Opinion Analysis by Roa Daher, Staff Writer

November 1st, 2020

Following hundreds of complaints from hundreds of Jewish members of the United Kingdom’s Labour party, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) opened an investigation into allegations of anti-semitism in the Labour party. On the 29th of October, 2020, the EHRC released a report claiming that the party cultivated a culture that did not condemn anti-semitism, and may have encouraged it at times.

The EHRC, which was created by virtue of the 2006 Equality Act that was indeed championed by Labour, condemned the very party that created it to three different breaches of the Equality Act: “political interference in anti-Semitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling anti-Semitism complaints and harassment, including the use of anti-Semitic tropes and suggesting that complaints of anti-Semitism were fake or smears”. 

Not long after the report was released, Labour MP and former leader of the party Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement that he disagreed with the report’s conclusions that Labour has been anti-semitic. As the leader of the party at the time that the EHRC began its investigation, Corbyn bears the brunt of the accusations of anti-semitism within the Labour party. 

In his statement, he said, “One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated. My sincere hope is that relations with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of its findings, I trust its recommendations will be swiftly implemented to help move on from this period”. 

While Corbyn disagreed with the general conclusions of the report, he nonetheless supported the recommendations of the report to prevent any further enabling of anti-semitic behaviour within the Labour party. Yet, a few hours after Corbyn’s remarks he was suspended from the party, not for the report’s findings which in fact laid part of the blame on Labour’s leadership that Corbyn was a part of at the time, but due to his response to the report’s conclusions. It was specifically Corbyn’s claim that the problem of anti-semitism within Labour was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” that put him at odds with the party leader, Keir Starmer.

Starmer went as far as saying that those who made such statements were part of the problem.

Anti-semitism in the Labour party does exist, as Corbyn himself has said, though its presence has been highlighted, amplified, and even weaponised against Corbyn; with the latest suspension of Corbyn, he has once again acted as the scapegoat for the party’s alleged anti-semitism. Corbyn was elected in 1983 and has since dedicated his life to socialist causes like battling imperialism, racism, and neoliberal economic policies. His long career includes campaigning against apartheid in South Africa, advocating LGBT rights and ultimately supporting the Marriage Act 2013 that allowed same-sex couples to marry, supporting women’s right to abortion, and even supporting the Palestinian’s undeniable right to a state.

In line with his anti-war stance, Corbyn has opposed the invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and involvement in the Syrian war. However, it is Corbyn’s stance on Palestine that is integral to understanding why the complaints of anti-semitism within the Labour party multiplied under his leadership and why the appropriate response to his very mild statements was seen to be the scandalous suspension from the party he once led, which was a very historically rare and divisive move.

In the words of David Feldman, “for the most part, Labour, and the left more broadly, don’t talk about Jews because they are committed ideological anti-Semites, but because they associate Jews with some of the key issues they most care about: the legacy of colonialism and the operation of power within capitalist society”. Feldman’s statement about the legacy of colonialism is directly followed by, “in the case of colonialism, this happens because they regard Israel - the Jewish state - and the continuing injustices suffered by Palestinians as an expression of colonialism”.

Funnily enough, aside from the implication that the israeli occupation of Palestine is not a colonial endeavour that has been associated with apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, is the fact that very same party he accuses of anti-semitism, because of the party’s supposed sympathy for the Palestinian cause, actually elected an ardent Zionist to be their leader. Feldman’s statements also make the very dangerous mistake of conflating anti-Zionism with anti-semitism, as if anyone who rightfully disagrees with the horrific actions done in the name of Zionism is then by default an anti-semite who hates Jews, which is not the case. Corbyn’s dedication to the Palestinian cause made him an easy scapegoat for the Labour party to use, as his suspension from the party is largely seen as a victory against the entrenched anti-semitism in the Labour party.

All the while, the party has not actually adequately addressed anti-semitism among its members, but it proudly parades Corbyn’s suspension as a move in the right direction. As for Feldman’s remarks about the operation of power within capitalist society, it is undoubtedly related to a comment Corbyn made backing a mural that displayed some negative anti-semitic stereotypes of Jews, though he later apologised saying, “I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic. The defence of free speech cannot be used as a justification for the promotion of antisemitism in any form. That is a view I’ve always held”.

Yet, despite decades of evidence to the contrary, the Labour party decided that Corbyn was the perfect scapegoat for claims of anti-semitism within the party especially under his leadership. A socialist who has spent decades fighting not only for the rights of his constituents, but for the rights of people from all races, religions, nationalities, and genders, was made out to be an anti-semite in a very targeted and coordinated misinformation campaign coordinated by British political figures with the help of news broadcasters and media.

When Corbyn claimed that the EHRC’s findings were blown out of proportion for political reasons, his claims were substantiated, and ultimately, he paid the price. After this move, the Labour party will shift away from Corbyn’s far-left political leanings and instead fall into the laps of the Zionist israeli government.