Antisemitism Claims have One Goal: To Stop Jeremy Corbyn Winning Power
The Jewish community’s alienation from Labour has been years in the making
Cook, Jonathan
http://dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/antisemitism-claims-have-one-goal-to-stop-jeremy-corbyn-winning-power/
Date Written: 2019-11-28
Publisher: Dissident Voice
Year Published: 2019
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX23849
A supposed antisemitism crisis in Britain's Labour party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader has erupted back into the headlines.
Abstract:
-
Excerpt:
The survey has been widely quoted as further, irrefutable proof that Labour has become "institutionally antisemitic" on Corbyn’s watch. All the evidence shows otherwise, but facts have not held much sway in a debate driven chiefly by emotion and insinuation.
Last month the Economist magazine, no friend to Corbyn or the Labour party, published a survey of British attitudes towards Israel and Jews, broken down into ideological factions.
It found that "very left wing" voters -- the people who share Corbyn's politics -- were among the least likely to hold antisemitic views, even though they also had by far the most critical views of Israel. By contrast, supporters of the right were three and a half times more likely to express antisemitic opinions. The centre, representing the Lib Dems and the Blairite wing of Labour, expressed little antisemitism but also rarely criticised Israel.
The findings were clear: the left is not only highly resistant to antisemitism but recognises the crimes committed by Israel without holding Jews responsible. The Economist survey offered confirmation of Labour party records showing that instances of antisemitism among its 500,000 members were rare – at just 0.08 per cent of the membership.
--
Anyone who doubts the media’s ability to shape wider public opinion should remember its role in a strange electoral phenomenon long noted by psephologists. Many working-class voters prefer a Conservative government, even when it should be clear that their interests will be harmed as a result.
There is, after all, a reason why corporations are so ready to plough their money into propping up loss-making newspapers – and it isn’t out of concern for the wider social good. It is about maintaining a climate of opinion in which their right to make money is unimpeded.
Subject Headings
