• CAMDEN’S Labour Party branches are among the many nationwide undergoing a “civil war” since the general secretary forbade discussion on issues such as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, anti-Semitism and Jeremy Corbyn.

To enforce the diktat Angela Rayner has threatened to suspend thousands more Labour Party members. In these strange circumstances it would easy to miss the woods for the trees.

Namely, since 2016 the British establishment has been weaponising alleged anti-Semitism in order to maintain the Labour Party’s pro-Israel policy commitment.

This long-time policy has been veiled behind deference to “the Jewish community”, a homogeneous construct equated with pro-Israel institutions such as the Board of Deputies.

The Corbyn leadership was accused of making the party “an unsafe space for Jews”, really meaning discomfort for pro-Israel Jews.

The general secretary’s recent diktat is officially justified as “zero tolerance of anti-Semitism”, necessary to create “a safe space for Jews”.

The Labour Party now feels unsafe for its numerous Jewish (and other) pro-Palestine members who have been suspended or fear that they too will be.

Such Jews do not count in the dominant narrative. In those ways, “the Jewish community” has been constructed as a doubly racist stereotype.

Firstly, it conflates Jewish identity with Israel, so that anti-Israel statements become “hurt to the Jewish community” (or even anti-Semitism).

Secondly, with reinforcement from the IHRA mis-definition of anti-Semitism, this accusation is thrown at any effort to identify the racist basis of Zionist colonisation, thus protecting it from criticism.

The British establishment needs the stereotype as a shield for its UK-Israel partnership, supposedly necessary to protect Jews.

Last year the current Labour Party leader declared, “I support Zionism without qualification.” So his enforcement role was to be expected.

When the accusations of “endemic anti-Semitism in the Labour Party” escalated in 2017, accusers rarely mentioned Israel.

Since the Corbyn leadership has gone, the accusers no longer need the pretence. Now they often say that anti-Zionism is a central test of anti-Semitism.

Supporters of Palestinian rights will need to make judgments on how best to oppose the UK-Israel partnership and the Labour Party’s support for this racist agenda.

LES LEVIDOW
Jewish Network for Palestine