By Daphne Anson
For a sliver of a country the size of Israel the principality of Wales has an inordinate amount of anti-Israel activity: Palestine Solidarity Campaign branches in Abergavenny, Bangor, Cardiff, a branch in the name of the whole of Wales, launched, as we see here, in 2017:
And comparable groups, including one in Swansea that doesn’t resile from sailing close to the wind that carries the stench of antisemitism:
Betty Hunter (pictured below in full battledress) is honorary president of the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Recently, the Cambrian News, a newspaper circulating in the heartland of Welsh-speaking Wales, announced that on 29 June Betty would be visiting the West Wales seaside and university town of Aberystwyth in the county of Ceredigion, in order to launch a new local branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign:
“The launch event will take place in Arad Goch in Bath Street from 1pm. To initiate the new group, Betty Hunter, honorary president of PSC, will talk about the plight of children who find themselves on the frontline of Israeli military actions in Palestine. The soundtrack to the event will be provided by Côr Gobaith, who will sing songs of hope for peace and justice in the region. The event will conclude with the inaugural AGM of the Ceredigion branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.”
A poster proclaiming the event has appeared on radical Welsh sites and social media posts inimical to Israel’s interests, but so far there is no mention of the existence of a Ceredigion branch on the PSC’s main website, which purports to list all those in existence.
For years Hungarian-born Elizabeth Morley (of Jewish ancestry on her mother’s side) was (is?) the high-profile secretary of the Aberystwyth PSC branch, and, a member of the Labour Party since Corbyn became leader, continues to write letters to the press and public figures and organise petitions denouncing Israel.
The Aberystwyth branch consisted (consists?) largely of a gaggle of old ladies and the occasional bloke buttonholing shoppers outside stores having the temerity to sell Israeli fruit and veggies. (They, and no doubt others like them Britain-wide) successfully cajoled the Co-op into acceding to their demands that such products not be sold.) And setting up stalls in the town’s main shopping strip on occasional Saturday mornings, complete with anti-Israel petitions to be signed, and of course that notorious set of four maps on display, while an energetic choir of female voices warbled anti-Israel “peace” songs.
Mrs Morley still tweets using the AberPSC handle:
Yet to judge by the lack of activity on its Twitter page the Aberystwyth PSC branch seems to have morphed during 2018 into “Aberystwyth Friends of Palestine” with her at the helm.
There has long been a student society of that name in town, the subject of this disturbing report back in 2013. Presumably it remains autonomous, and is not directly under the aegis of Mrs Morley’s group.
Could it be that Betty Hunter called off her visit? Could it be that Mrs Morley’s group, whatever its name, has made a new PSC group in town unviable? Time will tell.
The PSC claims that it is not antisemitic, but David Collier’s findings here belie that claim.
I was assured some ten years ago by a (Jewish) leading figure in the PSC that PSC activists are instructed to avoid linking to online rag Redress since it carries overtly antisemitic articles.
Elizabeth Morley, though, has a long-standing penchant for linking to articles in Redress and continues to do so.
See, for instance, these bits and pieces:
That second recent tweet opens up access to such distasteful rubbish as this, and that the author of the first is Jewish himself does not excuse it, not one little bit:
Furthermore:
No doubt the lady and her cohorts, as well as Betty Hunter and indeed all the PSCers, dedicated BDSers that they are, carry this card in their wallets:
And if not, why not?
Leave a Reply