Before we begin, let’s address some obvious critiques:
“You’re only doing this to rub it in!”
No, I’m not. Rubbing it in would be mocking the election results and how The Tories have the largest number of seats in decades. It’d also be me going “YoU gOt WhAt YoU dEsErVe!” to Labour sympathizers. I don’t plan to rub it in, because that’d make me a dick. I’m doing this because it’s on my mind, I care, and my conscience won’t leave me be.
“Great, another Tory sympathizer!”
I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m not from The UK. Even if I were, why assume that? I haven’t voted Conservative in Canada in years, and even now I regret it. This kind of “you’re a __” nonsense is reductive, unhelpful and exactly the ideological puritanism that held Elizabeth Warren back with many DSA voters.
“You live in Canada, so what do you know?”
Admittedly, not enough. I’m still figuring out how Donald Trump became POTUS, even though part of me has given up trying to. However, I try my best as a Jew and concerned citizen to keep up on politics, and this is that. And while I’m aware that Corbyn’s Antisemitism has been weaponized, I’m also aware that ignoring it only amplifies it.
“You’re only doing this because you hate Corbyn!”
I don’t like any politicians, even the “good ones”. Not only is the job description shifty, but past experience has taught me to keep political figures, like celebrities, at an arm’s distance.
“The Tories are worse!”
I’m not talking about The Tories right now. Try again.
“This is about his treatment of Palestinians, isn’t it?”
No, but nice try. I’ll cover that in greater detail later, but there’s a fine line between advocating for Palestinian rights and flagrant Antisemitism.
“Corbyn did nothing wrong!”
Thank you, Joo Dee. The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai…
Anyway, on with the show.
My first encounter with Corbyn came shortly after Brexit. I knew he was unpopular in England, and I knew he had “baggage”, but I was unaware of his Antisemitism until a rabbi I trusted started writing about him on Facebook. Said rabbi was British, and he was well-informed about this. Everything was later corroborated by a journalist I Follow on Twitter, followed by an Israel-rights advocate, another rabbi, several political commenters and, finally, a black Jewish woman living in England. Take that as you will.
I was dumbfounded by what I kept hearing: 87% of British Jewry was concerned about a Labour win under Corbyn? Yikes! Jews never agree on anything, even when they do! 87%? Did I read that correctly?
Sadly, it wasn’t long before I’d start hearing some backlash: this was libel and slander. People were unfairly smearing Corbyn’s reputation. Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. Ignoring how bizarre that last one is, because racism doesn’t work that way, it seemed like something was amiss. It didn’t help that every attempt at piecing it together ended with an argument. Lord knows how many people I’ve Blocked on Twitter because of this…
I want to be clear that I don’t think the British Antisemitism problem began with Corbyn. Nor do I think it’ll magically disappear with Keir Starmer. Like Trump and the GOP, these issues existed for decades, perhaps even centuries, before they “mysteriously boiled to the surface”. If you want proof, read The Merchant of Venice. That was written a century before Jews were allowed back into England.
All Corbyn had done was allow Antisemitism to go from covert to overt under his tenure. How much was overblown, I’m not sure, but you can read this Medium post for more detail. (Seriously, she put a lot of research into it. Go check it out.)
What bugs isn’t whether or not Corbyn was aware of his Antisemitism. That’s a judgement of character that I can’t make, being in another country. Rather, my concern’s with how frequently his defenders, or Corbynistas, were quick to dismiss anything as “smears”. Like when Rabbi Sacks penned a critique against Corbyn, and was immediately labelled “a right-wing extremist”. Or when Rabbi Mirvis penned a less-refined critique against Corbyn, and he received similar backlash. Or when 68 rabbis from different denominations penned a joint letter criticizing Corbyn, and shortly afterward there were calls to attack them. Irrespective of whether or not the tabloids were feeding into this for clicks, this is nonsense you’d expect in a totalitarian state, not a democracy.
Sadly, it wasn’t long before I’d start hearing some backlash: this was libel and slander. People were unfairly smearing Corbyn’s reputation. Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. Ignoring how bizarre that last one is, because racism doesn’t work that way, it seemed like something was amiss. It didn’t help that every attempt at piecing it together ended with an argument. Lord knows how many people I’ve Blocked on Twitter because of this…
I want to be clear that I don’t think the British Antisemitism problem began with Corbyn. Nor do I think it’ll magically disappear with Keir Starmer. Like Trump and the GOP, these issues existed for decades, perhaps even centuries, before they “mysteriously boiled to the surface”. If you want proof, read The Merchant of Venice. That was written a century before Jews were allowed back into England.
All Corbyn had done was allow Antisemitism to go from covert to overt under his tenure. How much was overblown, I’m not sure, but you can read this Medium post for more detail. (Seriously, she put a lot of research into it. Go check it out.)
What bugs isn’t whether or not Corbyn was aware of his Antisemitism. That’s a judgement of character that I can’t make, being in another country. Rather, my concern’s with how frequently his defenders, or Corbynistas, were quick to dismiss anything as “smears”. Like when Rabbi Sacks penned a critique against Corbyn, and was immediately labelled “a right-wing extremist”. Or when Rabbi Mirvis penned a less-refined critique against Corbyn, and he received similar backlash. Or when 68 rabbis from different denominations penned a joint letter criticizing Corbyn, and shortly afterward there were calls to attack them. Irrespective of whether or not the tabloids were feeding into this for clicks, this is nonsense you’d expect in a totalitarian state, not a democracy.
One of the common threads here was that the “Zionists were out of get Corbyn because he supports Palestinian rights”. Firstly, cut the middleman. Don’t call them ‘’Zionists”, call them “Jews”. Be more forthcoming with your Antisemitism, okay?
Secondly, while partly to do with Israel, it wasn’t only about Israel. Besides, who says Jewish Zionists are against Palestinian statehood? They’re not a monolith. If feminism can have gradients and still be valid, then so can Zionism. This isn’t hard.
Thirdly, and I hate repeating this constantly, criticizing Israel isn’t inherently Antisemitic…when it’s done in the context of a country. Israel, while not a demonic presence, isn’t saintly. They’ve made some really terrible choices over the last 72 years, and they’ll probably make more. But Israelis are aware of this. And Israelis are some of the country’s biggest critics. Then again, the left would know this collectively if they weren’t scared to adopt The IHRA’s milquetoast definition on Antisemitism (seriously, it’s not that controversial).
The problem with making this only about Israel is that you end up waddling in Antisemitism. While most Jews are Zionists, not all of them are. And not all of them were calling Corbyn out on that. In fact, some who called out Corbyn’s Antisemitism were also anti-Zionist. You need to read between the lines.
Arguably the biggest slap in the face was that Corbynistas were requesting that people talk about Tory Antisemitism instead. This is irrelevant to the issue at hand. You wouldn’t make that kind of “what about” argument with any other minority, so why Jews? Why are we worthy of such scorn?
Actually, you want to talk Tories? Let’s discuss how Theresa May was less in favour of Brexit than Corbyn supposedly was. Or how Corbyn had three elections against two Tory leaders-Theresa May and Boris Johnson-in 4 years and lost to both, especially during The Tories’ lowest lows. I know I’m breaking my promise to not be petty, but it’s embarrassing to make your already-weak opposition look good in comparison. Or maybe that’s indication that the internet isn’t reflective of real life, I don’t know.
Also, while Tory Antisemitism’s real and dangerous, to assume that Labour Antisemitism isn’t a threat because it doesn’t involve violence is one of the reasons this’ll never see a resolution. Like Louis Farrakhan, you can’t pawn this problem off to the other side in hopes that it’ll go away. Jews deserve better than that.
Thirdly, and I hate repeating this constantly, criticizing Israel isn’t inherently Antisemitic…when it’s done in the context of a country. Israel, while not a demonic presence, isn’t saintly. They’ve made some really terrible choices over the last 72 years, and they’ll probably make more. But Israelis are aware of this. And Israelis are some of the country’s biggest critics. Then again, the left would know this collectively if they weren’t scared to adopt The IHRA’s milquetoast definition on Antisemitism (seriously, it’s not that controversial).
The problem with making this only about Israel is that you end up waddling in Antisemitism. While most Jews are Zionists, not all of them are. And not all of them were calling Corbyn out on that. In fact, some who called out Corbyn’s Antisemitism were also anti-Zionist. You need to read between the lines.
Arguably the biggest slap in the face was that Corbynistas were requesting that people talk about Tory Antisemitism instead. This is irrelevant to the issue at hand. You wouldn’t make that kind of “what about” argument with any other minority, so why Jews? Why are we worthy of such scorn?
Actually, you want to talk Tories? Let’s discuss how Theresa May was less in favour of Brexit than Corbyn supposedly was. Or how Corbyn had three elections against two Tory leaders-Theresa May and Boris Johnson-in 4 years and lost to both, especially during The Tories’ lowest lows. I know I’m breaking my promise to not be petty, but it’s embarrassing to make your already-weak opposition look good in comparison. Or maybe that’s indication that the internet isn’t reflective of real life, I don’t know.
Also, while Tory Antisemitism’s real and dangerous, to assume that Labour Antisemitism isn’t a threat because it doesn’t involve violence is one of the reasons this’ll never see a resolution. Like Louis Farrakhan, you can’t pawn this problem off to the other side in hopes that it’ll go away. Jews deserve better than that.
Then there’s the issue of the investigation under Starmer, which involved probing The Labour Party to see if Corbyn was really the issue. To be fair, I haven’t seen it. But being Canadian, I can’t even access it online anyway. All I know is what this page’s abstract suggests:
Yes: people are tired. I’m tired. I’d like nothing more than for this to be a bad dream. It’s exhausting to point out that there’s a problem, only for people to play semantics. But ignoring the issue won’t make it go away. Challenging it, however, will.
So what now? Well, Corbyn’s been suspended from his own party. I also wasn’t happy with how France’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon called Corbyn’s loss last a year “a Likud conspiracy”. Considering how it took three elections for The Likud to form a coalition government this past year, that’s insulting. It’s also Antisemitic.
It feels like this’ll never end, which is frustrating. I remember the 4 years of anxiety, and how trying to play peacemaker got me into arguments I didn’t want to be part of. Remember, Jews are people too. That long-time Jewish Labour voters had to justify why they were voting Liberal Democrat or Green in 2019, to the point of being ostracized, should be a tell-all. We deserve better.
It’s also worth mentioning that listening to British Jews is important. And not only fringe Jews or Jews who agree with you, but those who are more mainstream. Because we’re not a monolith. And if the 87% figure is to be believed, then chances are more Jews were worried about Corbyn than not worried. That’s important.
“In April 2020, shortly after Keir Starmer replaced Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party, an internal party report concerning the workings of Labour's internal disciplinary unit in relation to antisemitism was leaked to the media. This report was over 850 pages long and was intended to be submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is conducting an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism in the Party. However, Labour's lawyers refused to allow it to be used, almost certainly because the content was so damaging to the Party's own defence. It confirmed many of the claims made by Jewish Party members and community organisations during Corbyn's leadership of the party, namely that the disciplinary system was not fit for purpose and cases of alleged antisemitism were ignored or delayed and punishments were too weak. When it was leaked the report caused a scandal because it claimed that Corbyn's efforts to deal with antisemitism were sabotaged by his own Party staff, who were mostly drawn from factions opposed to his left wing project. Furthermore, the report claimed that this was part of a broader conspiracy against Corbyn that even extended to Labour Party staff trying to prevent a Labour victory in the 2017 General Election. The leaked report is selective and inaccurate in many respects and ignores the role played by Corbyn and his close advisers in denying the problem of antisemitism existed. Nor does it address the reasons why people with antisemitic views were attracted to Labour under his leadership. It is most likely that it was written to allow Corbyn and his supporters to continue to claim that their project did not fail on its own merits, but was betrayed by internal saboteur”
Not the most-promising of conclusions. I don’t claim to be an expert on legal or political drama, but that this is still up in the air after an internal investigation should raise flags.Yes: people are tired. I’m tired. I’d like nothing more than for this to be a bad dream. It’s exhausting to point out that there’s a problem, only for people to play semantics. But ignoring the issue won’t make it go away. Challenging it, however, will.
So what now? Well, Corbyn’s been suspended from his own party. I also wasn’t happy with how France’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon called Corbyn’s loss last a year “a Likud conspiracy”. Considering how it took three elections for The Likud to form a coalition government this past year, that’s insulting. It’s also Antisemitic.
It feels like this’ll never end, which is frustrating. I remember the 4 years of anxiety, and how trying to play peacemaker got me into arguments I didn’t want to be part of. Remember, Jews are people too. That long-time Jewish Labour voters had to justify why they were voting Liberal Democrat or Green in 2019, to the point of being ostracized, should be a tell-all. We deserve better.
It’s also worth mentioning that listening to British Jews is important. And not only fringe Jews or Jews who agree with you, but those who are more mainstream. Because we’re not a monolith. And if the 87% figure is to be believed, then chances are more Jews were worried about Corbyn than not worried. That’s important.
Still, I guess Corbyn being in the background now should provide Jews some level of closure for-ah, who am I kidding? This nightmare will never end! God help us all!
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