Fora very good analysis see:

hurryupharry.org

Clare Solomon: Time to Go
Alan A, December 19th 2010, 6:00 pm

Clare Solomon spent four years in the Socialist Workers Party until she was expelled last year. She is a 37 year old mature student and President of the University of London Union. She has been making her name as a militant leader of the recent student demonstrations. This has given her a high profile including an interview with Jeremy Paxman where she blamed government policy for the student rioting.

On Facebook she has made antisemitic comments:

The view that Jews have been persecuted all throughout history is one that has been fabricated in the last 100 or so years to justify the persecution of Palestinians.

To paint the picture that all Jews have always had to flee persecution is just plainly inaccurate.

The first statement contains within it, an accusation that the historical record of antisemitism is a Jewish Lie, and specifically one which has been forged with the intention of using it as the basis for an attack on Palestinians. That is, without doubt, a racist statement. It is akin to Holocaust denial – it implicitly covers the same ground as that great lie – but much broader in its scope.

Here is her response:

Ms Solomon, who was raised as a Mormon, declined to comment when contacted by The Mail on Sunday but told the Jewish Chronicle newspaper: ‘This badly worded comment was something that I wrote in haste on Facebook. I’m sorry for any misunderstandings.’

There are three possibilities: either she has deliberately lied, she is stupid, or she is both stupid and a liar. In any case, her comments are unacceptable and she should resign her post. If she does not resign, I assume there is a mechanism by members of ULU to see that she is removed from her post. This should be exercised.

In the remainder of this post, I’d like to consider Solomon’s second statement, and consider why it is that a Marxist, and particularly a Socialist Workers’ Party activist, might come to express such remarkably antisemitic sentiments…