Antisemitism Requires a United Front – More Definitions Won’t Help

“Israel is a racist endeavour.” So, read the posters put up around bus shelters around London yesterday, and most prominently facing the Houses of parliament.

When the genie is out of the bottle, as anyone knows, it’s hard to get it back in. And when the Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn spent weeks prevaricating, ducking and weaving to avoid signing up to the full IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism, fuelling his base of cocksure cult-like Palestinian sympathisers on the hard left, when the Labour Party eventually adopted the IHRA definition (with the underlined caveat that they can call out Israel), the base posted their response. 

From a self-proclaimed man of peace (despite his penchant for engaging and sympathising with the IRA, Hamas and who called Bin Laden’s death a tragedy) there’s a strong whiff of cordite around Corbyn and his acolytes. We British Jews knew it all along. The Labour leader has a track record of being outside the pale of political norms. It is precisely for his disgusting penchants that the hard left embraced him as their saviour and formed a messianic cult around him as the man to save Britain and the man to save the left.

What they really mean of course, is that he gave voice and credibility to their non-mainstream views, the type that had no place in any rational political discourse, and which hitherto put most of his support in the same political bin as the communists or St.George’s flag waving, shaven headed racists on the right.

The results are clear to see. “Nothing to see here” is the refrain from Labour as British Jews look on in horror. “He’s wrong and doesn’t get it” is the spin retort to Lord Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi and hugely respected voice of reason who pulled the alarm cord last week. 

“When people hear the kind of language that has been coming out of Labour, that’s been brought to the surface among Jeremy Corbyn’s earlier speeches, they cannot but feel an existential threat,” Sacks told the BBC. “Jews have been in Britain since 1656, I know of no other occasion in these 362 years when Jews – the majority of our community – are asking ‘is this country safe to bring up our children?’” he added. “Now, this is very, very worrying.” Worrying indeed. Almost 40 percent of British Jews would “seriously consider emigrating” if Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn became prime minister, according to a poll conducted for The Jewish Chronicle published on Wednesday.

Mr Corbyn made things personal. He stoked up his rabid base in ways that President Trump can only fantasize about, insults Jews day in day out by suggesting that we feel nobody can critique Israel (when most Jews have daily conversations about government and politics in the Jewish State), claims we lack of sense of humour and despite having lived there for generations, don’t get English Irony, then feigns mock indignation when there’s a backlash from the community. 

It’s sickening and reminds me of a scene I witnessed in Belfast, when a couple were arguing in front of a relative. The man struck the woman and she fell to the floor, and the lady with her started, quite understandably, screaming and crying. The man then turned to the woman who he had just struck who was still on the floor and exclaimed while pointing to the upset woman: “see what you’ve just done? You’ve upset your mother.” I can’t think of a better comparison for the odious leader of the Labour Party and his treatment of the Jewish Community in the UK when it comes to Israel. And doubtless just like the struck woman and her mother, Jews will not forget, nor forgive. Nor should we.  

Because “Israel is a racist endeavour” is but the veneer on the table of how British Labour sees Jews under Corbyn. The wood itself underneath is – make no mistake – riddled and rotten with anti-Semitism. And Corbyn is the carpenter to blame.

The Op-Ed was written by our director of public affairs, Alex Benjamin and was published on The JPost

Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
Here, the Rabbi offers his unique and refreshing take on the portion. For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl and then: scroll down.
Caught with a cap!
It’s hard to find the right balance between exaggeration and naivety. The happy medium is the right way to walk, that should be clear. But where does that sweet spot lie?
I had not heard from an older intelligent lady, a brave woman, for several weeks. And so I called her up and it turned out that she had been struggling a bit with her health for a while.
Good that I called her, but I do feel guilty that I had only noticed her absence now, after a few weeks. In the meantime, since I called her, she has started reading some of my diaries and sends me the following response:
“Dear Rabbi Jacobs. I read in your diary pieces that you meet many people with personal problems and are very concerned about the rising anti-Semitism. That seems very difficult. I find it terrible to read those experiences. It’s too much for me. And after the war I had to hear in technicolour stereo about all the horrors of survivors of the camps. For me, the war started after May ‘45. I’d rather not read all that misery you have to hear and deal with. ”
And so, after this response, I wonder what the happy medium is. I try to warn against  rising anti-Semitism, but I absolutely must. Conversely I do not want to cause more pain to anyone who is already in pain.
I received a lot of WhatsApps to make “the Jewish voice” heard about the riot around Forum for Democracy. But what is “the Jewish voice”? And am I then “the Jewish  voice”? But keep silent? I presented my problem to a good friend of mine, a non-Jewish psychiatrist. When I open my mouth, some of them start to scream or I, for example hurt this brave woman unnecessarily. And when I remain silent, I get complaints that I am not speaking. His response was very clear:
“If you don’t open your mouth now, you’re no longer a rabbi to me. And if your comments make people sad, help them. That is your primary task as a rabbi. ”
But in addition to concerns about rising anti-Semitism and all the tensions associated with it, Hanukkah is getting very close. Today a phone call from Jerusalem to make a video while lighting the menorah at my house, without guests, with a call to light the menorah outside even if it is not possible outside due to corona, especially to do it indoors.
The call must be in Dutch after lighting the third light. A second phone call, also today, from Brussels to, even after the third light has been lit, a message in English about a non-religious subject, but about Hanukkah.
And the third assignment, a request came from South America to give a speech in Dutch of 25 minutes. That will be asked of another seven Chief Rabbis. Every evening a rabbi from another country will speak and subtitles will be provided. Apart from this I also have three TV recordings about… Chanukah next week! After all those telephone requests for TV, zoom, videos, Whatsapps and YouTube, I wonder if I could become a better director.
But in the meantime I will have to work very hard on the preparations for the coming week. I have already found a volunteer professional to record the videos. But the words are on me. That is a nice bit of creative tension.
Yet all these problems create tension, sadness and disappointment. It got a bit too much for me. And so I skipped schul tonight. My wife and I took the car to the beach.
Of course I didn’t wear my hat, but a cap. Just incognito. Get some fresh air. Delicious! We walk on the boulevard for less than twenty minutes, smell the water, feel the wind or suddenly someone behind me shouts: Rabbi Jacobs! Why don’t you wear a hat? You always say that we should not give in to anti-Semitism and keep our Jewish clothing like our ancestors in Egypt. You always say you are not willing to exchange your hat for a baseball cap! I didn’t know what to answer for a moment, I felt caught with my cap, but the walk was very refreshing…
 

“What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.”
― David Levithan, Love Is the Higher Law
 
Everyone at the European Jewish Association sends our heartfelt condolences to the Austrian people at this most difficult time. We feel your pain.
 

SPANISH VICE-PRESIDENT ECHOES SPANISH EXPULSION, JEW BURNINGS IN “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” CALL AND MUST RESIGN SAYS EUROPEAN JEWISH ASSOCIATION

Association calls on EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell to condemn and Prime Minister Sanchez to distance the government.In a statement this evening, the European Jewish Association, representing hundreds of Jewish Communities across Europe, said:“The Spanish Vice-President, Yolanda Diaz, is openly calling for the genocide of the world’s only Jewish State, Israel.“This cannot and must not stand. We immediately call on Josep Borrell to condemn this. EU Member States have obligations under the treaties not to call for the annihilation of third countries.

“We immediately call for Prime Minister Sanchez to distance the Spanish Government from these genocidal remarks.

“The Vice-President’s from the river to the sea call carries with it echoes of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Spain in 1492, not to mention the thousands burned alive in auto-da-fe’s. Her statement is also an endorsement of Hamas’ ideology.“

She must resign.”

Ends.