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| Joe Glasman |
Joe Glasman issued a video message for Christmas 2019. It is highly 'emotive' but what did Glasman actual say? By way of attempting to learn more about the highly complex subject of Judaism and antisemitism I transcribed the video. It is interesting to find out what phrases like "mazal tov" and "kol hakavod" mean in English. I also find it interesting to research some of the history of Hanukkah which commemorates the Maccabean Revolt of 167 to 160 BCE against the Seleucid Empire, and to look up the original source of the phrase "to beat swords into plough shares".
The more I looked into what Glasman was saying the more disturbing it became. He is clearly an ideological fanatic and has all the hall marks of a paranoid megalomaniac. The suggestion that he and his dedicated army of Maccabees were the main cause of the destruction of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party is of significant concern. I am sure a detailed analysis of this speech could uncover all sorts of complex and convoluted insanity, but one of the central puzzles I am left with is to try to understand what Glasman thinks he is promoting. The only message I got was one of extreme and selective literal interpretations of some obscure texts to fabricate an intense hatred of some "other" to legitimise anger, vitriol, and destruction. I see no indication of anything positive or useful except, perhaps, the act of destruction. What is Glasman advocating? If he achieved what he claims, then the consequences seem to be an extraordinarily right wing government in the UK.
I was not impressed.
Here is the transcription I made for academic purposes.
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Glasman's eight minute video begins with a still image of him facing the camera and the title words "Happy Chrismukah!" across the screen. It then cuts to him lighting what appears to be the first candle (other than the helper candle) of a Hanukkah menorah on a box of drawers with a red bus in front of it, all sitting on a sideboard.
The words on the screen are:
"They Tried to Kill Us (Again)"
"We Won (Again)"
"Let's Eat (...even more?)"
He walks from there to his chair facing the camera and the words are replaced by: "How Corbyn Canifinish"
He sits down and the words are replaced by:
"took on British Maccabeans"
and then
"and got finished"
and then
"....and a personal thank-you"
Hey. Er, my names Joe Glasman. Some of you know me, but whether you do or not I just wanted to take this moment at Hanukkah to say a purely personal thank you [Screen text - A personal thank you] to every single person out there [Screen text - to everyone out there ...] who actively resisted [Screen text - who actively opposed] the antisemitism of Corbyn and the Labour Party [Screen text - the antisemitism of Corbyn's Labour Party] and say well done, mazal tov [Yiddish phrase meaning "good fortune"].
Um, just to put me into context if you don't know; I'm a volunteer [Screen text - volunteer at Campaign Against Antisemitism] at Campaign Against Antisemitism where I head the political investigations team which, amongst other things was responsible for our successful submissions to the EHCR [Screen text - EHCR...], but today I'm not speaking in that role, I'm just speaking as one more person [Screen text - to all the other volunteers like me .....] who volunteered like you. Because the Hanukkah miracle has happened [Screen text - Nes gadol hayah shum!!]; the beast is slain [Screen text - slaughtered!] and I have an urge to express my love [Screen text - from me and my family:] and personal gratitude to every single person, [Screen text - THANK YOU!] some of whom I've never met, who've played their part, and wish them Chanukah, or maybe Chrismukah Sameach [Screen text - CHANUKAH SAMEACH - Merry Christmas].
I did think of making a list of everyone to thank, but, well, I noticed a few weeks back that a Twitter account called [sounds like - shaina maidel] tried to compile one which resulted in the longest thread of broigus [meaning - feud] [Screen text - BROIGUS ALERT] over who was left out. As one activist, David Toum said in it "This is the most Jewish thread ever". It reminds me that I once thought of creating a Jewish Facebook App that instead of sending you congratulations for staying friends with people would do the opposite like "Congratulations; you haven't spoken to Jessica for fourteen weeks".
This has been a real Jewish gescheft, a business where there are still people out there not talking to each other. I've loved the fact that we've even made our non-Jewish allies a bit more disputatious. And yet, despite all that, every single day we rolled up our sleeves and fought for the same cause. Kol hakavod [meaning - all the honours], I take my hat off to all of you. You're all people who've had a natural and unshakeable moral understanding of what needed to be done. And we all know our non-Jewish allies deserve extra thanks. We stood up for our community - you stood up because it was the right thing to do. And then there are also the quiet activists, certainly numbered in my amazing team at CAA, who are the modest people who've applied themselves with the same determination as any of us, but who have never sought public plaudits. And, no, Cobynistas, they're not secret Mossad spies; [Screen text - Hey Chris W ...] they're just ordinary people, [Screen text - mossad offices next door ->] fantastic people.
And Hanukkah is the perfect time to celebrate our victory because, to me, Corbyn and Hanukkah are a comedy combo. The sainted Jeremy is always pictured lighting the Hanukkah candles [Cut to photo of Jeremy Corbyn standing next to a Hanukkah menorah] and you really do wonder if anyone bothered to tell him that this is a two millennium old celebration [Screen text - Maccabean revolt: 167-170 BCE] of a Jewish military victory to re-establish Jewish national and religious sovereignty in Jerusalem. I wouldn't have thought that was Jezza's favourite party invite but, hey, Jewish studies may not be his forte.
I don't think the miracle of Hanukkah was so much about the oil. [Screen text 'MO MORE WARS FOR OIL'] I think the real miracle was that we were free to be Jews again, and if you've got two more minutes [Screen text including images of alarm lights - TWO-MINUTE DROSHE WARNING] listen to Rabbi Joe's droshe, ['droshe' is Yiddish דראָשע meaning sermon or speech] I'll tell you why.
You see, academic historians of Hanukkah tell a slightly different story. They tell the story of a dominant power trying to force their universal world view on Jews. [Screen text - Seleucids under Antiochus IV] Back then it was gyms, the body beautiful, [Screen text - =Hellenists hence 'Greek'] Olympic games, demigodness. Here's the twist: Up in Jerusalem there were the favoured Jews who were co-opted, who wanted in, learning to wrestle naked in the desecrated Jewish temple. Writer Dara Horn calls them 'the cool Jews' who wanted to assimilate so badly it's said they even tried to reverse their circumcisions. Ooooooh [Screen text - Ooooooh.... ...Jeremy Corbyn] Jeremy Corbyn. This is the type of antisemitism where Jewish culture is attacked first and co-opts Jews as a weapon. It was replicated by Christianity by Marxism. In the Soviet version there was Yevsektskiya [Screen text - Yevsektskiya] where atheist Marxist Jews were sent to undermine Jewish communities as well. Think about as 'Jewish Voice' for Stalin [Screen text - '@JVoiceStalin ...'] because a century later the Labour Party set up a perfect replica in Jewish Voice for Labour to undermine us in the very same way, except now in TV studios.
Yeah, we've had to deal with those 'cool Greeks', [Screen text - (you know exactly who I mean .....)] young Corbynista Jewish outriders desperate de-circumcisers [Screen text - desperate de-circumcisers] who try to cast people like ME, who used to vote Labour [Screen text - casting Jewish (ex-)Labour voters] as some kind of right wing Trump fanatics [Screen text - as 'right-wing' ... 'Trump fanatics'] robbing the poor of a better future [Screen text - - obstacles to 'a better world']. And just before the election dawn, the Guardian wrote a truly dark editorial saying that despite the 'shameful' antisemitism, that Labour remained indispensable 'to progressive politics'. As the historian Tom Holland explained, at the together against antisemitism rally, Christianity made it possible to be, both a good Christian and someone who hated Jews.
Now it seems that in modern Britain you can be a good progressive and hate Jews. So Corbyn was not Haman or Hitler, he was [Screen text - ANTIOCHUS THE EXTREMELY HUMOURLESS] Antiochus the Extremely Humourless, and we defeated him. And really, if we could see off the might of Ancient Greece it's not surprising we could see off what Stephen Daisley called [Screen text - ".....a rancid Tony Benn revival act"] a rancid Tony Benn revival act. [Screen text - Stephen Daisley] Inevitably those Greeks, as they did then, will come back for Jerusalem.
So none of us should be ready to beat our swords into plough shares yet. But Macabees - we did it. By word and deed, by protest and tweet, by our spies and intel, by our fab celebrities and our anonymous volunteers, by pleading, by rigorous research and gathering of evidence, by incredible video making, by interminable hours combing through tweets, by prayer, by dramatic speeches and street protests, by lorries carrying huge billboards, by writing and shouting and taking the mick out of the most humourless bunch of people this country's politics has ever made us suffer and [Screen cuts to a picture of Jeremy Corbyn looking angry] ... can I finish? by shear bloody mindedness we metaphorically took the temple back. [Screen text - and if Jerusalem "is builded here ...] And if Jerusalem is builded here [added screen text - in England's green and pleasant land....."] in England's green and pleasant land, then just for now at least, we have our Jerusalem back.
Macabees: At ease. They tried to kill us - we won - let's eat. And to quote our other Jewish festival of liberation, not leaning too far to the left, l'chaim. [In Hebrew "L'Chaim" is a toast "To Life"]
End titles state:
Joe's Chrismukah thank-you
Hum Music Production
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Glasman originally made his video private on YouTube with password access only. The content of his video is clearly of national significance to the UK public, and, as such, must be available to the public. Glasman has had several copies of his video removed from YouTube, presumably on the grounds of copyright law, and consequentially it can be hard to find a copy. I have provided some links to sources currently available as I write. They may also suffer illegitimate interference or censorship. [I do have a copy in my safe.]
Glasman's video --->
The Electronic Intifada on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/evSj4S4AC4Q
Glasman's video --->
Momentum Barnet on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=781491542317247
Here is an article on The Electronic Intifada citing the video
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/we-slaughtered-jeremy-corbyn-says-israel-lobbyist
And here is an interesting article on the subject of Glasman's video by Deborah Maccoby
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2020/01/05/corbynism-and-chanukah-a-response-to-joe-glasman-guest-post-by-deborah-maccoby/
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