IRAN’S embassy in London yesterday categorically rejected ‘unfounded and irresponsible’ allegations of anti-Semitism levelled against Iran without a shred of evidence being provided.
The sharply worded protest followed Labour prime minister Keir Starmer accusing Iran of encouraging anti-Semitism in Britain saying that UK authorities were investigating whether a foreign state was behind recent attacks on the Jewish community.
Starmer said Iran’s attempts to ‘foment violence, hatred or division’ in British society would not be tolerated and publicly blamed Iran for the recent attacks on the Jewish community without bothering to produce one piece of evidence to justify his outrageous claim.
In a press statement released on Wednesday, the Iranian embassy expressed its ‘strong protest and serious concern’ over Starmer’s remarks saying: ‘The embassy categorically rejects these baseless allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the Islamic Republic of Iran.’
The statement noted that Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, whose members enjoy full protection of their religious, cultural and political rights with complete security and freedom.
Drawing a clear distinction, the statement stresses that ‘principled criticism of the policies and actions of the Israeli regime, including its aggressive conduct and widely reported violations of International Law and Human Rights norms, particularly perpetrating genocide, should not be deliberately or mistakenly equated with anti-Semitism.’
Of course this is precisely what Starmer’s government is doing, deliberately weaponising accusations of anti-Semitism, and openly blaming Iran for attacks on the Jewish community to justify introducing new laws aimed at curbing demonstrations in support of Palestine and opposing Zionist genocide by portraying Iran as the instigators of terror in the UK.
On Tuesday, Stephen Parkinson, director of public prosecutions, instructed his staff to ‘fast track’ so-called ‘hate crime’ prosecutions as quickly as they could rather than waiting until they had all the evidence.
Under changes he announced, the public prosecutions office will be able to recommend changes based on ‘reliable victim’s account’ without any supporting evidence.
Starmer and the bourgeois media have been whipping up an anti-Iranian campaign, utilising the stabbing last week of two Jewish men in Golders Green and the suspected arson attack on a former synagogue in Whitechapel on Tuesday.
The man arrested on suspicion of the attack, which mercifully didn’t cause serious injury to the two victims, is described by officials as suffering serious mental health issues while the media have played down the fact that in the hours before this attack the same attacker attempted to stab a third man, a Muslim named Ishmail Hussein, in south London.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating a ‘suspected arson attack’ on a building in Whitechapel that hasn’t been used as a synagogue for several years and is due for sale at auction.
The Department of Public Prosecutions have told prosecutors that they have not ‘seen evidence of linkage’ between these two events.
This hasn’t stopped Starmer publicly blaming Iran and using it as an excuse to crack down on the overwhelming opposition from workers and youth to imperialist war and Zionist genocide.
In its statement, the Iranian embassy raised concerns about potential ‘false flag operations’ and noted that ‘these unfounded accusations are made despite the fact that the British government has thus far failed to respond to any of Iran’s requests for evidence or substantiation’.
The Labour government is not concerned with providing any evidence but are attempting to unleash a frenzied witch-hunt against the millions of workers and youth who support Palestine and oppose Zionist genocide.
It is not Iran that is the terrorist power but the Israeli regime and US imperialism that are responsible for the mass terrorism being carried out in Gaza and the occupied West Bank today.
Workers and youth will not be intimidated by Starmer into relinquishing their support for the Palestinian struggle against the genocidal Zionist regime, nor will they back down under police threats on the right to march and demonstrate against an illegal imperialist war against Iran.
Now is the time for the British working class to take action by forcing the TUC to call a general strike to bring down the Labour government and bring in a workers government and socialism.
This is the only way forward!
