Is the British Labour Party anti-Semitic?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Is the British Labour Party anti-Semitic?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Yes, clearly and blatantly, but with a caveat. This isn't the British Labour party, it's a strange Communist-Nazi hybrid movement that has hollowed it out and is wearing its skin. It's dominated by a small band of sociopathic, ruthless cultists who are working to purge all opposition - with declining success. Hopefully the evil that's infected the party will soon be purged after a crushing election defeat and the proud party that carried itself with honor for hundreds of years will emerge again.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Currently, yes, it is, but that's a recent development and, one hopes, a temporary one.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Currently, yes, it is, but that's a recent development and, one hopes, a temporary one.

I don't think it's actually as recent as people with an axe to grind against its current leader make it out to be (although there's no question that Corbyn has made it worse). But yes, it is an institutionally antisemitic organization, and this needs to change now more than ever.

[CumbrianLefty]

It is a party with anti-Semites in it, just like any other significant organisation.

Unfortunately, quantifying the problem any more precisely than that runs into two key obstacles:

1) the way certain people have shamelessly turned AS into a crude factional weapon against the present leadership;

2) the device ardent Likudists are fond of - expanding AS to cover virtually all criticism of Israel and its government.

Maybe the coming report will shed some actual light on all this. Or perhaps not that much, depressingly.

[Horus]

Absolutely not.

[urutzizu]

It is a party with anti-Semites in it, just like any other significant organisation.

Its a false equivalence. The Party does not only have "anti-semites" in it, the Leadership itself is the problem. There are very many criticisms that one can have of the Tories, but Boris Johnson laying a wreath for Anders Breivik or the like is most definitely not one of them.

[Cory]

Can anyone explain specifically how the Labour Party is anti-semitic? Remember that criticism of Israeli foreign policy is not anti-semitic.

[Blair]

Can anyone explain specifically how the Labour Party is anti-semitic? Remember that criticism of Israeli foreign policy is not anti-semitic.

Please watch the panorama documentary on the subject and remember that the EHRC (a public body sign statutory powers of investigation) is currently investigating under the equalities act. Labour members have send sickening and vile anti-Semitic images to Labour MPs, accused them of being paid by Mossad and of course claimed the whole fiasco is invented by Israel.

The funny thing is that lots of the pro Palestine MPs who have done the legwork in parliament are clean when it comes to AS; the idea that Labours views on Israel changed in 2015 is as laughable as the claim anti-semitism didn’t exist before- but it’s certainly got a lot worse, and the party structures for dealing with it were awful.

The equally damning question is why so many anti-semites are attracted to Labour?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Parts of the Labour Party are anti-Semitic but it seems wrong to say that the entire party is anti-Semitic when there are plenty of MPs who are disgusted by the actions of the circle surrounding Corbyn.

[BP🌹]

No more than the GOP is anti-Arab/Muslim (not that most Americans know the difference).

[CumbrianLefty]

Just a question to those who have queried my post above - so what do you think a Corbyn-led government would actually *do* to harm Jewish people if it was in power?

This is a fairly important thing regarding any supposed AS tendencies, but never seems to get a proper answer.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Just a question to those who have queried my post above - so what do you think a Corbyn-led government would actually *do* to harm Jewish people if it was in power?

This is a fairly important thing regarding any supposed AS tendencies, but never seems to get a proper answer.

How would we know?

There's scenarios where it's limited to harassing "Zionists" out of public service and continuing their ongoing process of sweeping antisemitic harassment and abuse under the rug.

There's also scenarios where, holding the wheels of power, things move very fast and very bloody with no chance for British Jewry to escape.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to not find out?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Can anyone explain specifically how the Labour Party is anti-semitic? Remember that criticism of Israeli foreign policy is not anti-semitic.

Does this image (posted on a white supremacist website originally) qualify only as "criticism of Israeli foreign policy"?



This woman was initially suspended from her position in the local Labour Party over it but on appeal that was overturned with the Labour board claiming that image wasn't anti-Semitic.

[CumbrianLefty]

Just a question to those who have queried my post above - so what do you think a Corbyn-led government would actually *do* to harm Jewish people if it was in power?

This is a fairly important thing regarding any supposed AS tendencies, but never seems to get a proper answer.

How would we know?

There's scenarios where it's limited to harassing "Zionists" out of public service and continuing their ongoing process of sweeping antisemitic harassment and abuse under the rug.

There's also scenarios where, holding the wheels of power, things move very fast and very bloody with no chance for British Jewry to escape.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to not find out?

No such "scenarios" exist, save in the minds of those who are utterly and terminally deranged.

The main thing that may *actually* happen is that those lobbying for Israel might not get as favourable treatment.

Of course, even this will be intolerable AS to some.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Just a question to those who have queried my post above - so what do you think a Corbyn-led government would actually *do* to harm Jewish people if it was in power?

This is a fairly important thing regarding any supposed AS tendencies, but never seems to get a proper answer.

How would we know?

There's scenarios where it's limited to harassing "Zionists" out of public service and continuing their ongoing process of sweeping antisemitic harassment and abuse under the rug.

There's also scenarios where, holding the wheels of power, things move very fast and very bloody with no chance for British Jewry to escape.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to not find out?

No such "scenarios" exist, save in the minds of those who are utterly and terminally deranged.

The main thing that may *actually* happen is that those lobbying for Israel might not get as favourable treatment.

Of course, even this will be intolerable AS to some.

Thank goodness Atlas has you to goysplain anti-Semitism to the forum’s Jewish posters   Perhaps now you can enlighten us as to how you find the time to build straw men when you’re already so busy moving goal posts.

[CumbrianLefty]

Go on then, you explain to me how a few people s***posting on Twitter is going to lead to a new Kristallnacht.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Is it "goysplaining" to say that Corbyn isn't going to literally start a Final Solution? I'm critical of the man and the party on the issue, but I really think that's hyperbole. For another comparison, it's pretty clear that the conservative party is Islamophobic, but only the most deranged Tory hater believes Boris and co are going to start a mass pogrom. Not to traipse down the "actually we found a Jew who thinks it's OK so I can say k***" dumb route, but I highly doubt people like Ed Miliband and Alex Sobel would be keeping the whip if they believed that. (I know of the idea of the self-hating Jew, but I would feel weird as a Gentile labeling any Jew as self-hating)

It's clear to me that there is an anti-Semitic problem in Labour, which isn't to say that the majority of Labour's members are anti-semitic, but that leadership has ignored the issue for too long especially because the current leadership spent years associating themselves with factions of the far-left that are certainly anti-Semitic (e.g. they use "Zionist" as a perjorative, are obsessed with the supposed "control" that Israel and/or Mossad have over Western governments, indulge in the most crass insinuations about Jews in relations to banking and so on). I don't think this is unique to Labour - and if the party was to start griping about unfairness, they wouldn't be totally unreasonable to point at similar examples in the Lib Dems, Tories and Greens, but a party that defines itself as anti-racist must be especially vigilant in ridding itself of the taint.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Go on then, you explain to me how a few people s***posting on Twitter is going to lead to a new Kristallnacht.

I’m waiting with a bag of popcorn in hand. This should be good.

[cp]

Is it "goysplaining" to say that Corbyn isn't going to literally start a Final Solution? Like, I'm critical of the man and the party on the issue, but I really think that's hyperbole. Like, it's pretty clear that the conservative party is Islamophobic, but only the most deranged Tory hater believes Boris and co are going to start a mass pogrom. Like, not to want to go down the "actually we found a Jew who thinks it's OK so I can say k***" dumb, but I highly doubt people like Ed Miliband and Alex Sobel would be keeping the whip if they believed that. (I know of the idea of the self-hating Jew, but I would feel weird as a Gentile labeling any Jew as self-hating)

It's clear to me that there is an anti-Semitic problem in Labour, which isn't to say that the majority of Labour's members are anti-semitic, but that leadership has ignored the issue for too long especially because the current leadership spent years associating themselves with factions of the far-left that are certainly anti-Semitic (e.g. they use "Zionist" as a perjorative, are obsessed with the supposed "control" that Israel and/or Mossad have over Western governments, indulge in the most crass insinuations about Jews in relations to banking and so on). I don't think this is unique to Labour - and if the party was to start griping about unfairness, they wouldn't be totally unreasonable to point at similar examples in the Lib Dems, Tories and Greens, but a party that defines itself as anti-racist must be especially vigilant in ridding itself of the taint.

This is the crux of the issue for me. Folks are right to call out the asinine and demented anti-Jewish conspiracy theories that pass for 'anti-Zionist' rhetoric among Labour members, and Corbyn et. al. have been far too complacent about taking steps to set the boundaries of acceptable debate. Yet, when Corbyn's opponents (be they ideological/partisan ones or less biased lefty ones) denounce him with preposterous, exaggerated straw man arguments and chicken little catastrophizing, it makes it hard to take such criticisms seriously. Worse, it makes the issue of AS seem like a partisan/ideological issue, providing cover to sincerely bigoted voices (that Labour should purge itself of, no questions asked).

 

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Go on then, you explain to me how a few people s***posting on Twitter is going to lead to a new Kristallnacht.

I’m waiting with a bag of popcorn in hand. This should be good.

It's not "A few people s***posting on Twitter".

It's a loyal cult engaging in mass campaigns of antisemitic harassment, and the party and law enforcement brass under their control working to sweep it under the rug.

That's what they do when they're out of power. Why am I supposed to give them any benefit of the doubt about what they'd do when they have power?

[cp]

Go on then, you explain to me how a few people s***posting on Twitter is going to lead to a new Kristallnacht.

I’m waiting with a bag of popcorn in hand. This should be good.

It's not "A few people s***posting on Twitter".

It's a loyal cult engaging in mass campaigns of antisemitic harassment, and the party and law enforcement brass under their control working to sweep it under the rug.

That's what they do when they're out of power. Why am I supposed to give them any benefit of the doubt about what they'd do when they have power?

See, this is what I'm talking about. Those descriptions of the Labour Party and the leadership ('a loyal cult', 'mass campaigns', 'sweep under the rug') are exaggerations at best, histrionic hyperbole at worst. It also doesn't help bolster credibility when they come from an avatar titled 'Corbyn is a Strasserist'.

People concerned about institutionalized bigotry should be worried when it gains mainstream salience and access to the levers of power. But if opposing such bigotry is really one's priority, and one does not differentiate between different kinds of bigotry, the Tories, UKIP, the Brexit Party, and the Lib Dems (when Farron was in charge) ought to incur the same level of denunciation as Labour has.

[Pericles]

Tbf, it does seem that the Tories are more Islamophobic than Labour is anti-Semitic. So while this doesn't excuse anti-Semitism in Labour, people thinking the Tories are the tolerant option in this election and voting for them as a result are deluding themselves.

[cp]

Tbf, it does seem that the Tories are more Islamophobic than Labour is anti-Semitic. So while this doesn't excuse anti-Semitism in Labour, people thinking the Tories are the tolerant option in this election and voting for them as a result are deluding themselves.

Eh, I'd call it even. Labour's anti-Semitic elements are a function of their being a party of more fringy political movements, and a longstanding anti-imperial sentiment that has found expression in anti-Zionist politics lately. The Tories' Islamophobia is more deeply imbricated in their membership's insular, jingositic worldview, but isn't tied to any particular policy or faction.

They're both equally awful.

[GoTfan]

Just a question to those who have queried my post above - so what do you think a Corbyn-led government would actually *do* to harm Jewish people if it was in power?

This is a fairly important thing regarding any supposed AS tendencies, but never seems to get a proper answer.

How would we know?

There's scenarios where it's limited to harassing "Zionists" out of public service and continuing their ongoing process of sweeping antisemitic harassment and abuse under the rug.

There's also scenarios where, holding the wheels of power, things move very fast and very bloody with no chance for British Jewry to escape.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to not find out?

No such "scenarios" exist, save in the minds of those who are utterly and terminally deranged.

The main thing that may *actually* happen is that those lobbying for Israel might not get as favourable treatment.

Of course, even this will be intolerable AS to some.

Thank goodness Atlas has you to goysplain anti-Semitism to the forum’s Jewish posters   Perhaps now you can enlighten us as to how you find the time to build straw men when you’re already so busy moving goal posts.

Buddy, Coryn is not going to start a second Final Solution. Get over yourself.