steepholm: (Default)
steepholm ([personal profile] steepholm) wrote 2019-12-14 10:23 am (UTC)

I didn't mention antisemitism, for two reasons.

First, while I'm sure many Jews were put off voting for Corbyn (and some of my FB acquaintance, as well as you, have said as much), there are just not that many Jewish voters in the UK. I honestly doubt it was a decisive issue with many non-Jews, who may have suspected (not without reason) that some of Corbyn's opponents inside and outside Labour had only taken an interest in the issue when they realised it could be used as a stick to beat him with. That's not of course to say that he has no charge to answer, but Corbyn has never, to my knowledge, said or written anything antisemitic (unlike Johnson about Muslims, blacks, gay people, women, single mothers, etc.), so it's a question of whether he created an environment in which antisemitism could thrive - a necessarily woollier and harder-to-settle question.

Second, I don't know how to answer that question myself. Most of the Jewish people I know well (including my sister-in-law) don't seem to see Corbyn as a threat, and some are vociferously supportive of him. When I am told (as I have been) that I should instead be listening to the right sort of Jews, i.e. mainstream ones like Johnson's friend, the Chief Rabbi, my hackles naturally rise.

In the circumstances, I'm waiting to to hear the EHRC report before coming to a conclusion.

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