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BREXIT Tag

In the latest of a series of damaging embarrassments, Britain's Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has suspended two Labour MPs for anti-Semitic comments.  Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone were suspended for suggesting Israel should be relocated to the United States, and suggesting that Hitler was a Zionist.

Labour and Corbyn

Labour, Corbyn, Shah and Livingstone each have a history of anti-Semitic incidents.  In February, Legal Insurrection reported on the Oxford University’s Labor Club (OULC)'s anti-Semitism scandal, including the resignation of its President and a slew of complaints by other OULC members.  While the Conservative government ordered an investigation, we wrote in February:
The devil’s in the details, though.  Even the good news that the government will investigate apparently rampant anti-Semitism on UK campuses has strings attached.  Former OULC member and leader of the national Labor Party Ed Miliband called for current Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn to “personally look into” issues at OULC. Corbyn, in turn, is very much part of the problem.  He calls Hamas “friends” and has met with leaders from both Hamas and Hezbollah.  In September he spoke to the Labor Friends of Israel and refused to actually say the word “Israel.”  Corbyn’s website still peddles the malicious lie that “Israel must lift the ongoing siege of Gaza.”  The idea of Corbyn investigating anti-Semitism by a Labor-ite is insulting.
Things have only grown worse.

Apparently, some Brits, too, are fed up with the anti-Semitism permeating the halls of power in England. Last week, I wrote about recent instances of anti-Semitism on Britain's campuses and how it reflects attitudes among the political elite.  I didn't even mention Respect Party leader George Galloway because he is no longer a member of Parliament.  Galloway was MP from Bradford West from 2012-2015 until losing to the Labor candidate last year. But Galloway is back in the news.  He has joined with Nigel Farage and the UK Independence Party ("UKIP") in championing the upcoming referendum to withdraw from the European Union.  Shortened to "Brexit," the vote is set for June 23. Prof. Jacobson discussed Galloway's anti-Israel derangement last May.  He refuses even to speak with an Israeli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ad-Mk4R7iQ

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister, threw another spanner in the EU’s push to settle migrants across the member states. Prime Minister Orban announced to hold a referendum on whether Hungary should be forced to take in more migrants, dealing another blow to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s plans to ease pressure off German in the wake of unchecked mass migration. In September 2015, Prime Minister Orban became the first European leader to seriously challenge Brussel’s open border policy when he ordered to build a fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia to stop the migrant influx. Many European leaders and mainstream media slammed Hungary for taking--what they called-- “egoist” measures. At that time, Martin Schulz, German politician and President of the EU Parliament, called the step taken by Hungarian government “irrational” and driven by “national egoism.” Since then other EU members such as Austria, Macedonian and Slovenian have started working on their border fences.

As Britain heads for the June referendum, the question of country's membership in the European Union is pitting the political establishment and the mainstream media against a rising tide of public sentiment against the Brussels, deepened by recent Eurozone debt crisis and EU’s inability to regulate mass migration. The present policy paralysis within the EU on migrant crisis has once again revealed the vulnerabilities of the European project -- geared towards expansionism and bureaucratic centralization. Conservative EU parliamentarian and prominent ‘Eurosceptic’, Daniel Hannan said, “the alternative to remaining in a structurally unsafe building is, of course, walking out.” The call for referendum, announced last week, has also exposed the rifts within Prime Minister David Cameron’s ruling Conservative Party, with six cabinet ministers and other leading conservatives coming out in support of Britain’s exit from the European Union, Brexit. However, the biggest blow to Prime Minister Cameron’s pro-EU camp came from London Mayor Boris Johnson’s surprise announcement to back the Brexit campaign.

In November, Vijeta wrote about David Cameron's warning to the EU: reform or risk "Brexit" (British exit from EU).  Cameron's demands were as follows:
The New York Times reports: After days of conflicting signals about his attitude toward the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday formally outlined his approach to negotiations with other member countries ahead of a crucial referendum that will determine whether Britain stays in the 28-nation bloc. His demands included a safeguard to prevent countries that use the euro from discriminating economically against Britain, which has retained the pound; a stronger role for national parliaments in European Union decision-making; and an end to Britain’s legal commitment, as a signatory to European Union treaties, to pursue “ever closer union,” which conservatives see as a threat to national sovereignty.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has laid out new conditions for his country to remain in the European Union. Ahead of the historic EU referendum scheduled to take place in 2017, Prime Minister is trying to renegotiate UK's relationship with EU. If the bid fails, it may eventually lead to British exit from the European Union or Brexit. European Commission reacted promptly to British Prime Minister's new demands calling some of them "highly problematic." The New York Times reports: