Labour and Antisemitism: a Crisis Misunderstood

Abstract

In this article, we argue that Labour’s antisemitism crisis has been misunderstood. We suggest that a more accurate and sophisticated understanding of antisemitism offers a way forward. There are three elements to this claim. First, by drawing on existing data on attitudes towards Jews, we criticise the widespread focus on individual ‘antisemites’, rather than on the broader problem of antisemitism. In turn, we conceive of antisemitism not as a virus or poison, as in so many formulations, but rather, as a reservoir of readily available images and ideas that subsist in our political culture. Second, following on from this understanding, we offer five ways forward. Finally, we set this analysis in the context of a historical parting of the ways between anti‐racism and opposition to antisemitism. An anti‐racism defined solely by conceptions of whiteness and power, we argue, has proven unable to fully acknowledge and account for anti‐Jewish racism.

The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: Defining Antisemitism by Erasing Palestinians

“…Their account of the recent controversy around antisemitism within the Labour Party supports the view advanced here that the IHRA definition is ineffective as a means of combating antisemitism precisely because it is entrenched in the viral mentality that locates antisemitism in individual culpability rather than in a broader social justice framework. 14 In seeking to develop a global perspective on the IHRA definition, we may reasonably ask to what extent such a seemingly innocuous, even banal, document may be relevant to the course of future politics pertaining to Israel/Palestine. On one level, it is merely a set of words, the implications of which depend on the user and the context.…”

‘This Really has the Potential to Destroy us’: Jeremy Corbyn's Management of the Problem of Anti‐semitism in the Labour Party1

“…19 Through the lens of this anti-racism schema it was difficult to recognise anti-semitism as comparable in gravity or scale to racism. 20 It would be naive not to acknowledge that Labour's 'anti-semitism crisis' was exploited by Corbyn's opponents to discredit, even incapacitate, the Corbyn regime and positions were adopted which were as rigid, partial and uncompromising as those to which they objected. Even if it had adopted a more mollifying style, the leadership would have faced an uphill struggle.…”

From Ferguson to Gaza. Sport, political sensibility, and the Israel/Palestine conflict in the age of Black Lives Matter

“…Pro-Palestine activity, under the IHRA code, is thus seen as both anti-Zionist and antisemitic. Conflict over what is, and what is not, permissible in terms of support for the Palestinians, is evident in the often vitriolic, personalised and muddled debates on antisemitism and anti-Zionism (Dart, 2017;Gidley, McGeever and Feldman, 2020;Kelemen, 2012). The misuse of the term antisemitism led Lerman (2019) to conclude that there is now 'total confusion about antisemitism … including among Jews' with Klug (2004) suggesting that 'when antisemitism is everywhere, it is nowhere, and when every anti-Zionist is an antisemite we no longer know how to recognise the real thing.…”