Fury over conspiracy theorist invite
LABOUR POLITICIANS, including an MP, have condemned their local party for inviting a speaker who promoted the work of a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who claimed “Israelis blew up the twin towers with the help of Zionists in the US government”.
Ellie Reeves, MP for Lewisham West and Penge, along with seven local Labour councillors, signed an open letter registering their concern at the invitation from Lewisham West and Penge CLP to Professor Piers Robinson, a former academic at Sheffield University.
The letter described Prof Robinson as “a high profile 9/11 truther”, adding he had attempted “to give academic credence to war crimes denial” regarding atrocities carried out by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“He has suggested that the 2018 Douma chemical attack was ‘staged’ to smear Assad and accused the Syrian White Helmets of murdering Syrians to provide bodies for this hoax,” they wrote.
“His smears against a humanitarian organisation and conspiraRobinson in one of his appearances on Kremlin-run Russia Today, and Lewisham MP Ellie Reeves
cy-driven analysis of the use of chemical weapons are a clear attempt to muddy the water and provide cover for the worst crimes of Bashar al-Assad’s army and his Russian state backers.” When Lewisham
Council cancelled the event, which was to be held on its premises, the talk, titled “Propaganda in the Modern World”, was rescheduled to be held at the headquarters of the Lewisham West and Penge CLP on Wednesday evening.
In their letter, the Labour politicians described how when some members had written to the CLP secretary and chair to register their concerns, these
had been “either ignored or rejected”.
Last December, HuffPost approached Prof Robinson for comment on his support for 9/11 conspiracy theorists.
He recommended some other people whose work would help readers “get up to speed with geopolitics and the current dynamics of the international system”.
One of those recommended was Kees van der Pijl, a former emeritus professor at the University of Sussex. Weeks before, Prof Van der Pijl wrote a tweet saying: “Israelis blew up the twin towers with help from Zionists in the US government.”
Writing on Twitter, Prof Robinson said that he had “never endorsed or made” the claim that Israelis or Zionists were responsible for 9/11.
Addressing two of the open letter’s signatories, he said: “By making this false allegation and spreading such lies you undermine the fight against real antisemitism. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
When it was put to him that he had endorsed Kees van der Pijl, Prof Robinson responded that he had “recommended a book he [Prof van der Pijl] wrote, nothing to [sic] with the allegation you are making.”
In their letter, the Labour politicians described how “conspiracy theories such as those peddled by Dr Piers Robinson both encourage antisemitic hatred and risk damaging the goodwill that our community has shown to refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.”
Tom Copley, a signatory and a member of the Greater London Assembly, said: “To invite someone like Dr Robinson to address a party meeting flies in the face of everything we... are trying to do to help those refugees.”