What You Need To Know About Labour Anti-Semitism
All the important, recent developments regarding Labour anti-Semitism.
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Labour anti-Semitism has become a topic of much controversy in the UK election campaign, with less than a week until voters head to the polls in an election where anything from a Conservative landslide to a Labour Minority Government are possible outcomes.
While I have previously written about anti-Semitism and Labour *here* and *here*, two new developments requires attention ~ the leaking of the Jewish Labour Movement’s report to the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) and, the release of a new video about anti-Semitism (which I will explain in detail further on).
Firstly, further emphasis is needed on the fact that Labour is being investigated by the EHRC in the first place, as they are the only party (alongside the far-right BNP) to have been subjected to this.
Yet, not just are Labour being investigated by the organisation for anti-Semitism, but the leaked submission from the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) to the EHRC has revealed a problem far deeper than many thought.
As a Twitter thread by ex-Labour councillor Frances Weetman laid out, the report revealed quite how deep the rot is within the party. As she reported, a Jewish Labour member was subjected to nearly two-dozen examples of anti-Semitic abuse at a Labour Party meeting, another was told by a Labour delegate that Jews were “subhuman” and that Jews should “be grateful we don’t make them eat bacon… every day”.
Meanwhile, others used — as has become a frequent problem among Labour members — Israel as a way to justify/deny their anti-Semitism, with abuse such as “dirty Zionist” being used by party members. This gets to the heart of the issue that; while criticising Israel (the only majority Jewish country) isn’t automatically anti-Semitic, using anti-Semitic while doing so definitely is, as is denying that Israel has a right to exist.
After all, shouldn’t it go without saying that the marginalised Jewish community needs a homeland?
The full report, which contains even more disturbing information, can be found *here*.
Any hopes that such prejudiced attitudes may be confined to a tiny fringe within the party was dashed this week, when a YouGov poll — which gave respondents a series of anti-Semitic statements — found that 58% of “ardent” Corbyn supporters agreed with at least two of the anti-Semitic statements — more than double the level of that for any of the“ardent” supporters of Swinson, Johnson and Farage.
This week there was also a video that showcased the hypocrisy of Corbyn-supporters defences of the Labour leader and anti-Semitism. It involved Corbyn supporters being told anti-Semitic things Corbyn has done/said but instead being told Boris Johnson had said them. It was then revealed to them at the end that Corbyn had, in fact, said those things, not Johnson.
The result was that the Labour supporters in the video initially agreed — without hesitation — that the remarks were anti-Semitic, before trying to reverse what they said after finding out the truth, even resorting to blatant anti-Semitism themselves to justify Corbyn’s actions. For instance, one response from a Labour supporter in the video was to say, “well Jews… do manipulate things” and when asked why nearly 50% of British Jews would consider leaving the UK if Corbyn became Prime Minister, another Labour supporter argued Jews would leave Britain, because, “they’ve got all these offshore accounts and they don’t want to pay tax”.
While good leaders bring out the best in people, Corbyn causes his supporters to engage in anti-Semitic conspiracism and creates the prospect of a Britain where 50% of Jewish people would no longer feel like they could live in it. While his supporters use the argument of the ‘greater good’ as a reason to vote Labour, the truth is; there’s no ‘greater good’ to be found in legitimising a hateful and dangerous ideology and the argument that the ‘ends justify the means’ has been used to justify all sorts of atrocities throughout history and, there is a very real risk that we fail to learn that lesson in 2019. To elect Jeremy Corbyn as PM — even if it is done by voting for moderate, socially liberal, Labour MPs — would be to legitimise hate and bigotry, to ignore the concerns of the vast majority of Jewish people and it would destroy, for the foreseeable future, the prospect of having a welcoming, accepting, anti-racist Labour Party in Britain.
I don’t say this as someone who supports the current Government — I have seen first hand the devastating impact of Tory austerity on communities like mine. And, I say this as someone who listens to the pro-Corbyn side and initially liked Corbyn, before seeing the true damage he had done to the party I used to be a member of. Anti-Semitism in Labour is real, Jewish voters concerns are real and, to protect their rights they rely on us to be their allies; so please, do what the vast majority of Jewish people are going to do next Thursday and, don’t vote Labour.
