The Corbynasties

It took a protest of Jews in Westminster for Jeremy Corbyn to own up to the Labour party’s problem with anti-Semitism. It ‘has caused pain and hurt to Jewish members of our party and to the wider Jewish community in Britain,’ he said — an admission that has been a very long time coming. But among Corbyn’s cultish young followers, the apology was met with a shrug. ‘Problem? What problem?’

This I know, because I’m (roughly) a Labour supporter and have lots of Corbyn–supporting friends. And for Corbynites of my age (early twenties), the whole issue remains just another attempt to delegitimise Corbyn’s bid to become prime minister. That’s why Twitter accounts were awash with the hashtag #PredictTheNextCorbynSmear, which mocked all accusations of anti–Semitism. It demonstrates the Corbyn faithful’s remarkable capacity for indifference.

Why is it that young left-wingers find it so hard to care about anti-Semitism? Why is that huge group of self-proclaimed anti-racists and anti-fascists so unwilling to expel anti-Semites from the party? They’ve all studied the second world war at school; they know how much Jews suffered and how dangerous discrimination is. Surely they must have a problem with that blatantly anti-Semitic mural that Corbyn himself had endorsed?

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Ian Williams

What is Xi Jinping planning?

The answer is: not really. I constantly hear the same excuse from people my age when they find out that I have Jewish parentage. ‘Oh, I have no problem with Jews whatsoever,’ they assure me. ‘Just Zionism.’ But you have the feeling that for quite a few people, it’s a distinction without much of a difference. They find Israel, as a country, guilty of all kinds of crimes, and regard Jews, anywhere, as Zionist sympathisers. Within the far left, the de facto position is one of hostility and distrust, not just towards Zionists but towards Jewish communities wherever they are.