On November 25, 2019, an article appeared in The Times (London). The article, written by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, was headlined “What will become of Jews in Britain if Labour forms the next government?” and stated that “the overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety.” The Chief Rabbi has headed the United Hebrew Congregations since 2013, is the spiritual leader of the UK’s 62 orthodox synagogues, and as such is a major spokesperson for the wider Jewish community.
Ever since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, the Labour Party has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism and has been forced to respond to a series of allegations of the same. However, the Party’s responses appear not to have allayed the concerns of most British Jews, whatever their actual affiliations. Notably, British Jewry is a particularly small community, with only 263, 346 people having described themselves as Jewish in the 2011 census. This number is lower than that of the individual populations of as many as fifteen boroughs of London. Furthermore, the community comprises various denominations and strands of opinion, including Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, Reform, Liberal, Masorti, Sephardi, as well as a significant number of secular and frequently non-observant Jews.
A working definition of Anti-Semitism was adopted by a Plenary of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in Bucharest on May 26 2016. Certain illustrative examples of anti-Semitic behaviour were cited, which included the targeting the actions of the state of Israel as a collective responsibility of the Jewish people, denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination through the existence of the state of Israel, and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. At the same time, it was accepted that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”. In July 2018, Labour adopted a new anti-Semitism code, which fell short of the IHRA definition, particularly in its stance towards Israel, before going on to adopt the full IHRA definition and examples after protests by Jewish leaders and some Labour MPs.
There is a widespread perception that Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership has both attracted new members and facilitated existing members who hold anti-Semitic views, largely as a result of their support for the Palestinian people, coupled with anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli views. There is also a view that Corbyn himself has, on many occasions, displayed solidarity with known anti-Semitic individuals and groups, and thereby is guilty by association of being an anti-Semite.
On April 29 2016, Corbyn asked Shami Chakrabarti, a barrister and human rights campaigner, to chair an “An inquiry into the antisemitism and other forms of racism in the Labour Party”. The report, produced in conjunction with two Vice-Chairs-Professor David Feldman and Baroness Royall-appeared on June 30 2016, and concluded that “The Labour Party is not overrun by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or other forms of racism”. The inquiry had been prompted by the suspensions from the Labour Party of Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West (for anti-Semitic comments on Twitter), and Ken Livingstone, ex-Mayor of London (for suggesting that Hitler had supported Zionism). The inquiry has subsequently been widely regarded as nothing more than a “whitewash”, which has failed to recognise and address the real issues.
The question of whether there is widespread anti-Semitism within the Labour Party remains unanswered. Several Jewish Labour MPs have recently criticised the leadership and some have even resigned from the Party, including Luciana Berger and Dame Louise Ellman, for lack of perceived support in addressing issues of anti-Semitism within the Party. In February 2019, the Labour Party received 673 accusations of anti-Semitism from Party members between April 2018 and January 2019. A Party which once was known for its wide support within the Jewish community appears to have distanced itself from its historical ties and allegiances, for a variety of unrelated reasons.
What about Jeremy Corbyn himself ?. He has been repeatedly criticised for his solidarity with Hamas and Hezbollah, terrorist groups with strongly held anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views. Some specific incidents also play into this narrative. For example, in 2010, Corbyn hosted an event at the House of Commons during which Hajo Meyer, a Jewish Auschwitz survivor and anti-Zionist, spoke on “The Misuse of the Holocaust for Political Purposes” and compared Israel to Nazi Germany. In 2012, he lamented on Facebook about the removal of a public mural “Freedom of Humanity” in East London. According to the painter, Mear One (Kalen Ockerman), the mural showed bankers “made up of Jewish and white Anglos”. Then again, in 2014, he attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunis for victims of the 1985 Israeli bombing of the Palestinian Labour Organisation (PLO) headquarters. This event took place near graves of PLO officials with links to the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. None of these necessarily confirm that he is personally an anti-Semite, but his responses to any resulting accusations have frequently failed to reassure. If anything, he has portrayed himself as the victim of a vendetta by the media and political opponents opposed to his personal stance on Palestine and the state of Israel.
What is actually happening within the Labour Party as of now ? There appears to a backlog of unresolved complaints and investigations relating to anti-Semitism that have yet to be addressed. A wide spectrum of Jewish opinion continues to believe that there is widespread anti-Semitism within the party-a belief that was articulated in May 2018 by the simultaneous appearance of the same front page in three UK newspapers, warning that a Corbyn-led government was an “existential threat to Jewish life”. The Labour Party is currently under statutory investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission as to whether it “unlawfully discriminated against harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish”.
Whatever the hidden agendas, there is no doubt that the Labour Party’s handling of the issue of anti-Semitism has at times appeared feeble, ambivalent and indecisive. It is a tragedy that large sections of the Jewish community, one that has had such a positive impact on British society that is significantly disproportionate to its small size, feel “insecure” at the prospect of a Labour government. It is, apart from anything else, a public relations disaster that could have been averted if handled differently and with more sensitivity. At a time of rising anti-Semitism on the European mainland, the political system in the UK needs to unequivocally reassert its anti-racist agenda.
Ashis Banerjee