Anti-Semitism is generally not considered a progressive value. In the years leading up to Adolf Hitler’s seizure of power, the German Social Democratic Party led the way in condemning Nazi Jew-hatred. It was one such German Social Democrat, August Bebel, who rightly termed anti-Semitism “the socialism of fools”. Many of its members paid the ultimate price for standing up for what was right.
One of the most profoundly disturbing and perplexing phenomena in the Western world today has been the rise of left-wing anti-Semitism. Nowhere is this societal cancer more visible than in the British Labour Party, which was taken over by the hard-left Jeremy Corbyn four years ago.
Since then, hardly a week has gone by in which some sort anti-Semitic outrage has not ensnared the party. Traditionally the home of British Jewry, Labour is now viewed, in the words of highly respected former British chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, as an “existential threat” to Jewish life. A poll last year found 40 per cent of British Jews would consider leaving the country were Corbyn to become prime minister.
The examples of anti-Semitism emanating from Corbyn and his crew are legion, but just a few examples should suffice. He once defended a blatantly anti-Semitic mural depicting hook-nosed bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor. He suggested renaming Holocaust Memorial Day “Genocide Memorial Day”. He placed a wreath on the grave of Black September terrorists. Last month, the BBC aired an explosive documentary detailing Labour’s abject failure to deal with anti-Semitism within its ranks.
Read the article by James Kirchik in The Australian.