The Stop the War Campaign is misnamed. To the naïve it is a happy, pacifist campaign.
However the splinter of the SWP that runs it (called Counterfire) is very far from being pacifist, and it would be far more honest for the campaign to be renamed, “Stop this War and Start a Different One”.
Counterfire — and unpleasant friends like Sami Ramadani, who writes on the Stop the War site — would be very happy if everyone in the Middle East ganged up and attacked Israel. Or the US.
Apparently — according to Ramadani, and despite all known facts and common sense – Islamic State (ISIS/IS) is actually serving Israeli interests. The evidence for this?
It seems the “ISIS Caliph [leader] and Israeli war criminal Netanyahu declared the death of Sykes-Picot borders between Iraq and Syria on almost the same day.” You might think this is a statement of fact, but not Mr Ramadani who finds the alleged coincidence highly suspicious.
More than that, the leader of ISIS/IS, doesn’t “mention Israel or its war crimes in Palestine.” It must be so disappointing to Ramadani that IS writes: “We haven’t given orders to kill the Israelis and the Jews. The war against the nearer enemy, those who rebel against the faith, is more important.” In other words IS is quite busy, currently, slaughtering Shia and Christians. However, this isn’t quite the same as “serving Israeli interests”, is it?
At a rally in Holland a couple of days ago IS supporters chanted, “Death to the Jews!” Does any sane person think ISIS will not get round to Israel after it has polished off the Shia?
Ramadani claims, “Israel’s ambassador in Washington explained why Israel and the west should back ISIS ‘bad guys’ against other ‘bad guys’.” The evidence for this? Ramadani links to an article by a man called Christof Lehmann. There are a few problems with this. The first is Christof Lehmann is a tiresome conspiracy nut. The second is Lehmann’s article is based on the word of an anonymous source ‘close to a Lebanese billionaire’ who claims backing for ISIS was decided at a meeting of a US think-tank, months ago (a think-tank which controls US policy?). And finally, that the article doesn’t mention an Israeli ambassador at all.
Then Ramadani, having convinced himself, writes, “It is clear to me that ISIS is serving Israeli and US economic, political and military objectives in the region.” Which just leaves a small problem: why is the US currently bombing ISIS/IS?
