Cohens, Corbyns and Common Ground (Formerly Published on 12th October 2018)

Does Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party have a problem with anti-Semitism? That’s actually a fairly easy question to answer. It simply depends how much you have to have it in for Israel to be called anti-Semitic.

Yes, the Left contains a sprinkling of conspiracy theorists, holocaust deniers and spiteful human beings, but if it wasn’t for Israel and the Palestinians they wouldn’t have a cause to hide behind; nobody in Labour would give them the time of day and they would take their prejudices elsewhere. But the bottom line is that the Labour Left has it in for Israel and mainstream Jewish bodies have it in for Labour because the Labour Left has it in for Israel.

Jeremy Corbyn clearly has it in for Israel, which is why the more he tries to make the whole anti-Semitism thing go away, the worse it gets. Official inquiries, interminable suspensions, meetings with Jewish leaders. All are of no avail. And just when things can’t get any worse, Jeremy tries to reassure us by declaring that anti-Semitism is a ‘social cancer’ or by promising to ‘root it out’. Oh yes, and his mother fought in the Battle of Cable Street.

It seems like every day the list of accusations gets longer. Calling Hamas and Hezbollah delegates his friends. Praising a mural that depicts hook nosed Jewish bankers. Accusing an Israeli Ambassador of feeding buzz words to MPs about the Gaza flotilla. Attending a terrorist’s memorial service. And worst of all, telling a group of Israel supporters that they have no sense of irony. A word of advice Jeremy. People who have no sense of irony tend to get offended when you tell them that they have no sense of irony.

Of course, one of the biggest ironies of this whole shenanigans is how many Corbyn supporters, Momentum activists and anti-Zionist protesters are themselves Jewish, or half Jewish, or are married to someone Jewish, or else they think they remember their great great grandma lighting candles on a Friday night. No anti-Israel demonstration is complete without an ultra-orthodox contingent from Neturei Karta. Even Ken Livingstone decided he thought he might be Jewish after he got suspended for claiming that Hitler supported Zionism.

Most British Jews are not anti-Zionists of course and they don’t support Jeremy Corbyn. In fact some are quite scared. In a 2017 survey conducted by YouGov, almost a third of British Jews said they’d considered leaving the country due to anti-Semitism. Bodies like the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Labour Movement have waged a relentless campaign against the Labour Leadership and their worries have been echoed by chief rabbis past and present.

Of course peoples’ fears don’t always reflect the reality on the ground. The same Yougov poll found anti-Semitism considerably lower among Labour supporters than among supporters of any other party. I have plenty of non-Jewish friends, colleagues and acquaintances from across the political and religious spectrum. Few show much more interest in Israel and the Palestinians than they do in Tonga and the Tongans. Fewer still have given me any reason to think they have any serious issues with Jews. If I were a British Muslim I’d be feeling far more vulnerable right now than I’ve ever felt being Jewish.

But it isn’t just Jewish people accusing Labour of anti-Semitism. For Conservatives and Blairites alike; the opportunity to vilify their political opponents as Jew haters is too good to miss. When Jeremy Corbyn rightly grilled the government about its despicable treatment of the Windrush victims, Michael Gove lost no time in playing divide and rule by accusing Jeremy of trying to divert attention from Anti-Semitism. Thank you so much Michael!

And do you remember Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary for whom a billion or so hungry people in the world are just an inconvenient rung on the ladder to becoming Prime Minister? In a bid to suck up to Conservative Friends of Israel, she held unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials whilst seductively waving her Foreign Aid cheque book. The message was as clear as it was unintentional. If you want to get on in politics, you need to have the Jewish lobby on your side. She handed Anglo Jewry to the conspiracy theorists on a plate. With friends like Priti, who needs enemies?

But however things pan out, it can only be bad news for British Jews. Let’s say Corbyn becomes Prime Minster, many will think it’s their worst nightmare come true. If he’s forced out of office, his supporters will say it was because powerful Jewish or Zionist lobbies were determined to get rid of the only true socialist and man of the people. Of course, Corbyn could end up losing decisively in a free and fair election, but that doesn’t seem likely at a time when Theresa May is about as popular as Hilary Clinton.

So is there another way? Well there could be, if everyone shut up for a moment about anti-Semitism and focused on what’s really causing the ruckus. And in case you don’t know, that’s Israel, Israel, and Israel; plus the fact that the Far Left doesn’t understand Jewish people and Jewish people don’t understand the Far Left.

If you want to make a Left Wing radical react like Pavlov’s dog, just try talking about Jews and Israel in the same sentence. And if you want to understand why, don’t read Mein Kampf; just watch a few episodes of Tom and Jerry. Sometimes Tom provokes Jerry; sometimes Jerry provokes Tom. Usually, they’re as bad as each other. But none of this matters. Jerry is the little guy, so he’s the victim and Tom is the oppressor. No matter what Jerry does to Tom, he’s never the bully; he’s a plucky freedom fighter and he gets our sympathy every time.

Now substitute ‘White colonial imperialist’ for Tom and ‘persecuted minority group’ for Jerry and it’s not surprising that Left Wing anti-Zionists are shocked by the suggestion that they could be anti-Semitic. When oppressed Jewish immigrants stood up to Mosley’s fascists in Whitechapel, they were the persecuted minority, and if they beat up a few policemen in the process, good on them!

But that’s a completely different matter from Israelis in soldiers’ uniforms confronting a poorer, militarily weaker and sometimes darker skinned indigenous population. The Jews are now the White colonial oppressors while the Palestinians are the persecuted minority. In fact, for the true ideological dogmatist, it doesn’t matter that much who does what to whom. Even the daily lives, struggles and concerns of ordinary Palestinians are only important insofar as they support this simplistic narrative of oppressor and oppressed.

Is the Far Left’s Tom and Jerry politics anti-Semitic? I’d say that’s a red herring. What really matters is that for Jews — even Jews like myself who strongly criticise Israel — their one dimensional narrative feels like a personal attack. And that’s because for us, Zionism doesn’t feel like a colonial enterprise; it feels like a liberation movement. It’s about feeling connected to a country whose customs are our customs, whose festivals are our festivals, where it feels normal to see Jews in skullcaps planting vineyards, driving lorries or sunbathing on the beach. But more importantly, it’s a feeling that we have a place to call home, where we can protect ourselves and where after the Holocaust, we are no longer passive victims dependent on the goodwill of an unpredictable or indifferent world.

Does this mean that Israel can’t also be a colonial oppressor, that Palestinians weren’t made refugees or that Israel hasn’t committed injustices and atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank? Of course not. Behind both narratives is a complex mosaic in different shades of grey.

But as long as Anglo Jewry shouts Antisemitism, the Far Left will shout “oppressed victim”. As long as the Far Left touts Israel as a one dimensional oppressor, Jews feel that their very right to hold up their heads in public is at stake. As long as Jews feel personally attacked and Leftists refuse to see why, then we will forever be talking at cross purposes. Both Labour and Anglo Jewry need to stop talking about Antisemitism and start to have an adult conversation about how to criticise Israel.