Open Letter

Open Letter to:

Marie van der Zyle: President, Board of Deputies of British Jews (BOD)

Gideon Falter: Chair Campaign for Antisemitism Awareness (CAA)

Dame Margaret Hodge: Parliamentary Chair Jewish Labour Movement (JLM)

Mike Katz: National Movement Chair Jewish Labour Movement.

Dear Marie Van de Zyle, Gideon Falter, Margaret Hodge and Mike Katz.

We are writing to you, on the anniversary of the December 2019 General Election, as two Jewish women to ask if you are aware of what you have accomplished with your relentless hounding of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in relation to antisemitism? We understand that you perhaps felt you were acting in the best interests of what you perceive to be the Jewish Community. This is why we would just like to explain to you what it is that you have done.

To be clear before we start, this is not an antisemitic letter, nor is it a denial of antisemitism in the Labour party; clearly it exists, as in all segments of British society. Rather, we are letting you know our point of view, so that you might understand why many Labour party members, both Jewish and non- Jewish, feel as we do. After all, we are also part of the Jewish community, albeit a section ignored by your account of this issue.

Firstly, we will address the allegations that you were making about the prevalence of antisemitism in the Labour party, secondly the casting of Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite, and finally to consider where your actions have helped to take us as a society, a society which of course contains within it the Jewish Community.

The Labour Party was described under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership as being “riddled” with antisemitism, which was mounting, it seems exponentially. This claim continued to be loudly broadcast, despite the polling of the Jewish Policy Research (JPR) group in 2017 that revealed there to be no more- and indeed often less — than in the whole of British society. That of course was three years ago, and the situation might have changed by 2019, when the last General Election was being fought in December. However, investigation of this uncovers an anomaly. In 2019, the Labour party released data about complaints regarding antisemitism received relating to members which showed they stood at about 0.1% of the whole membership. And remember, please, these were allegations, not yet proved to be true. This indeed tallies roughly with the JPR findings. A Survation poll in 2019 revealed that the public’s average estimate of prevalence of antisemitism in the Labour party was over three hundred times the published figures (i.e., 30%). This is odd, to say the least. And yet you amongst others insisted on promulgating this misapprehension.

Now we come to Jeremy Corbyn. Of course, it is well known that this man has been an intrepid foe of racism in all its forms, so the accusation that he is an anti-Semite is strange. Nonetheless, as you all seem to insist on separating out antisemitism from racism, let us address his history with regard to the former. There are many examples of Jeremy Corbyn’s defence of the Jewish community, but we will mention just a few:

· In 1977 he organised a counter demonstration when a neo-Nazi march was planned to go through Wood Green.

· In 1990 he signed a motion condemning the rise of antisemitism in the UK.

· In 2002 he tabled a motion in Parliament condemning an antisemitic attack on a London synagogue

· In 2009 he signed a motion in Parliament condemning the establishment of a fascist website hosting antisemitic material

· In 2011 he signed a motion praising “Jewish News” for its investigation into the spread of Antisemitism on Facebook. Are we beginning to detect a thread of irony here?

· In 2012 he sponsored and signed a motion condemning the BBC for cutting a Jewish Community television programme.

· In 2013 he appeared on TV to defend Ralph Miliband against antisemitic slurs by the British press. This is something we are not aware that any representative from the Jewish community felt moved to do.

Well, there are of course many more such examples of Jeremy Corbyn’s actions in support of the Jewish community but we will not labour the point.

However, in the light of this it seems peculiar to say the least that the label of anti-Semite has been so successful in destroying his reputation and that of the Labour party he led. We can only suppose a highly concerted effort on the part of organisations such as yourselves together with the help of the media for this campaign to be so successful.

We have acknowledged that all of you may have acted in your own views in our best interests (that is, we Jews). However, in doing so you have enabled the coming to power of a hard right-wing Conservative government, led by Boris Johnson which is intent on breaking with Europe at whatever cost (to the ordinary people of this country, not themselves of course). In the last year, this government has shown itself to be in many ways inadequate, not least in dealing with the pandemic, but also in pretty well every social and economic sphere, health, education, fiscal policy, to name but a few. It has increased social and economic inequality and exacerbated racism and sexism to a worrying extent. This racist and xenophobic government is now in power for another four years, unless the fixed term Parliament Act is repealed.

Things could have been so different had you not campaigned so vigorously against the Labour party and the then leader. The Labour party had a vision and a manifesto for the good of society, for the rebuilding of infrastructure including health and education and, importantly, a new green economy. In addition, there were plans to develop a more digitised economy — precisely what would have been needed for all in the COVID-19 crisis, but particularly for schoolchildren and their parents. That Labour party we believe would have had the humility and ability to listen to experts and as far as possible to keep us safe while managing to support the economy more successfully throughout this trial. Of course, the results of General Elections are complex and unpredictable, but the ramping up of antisemitism accusations between 2017 when Labour increased its vote remarkably, and our devastating losses in 2019 we believe is no coincidence.

Just to clarify what your, seemingly misplaced, concern for the Jewish community has done: we now have food banks overwhelmed with clients, many of whom are in low- paid, precarious work, huge rises in unemployment and poverty, billions wasted on failing test and trace contracts given to friends of the government, like Serco and Deloittes, a joke of an education system, and a health service that is managing on scarce resources by dint of exhausted staff clinging on by their finger-tips.

As we said at the beginning: this is quite an accomplishment.

With all best wishes

Sylvia Cohen, BA Psychology Hons, M.Phil. Psychology, MA. English Literature, Dip. Educational Psychology.

Retired Educational Psychologist and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.

Miriam E. David, PhD, FAcSS, FRSA

Professor Emeritus, Sociology of Education,

UCL Institute of Education,

20, Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL