A Lesson in Anti-Semitism Look across the pond to see where the Democrats could end up.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-lesson-in-anti-semitism-11550189084
Bipartisan support for Israel has long been a feature of American politics. But as the Democratic Party moves further left, it is increasingly home to vociferous anti-Israel voices. An anti-Semitism crisis in the United Kingdom’s Labour Party shows what happens when a political party doesn’t rebut such views.
Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby recently announced that the party had received 673 complaints of anti-Semitic acts by its members in the past 10 months. These numbers are likely low. Margaret Hodge, a longtime Labour Member of Parliament, said she had filed some 200 grievances since the fall. Well-known television personality Rachel Riley has been subject to vile online abuse for her efforts to expose Labour anti-Semitism.
This is a lesson for U.S. Democrats tempted to excuse anti-Semitism in their ranks as over-enthusiastic political opposition to Israeli policies from neophyte politicians. That’s how Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn got his start, attacking Israel from Parliament’s back benches. After hailing Hamas and Hezbollah representatives as “our friends” and attending a wreath-laying at the graves of 1972 Munich terrorists, Mr. Corbyn and Labour tried last summer to blur the line between anti-Israel views and anti-Semitism when adopting a definition of the latter for use in party disciplinary matters.
Some American Democrats admire Mr. Corbyn. Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crowed on Twitter earlier this month about a long and inspiring phone call she had with the Labour leader. American Democratic leaders seem to understand how dangerous such rhetoric is—but then so did Mr. Corbyn’s Labour predecessors who didn’t take his ideological challenge seriously. Democrats need to make an affirmative case for supporting the Jewish state, lest anti-Israeli politics evolve into outright anti-Semitism.
Appeared in the February 15, 2019, print edition.
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