the poor in a nation where the ratio of black to white prisoners is in perverse relation to the wider population.

But Lammy is different. Austin has spent a life in the military. He has directly participated in the disastrous immoral campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is and always has been a creature of the establishment. Following orders would be as natural as drawing breath for such a man. Likewise, Harris comes from a privileged background and has never directly experienced life in the housing projects and ghettos of the hapless folk she locked up. Both parents being highly qualified immigrants to the US. Neither had to endure the privations of a broken home in a poor part of London as did the young Lammy.

Put very simply: he should know better. And indeed, I’m pretty sure that he does. Looking as dispassionately as one can at Lammy’s career, one is reminded of a wonderful observation made by a fellow writer about Trump’s new running mate Vance: One of his (Vance’s) strengths is that he has no principles and will say whatever he needs to say to further his career”.(my emphasis) https://substack.com/home/post/p-146666450?r=qtsth&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

A more succinct and accurate description of Lammy and his ilk, would be difficult to imagine.