Statement on “Labour’s problem with antisemitism”
Left Unity is republishing the statement from the Jewish Socialists’ Group on antisemitism and the Labour Party which reflects our position on this question.
Antisemitism exists and must be exposed and fought against in the same way as other forms of racism by all who are concerned with combating racism and fascism.
Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are not the same. Zionism is a political ideology which has always been contested within Jewish life since it emerged in 1897, and it is entirely legitimate for non-Jews as well as Jews to express opinions about it, whether positive or negative. Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Zionists are Jews.
Criticism of Israeli government policy and Israeli state actions against the Palestinians is not antisemitism. Those who conflate criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism, whether they are supporters or opponents of Israeli policy, are actually helping the antisemites. We reject any attempt, from whichever quarter, to place legitimate criticism of Israeli policy beyond the Pale.
Accusations of antisemitism are currently being weaponised to attack the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour party with claims that Labour has a “problem” of antisemitism. This is despite Corbyn’s longstanding record of actively opposing fascism and all forms of racism, and being a firm a supporter of the rights of refugees and of human rights globally.
A very small number of such cases seem to be real instances of antisemitism. Others represent genuine criticism of Israeli policy and support for Palestinian rights, but expressed in clumsy and ambiguous language, which may unknowingly cross a line into antisemitism. Further cases are simply forthright expressions of support for Palestinian rights, which condemn Israeli government policy and aspects of Zionist ideology, and have nothing whatsoever to do with antisemitism.
The accusations do not refer to antisemitic actions but usually to comments, often made on social media, long before Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership. Those making the charges now, did not see fit to bring them up at the time, under previous Labour leaders, but are using them now, just before mayoral and local elections, when they believe they can inflict most damage on the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn.
The attack is coming from four main sources, who share agendas: to undermine Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Labour; to defend Israeli government policy from attack, however unjust, racist and harmful towards the Palestinian people; and to discredit those who make legitimate criticisms of Israeli policy or Zionism as a political ideology. As anti-racist and anti-fascist Jews who are also campaigning for peace with justice between Israelis and Palestinians, we entirely reject these cynical agendas that are being expressed by:
• The Conservative Party
• Conservative-supporting media in Britain and pro-Zionist Israeli media sources
• Right-wing and pro-Zionist elements claiming to speak on behalf of the Jewish community
• Opponents of Jeremy Corbyn within the Labour party.
The Jewish Socialists’ Group recognises that ordinary Jewish people are rightly concerned and fearful about instances of antisemitism. We share their concerns and a have a proud and consistent record of challenging and campaigning against antisemitism. But we will not support those making false accusations for cynical political motives, including the Conservative Party, who are running a racist campaign against Sadiq Khan, and whose leader David Cameron has referred to desperate refugees, as “a swarm” and “a bunch of migrants”. The Conservative Party demonstrated their contempt for Lord Dubs, a Jewish refugee from Nazism, when they voted down en masse an amendment a few days ago to allow 3,000 child refugees into Britain while Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn, gave total support to Lord Dubs and his amendment.
The Jewish Socialists’ Group sees the current fearmongering about antisemitism in the Labour Party for what it is – a conscious and concerted effort by right-wing political forces to undermine the growing support among Jews and non-Jews alike for the Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, and a measure of the desperation of his opponents.
We stand against antisemitism, against racism and fascism and in support of refugees. We stand for free speech and open debate on Israel, Palestine and Zionism.
28 April 2016
5 comments
5 responses to “Statement on “Labour’s problem with antisemitism””
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This is a clear and concise statement that we should all read and ingest the truths behind what is happening
How about getting Ken Loach to speak out on this and the Perdition play he directed in 1987 which backs up Livingstone (and now Galloway. He could also talk about the censorship campaign run by Zionism to suppress the play, a first in censorship in Briatin. Here is some past commentary:—
After Jim Allen died in June 1999, Loach said in his obituary in The Guardian (27th June 1999) that “One of the pleasures of his last days was its current successful revival at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill”. Loach summed up the story behind the play: it was how “some Zionists” in Hungary in 1944 had done a deal with the Nazi’s:
“In which a certain number of Jews would be allowed to escape to Palestine in return for silence about the destination of those bound for the concentration camps”.
Loach also observed how previous attacks on Allen and the play:
“Were as nothing compared to the Zionist fury unleashed when the play was being rehearsed. To Jim’s disgust, and to the shame of the Royal Court, the play was withdrawn. Crude charges of anti-Semitism were discounted by critics when the play was heard in public at the Edinburgh Festival”.
This comment by Don Hoskins sadly shows that the left has still not got it about its own anti-Semitic tendencies. (By the way I am a Jewish leftist who was briefly on the J SG national committee, and I support the statement, as far as it goes.)
Ken Livingstone’s behaviour, and the use of Nazi-Zionist negotiations by white English Gentiles to attack Zionism is despicable. It’s also, if not explicitly anti-Semitic at least very indicative of an underlying anti-Semitic mindset. This issue is the most painful and morally difficult and ambiguous question for Jews. We have been arguing about it ever since. Yes, the leaders of the Jewish ghettos in Nazi Eastern Europe tried to at least save some Jews by following the orders the Nazis gave them, and some Zionists tried to bargain for Jewish lives. Faced with genocide, and with no real weapons to oppose Nazism, what would you have done? I would respectfully suggest that white English Gentiles (as I assume from your name, my apologies if I’m wrong), sitting comfortably in front of their computers 70 years later, should shut up about this. We don’t need your moral superiority, thank you very much. Let’s see how you behave when somebody tries to wipe YOU off the face of the earth. Especially considering the failure of the British to bomb the railway lines to Auschwitz, even though they knew very well what was happening there. And whose imperial policy was it exactly that got the Jews into this impossible position?
Ken Livingstone could quite rightly have talked about Israeli oppression of Palestinians, but no, he goes straight for the Nazi negotiations card. To the face of a Jewish broadcaster! What does that tell me about him, and his underlying image of Jews (which he is quite likely, like most English Gentiles entirely unaware of)? To me it says that his underlying image of Jews is that we are essentially unprincipled and unscrupulous. Remind you of anything? What it reminds me of is anti-Semitism, Christian anti-Semitism in particular, which pervades English culture. The whole thing with Christianity is that it regards itself as morally superior, with its supposed philosophy of love and universalism versus the Jews’ violence, hatred and tribalism. Of course, we decent English chaps would never have negotiated with Hitler, would we? The left has its own politically-correct version of that moral superiority.
There’s a lot more to be said about English anti-Semitism and the particular version of it that the left tends to subscribe to. But one general aspect of it is that middle class and liberal-left English people will never say honestly, ‘I don’t like Jews’. Instead, you’ll tell us that your best friend is Jewish, and that you’ve been an anti-racist all your life. So, we’ve had to get good at reading the subtexts, and yes, sometimes we are a bit paranoid. But we sure know a lot more about it than you do. If you really want to fight anti-Semitism, you’ll have to get over your indignation at the obnoxious way that the issue of anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism gets used by Zionists and the right to attack the left. You’ll have to take a proper look at yourselves. Start by asking a Jew about their experience of anti-Semitism, and then listen, don’t tell them that they’re wrong, and that you know better.
thank god some one has had the temerity to respond to the real extremists in and out of the labour party . this shows how fearful the extreme right are of socialism and anti austerity ,which Labour has failed to address under Blaire at all
I just wanted to say thanks Dave King, for the above, sane comments on this whole area and few and far between, and I’ve been searching. Where’s the like button when you actually want one?