Jeremy Corbyn could end Labour’s anti-Semitism row in an instant. So why doesn’t he? By Boris Johnson
Posted By Ruth King on July 29th, 2018
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/07/29/jeremy-corbyn-could-end-anti-semitism-row-instant-choosing-not/
The party leader fails to control bigotry because
he sees Israel as the Middle East’s worst offender
Anti-Semitism is like a virus. It can spread fast among a population. The history of continental Europe shows that otherwise kindly and rational people can be encouraged to start spouting odious prejudice.
Even in this country we have seen episodes in the past 1,000 years when that virus has raged through society, with catastrophic results; and we have also seen how it can then go dormant. The spores of hate will wait beneath the floorboards. Then all of a sudden, one day, the disease can flare up – but not spontaneously, not without help.
When anti-Semitism takes hold again, it is because that virus has been potentiated by the stupidity or opportunism of politicians. When you look at what is happening in the Labour Party today – the real fear and distress of Margaret Hodge MP – it is clear that something is going badly wrong.
Last week, all three main Jewish papers cleared their front pages for a joint editorial claiming that Jeremy Corbyn presented an “existential threat” to the Jewish community in Britain. At the very least there has been a disastrous breakdown of trust; and no wonder.
You will find Labour councillors – representatives of the main party of opposition in this country – sharing stuff on social media about blood-drinking and baby-killing that properly belong to the pogroms of the Middle Ages. Go on to the social media pages of these suspended councillors and you will find Holocaust denial and other vile lies.
How could anyone peddle this kind of thing? There is outrage and bafflement and pain; and amidst it all we have a leader of the Labour Party who is so boneheaded that he refuses to close down the furore in the way that everyone is urging – which is to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that has been accepted by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the judiciary, and 130 local councils.
There is clearly something about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) wording that sticks in Corbyn’s craw. What is it?
It seems, incredibly, that Corbyn really does dispute their examples of anti-Semitic behaviour. In a nutshell, the IHRA says that it would be hurtful and anti-Semitic to claim that the state of Israel is a “racist endeavour”; or to draw comparisons between Israeli policy and Nazi Germany. Corbyn thinks it should be acceptable to say both.
It is easy to see why he has caused such offence to so many Jewish people. Of course it is legitimate, and in my view wholly proper, to criticise both the Israeli government and Israeli policy. The UK has been fierce in its denunciation of illegal settlements, of the destruction of Bedouin villages and Palestinian homes, and of the firing on unarmed protesters in Gaza.
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
IHRA example of anti-Semitism
The UK remains in the forefront of those calling for a two-state solution, and indeed the UK is increasingly alarmed that the prospects for that solution are receding. We have been voluble in making these points, in public and in private, to everyone from Benjamin Netanyahu down. We reserve the right to criticise Israeli behaviour and policy, and I don’t believe there is anything remotely anti‑Semitic about such criticism.
But Corbyn goes a step further. He believes that it should be perfectly proper to claim that Israel is a “racist endeavour” – that Zionism equals racism – and in doing so he deliberately or unconsciously legitimates a fairly nauseating line of attack on all the millions of Jewish people who, to a greater or lesser extent, identify with Israel.
To call someone a racist is, these days, pretty much the ultimate insult. To say that the country they love and admire is inherently racist, and can be properly compared to Nazi Germany – that is a hard and heavy thing. For those Jewish people who to some degree identify with Israel – the vast majority – it goes to their identity; and of course it can feel like anti-Semitism.
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Anti-Semitism is like a virus. It can spread fast among a population. The history of continental Europe shows that otherwise kindly and rational people can be encouraged to start spouting odious prejudice.
Even in this country we have seen episodes in the past 1,000 years when that virus has raged through society, with catastrophic results; and we have also seen how it can then go dormant. The spores of hate will wait beneath the floorboards. Then all of a sudden, one day, the disease can flare up – but not spontaneously, not without help.
When anti-Semitism takes hold again, it is because that virus has been potentiated by the stupidity or opportunism of politicians. When you look at what is happening in the Labour Party today – the real fear and distress of Margaret Hodge MP – it is clear that something is going badly wrong.
Last week, all three main Jewish papers cleared their front pages for a joint editorial claiming that Jeremy Corbyn presented an “existential threat” to the Jewish community in Britain. At the very least there has been a disastrous breakdown of trust; and no wonder.
You will find Labour councillors – representatives of the main party of opposition in this country – sharing stuff on social media about blood-drinking and baby-killing that properly belong to the pogroms of the Middle Ages. Go on to the social media pages of these suspended councillors and you will find Holocaust denial and other vile lies.
How could anyone peddle this kind of thing? There is outrage and bafflement and pain; and amidst it all we have a leader of the Labour Party who is so boneheaded that he refuses to close down the furore in the way that everyone is urging – which is to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that has been accepted by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the judiciary, and 130 local councils.
There is clearly something about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) wording that sticks in Corbyn’s craw. What is it?
It seems, incredibly, that Corbyn really does dispute their examples of anti-Semitic behaviour. In a nutshell, the IHRA says that it would be hurtful and anti-Semitic to claim that the state of Israel is a “racist endeavour”; or to draw comparisons between Israeli policy and Nazi Germany. Corbyn thinks it should be acceptable to say both.
It is easy to see why he has caused such offence to so many Jewish people. Of course it is legitimate, and in my view wholly proper, to criticise both the Israeli government and Israeli policy. The UK has been fierce in its denunciation of illegal settlements, of the destruction of Bedouin villages and Palestinian homes, and of the firing on unarmed protesters in Gaza.
The UK remains in the forefront of those calling for a two-state solution, and indeed the UK is increasingly alarmed that the prospects for that solution are receding. We have been voluble in making these points, in public and in private, to everyone from Benjamin Netanyahu down. We reserve the right to criticise Israeli behaviour and policy, and I don’t believe there is anything remotely anti‑Semitic about such criticism.
But Corbyn goes a step further. He believes that it should be perfectly proper to claim that Israel is a “racist endeavour” – that Zionism equals racism – and in doing so he deliberately or unconsciously legitimates a fairly nauseating line of attack on all the millions of Jewish people who, to a greater or lesser extent, identify with Israel.
To call someone a racist is, these days, pretty much the ultimate insult. To say that the country they love and admire is inherently racist, and can be properly compared to Nazi Germany – that is a hard and heavy thing. For those Jewish people who to some degree identify with Israel – the vast majority – it goes to their identity; and of course it can feel like anti-Semitism.