Above: “absolute” anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein addressing the Jewish Voice for Labour fringe meeting at this year’s Labour conference
By Keith Road
Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party affiliated to Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) at its meeting on 25 October 2018.
Sadly, that cannot be seen as a prefigurative act of solidarity with Jewish communities facing such things as the gun attack on a Pittsburgh (USA) synagogue on 27 October as well as more everyday suspicion and abuse.
The problem is with the politics of JVL, especially some of its committee. At the launch meeting of Labour Against Racism and Fascism on 15 October, JVL secretary Glyn Secker spoke against a proposal to include antisemitism (alongside Afrophobia and Islamophobia) in the group’s definition of racism.
Antisemitism he said, is not an issue in Britain! He “as a white Ashkenazi Jew” experiences no discrimination as Muslims and black people do. The charge of antisemitism has been used by the right to undermine Corbyn, and so anti-racists should steer clear.
But the increase in reported antisemitic incidents is real. The security guards outside synagogues and Jewish schools are there for a reason. That Jews in Britain do not suffer discrimination in employment or housing or such does not wipe out those facts.
JVL was launched at Labour Party Conference in 2017 by Jewish Labour members who announced their aim as countering the “false antisemitism witch hunt”. The group poses itself as a pro-Corbyn Jewish organisation alternative to the longer-standing Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). JVL opposes JLM’s Labour Zionism and accuses it (with some justification) of seeking to undermine Corbyn.
JVL has focused almost entirely on opposition to the Labour Party’s adoption of the IHRA text and on defending members who they believe have been targeted for their anti-Israel (“anti-Zionist”) views.
At the Hornsey and Wood Green meeting, speakers in favour of JVL affiliation stated that JLM does not represent them as Jews, and that CLPs should back JVL in order to show solidarity with the Palestinians and allow criticism of Israel, which they say the IHRA text has curtailed.
It is worth noting that as it is presently structured and organised, no affiliated CLP will have a say in what JVL does or says.
Some speakers against the motion said that affiliation would be “divisive”. JVL represents only a tiny fraction of Jewish opinion. Most Jews in Britain, including most Jews involved in the Labour Party, are in some sense Zionist, i.e. they have some connection to Israel and consider the existence of an Israeli state a part of their identity.
Criticism of and campaigning against the government of Israel is not precluded, nor even discouraged, by the IHRA text.
Being “divisive” should not necessarily damn a policy: we shouldn’t shy away from controversy when it is necessary to shape politics capable of transforming society. The problem with JVL is in fact its politics.
Jeremy Corbyn is right when he says that antisemitism is an issue on the left and must be rooted out. JVL undermines the efforts, limited and inadequate so far, to tackle this problem. It repeatedly and systematically plays down and sometimes (as in the case of Glyn Secker) simply denies, the reality of antisemitism
The left should not continue to ignore the fact that some criticism of Israel is being misused to promote antisemitism.
There are people involved in JVL who recognise Israel’s right to exist and would condemn the misuse, but the campaign itself is harming the fight against antisemitism on the left.
- This is a very slightly edited version of an article that appears in the present issue of Solidarity under the title ‘Don’t define away antisemitism.’
- Comrade Coatsey on JVL, Tony Greenstein and Jenny Tongue, here
Shiraz Socialist (Second Run) 
I’ve just received this:
A comrade proposed this in Stockton North CLP: it was defeated.
We condemn the terrorist attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which killed 11 people and injured several others on 27 October 2018.
We note that the alleged perpetrator of this heinous act is reported to have had a long history of antisemitic views and held a deep hatred for Jewish people.
We believe that these murders tragically demonstrate the dangers posed by the growth in antisemitic sentiments and hate speech internationally, which has arisen in a political climate where governments and opportunist politicians have encouraged the scapegoating of minorities. This trend has been reflected in the growth in antisemitic conspiracy theories and a rise in antisemitic incidents and racist hate crime more generally in the UK, as shown in recent reports from the Community Security Trust, Tell MAMA (‘Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks’) and the Home Office.
We resolve:
To stand in solidarity with the Jewish community around the world and send our condolences to all those affected by the tragic events in Pittsburgh.
To recognise that antisemitism exists in society and affirm our belief that such prejudice must be confronted and eradicated wherever it arises.
To call on the Labour Party to lead the way in opposing antisemitism and fighting racism in all its forms.
To support political education about antisemitism so that its history, causes, manifestations and effects are better understood in the party and members are confident to challenge it.
To publish this motion as a statement via our social media outlets.
The comrade told me that:
Arguments against included that it should be against all racism not just antisemitism … even though it clearly refers to “racist hate crime more generally”, mentions “scapegoating of minorities”, cites Tell MAMA the Islamophobia monitoring organisation and talks about “fighting racism in all its forms”.
That all the focus is on “antisemitism this, antisemitism that”, while other types of racism don’t ever get a mention or discussed …. even though I took a motion to the CLP in July about Islamophobia and anti-migrant racism and then organised a counterprotest against a far-right group in our town that month at least in part on the back of the CLP’s support for it.
That the person who did the killing was far-right, a Nazi, which is the very opposite of what the Labour Party stands for. Erm …. yes, that’s why the motion condemns what he did and describes his long held views and states the party’s opposition to such things. I said I was happy to add to “far-right, neo-Nazi activities” to the clause “We note that the alleged perpetrator of this heinous act is reported to have had a long history of antisemitic views and held a deep hatred for Jewish people” but they weren’t having it.
That the motion supports political education about antisemitism when the CLP executive committee has previously voted against us doing that. Erm, yeah, it has done that, but this is a motion about the principle.
That the whole antisemitism thing is just a game that’s being played. Who’s playing the game then?, I asked. Tell us. But, no, he wouldn’t say.
Etc, etc.
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Yeah saw this last night and got the comrades permission to use the motion in a blog piece on the subject as we need to fight back both inside the Labour Party and Trade Unions. I also quoted your above piece and linked to Coatseys article on Tongue. The JVL may be small but the anti-Semitism within the minds of so many anti-Zionists is far too widespread.
Only us Jews are not allowed to define the threats against us. No other minority receives such treatment!
https://howiescorner.blogspot.com/2018/11/act-now-denial-of-anti-semitism-in.html
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