Antisemitism claims have one goal: To stop Jeremy Corbyn winning power

The Jewish community’s alienation from Labour has been years in the making - but it is Johnson's Conservatives who have embraced hostility to minorities

Jonathan Cook

Part 8 - An expanded definition

Unlike Miliband, of course, Corbyn has no ethnic card to play in his own defence. That has left him uniquely exposed. Once antisemitism was redefined by Labour’s adoption of the IHRA code, Corbyn’s decades of campaigning for justice for Palestinians easily became conflated with antisemitism. It has allowed his critics to reframe his decades of his anti-racism activism as proof of his racism.

In addition, for those British Jews who regard Israel as central to their identity, Corbyn’s record of vocal criticism of Israel has been perceived as an attack on who they are. Many have been only too ready to accept claims that his support for justice for Palestinian is rooted not in principle but in antisemitism.

The ludicrous lengths to which his opponents – whether in the pro-Israel lobby or in the media – have been prepared to go in malevolently expanding the meaning of antisemitism to harm him is illustrated by the reaction to his economic platform.

Labour’s history is rooted in socialism, redistributive policies, workers’ rights, and curbs on the capitalist class profiteering at the public’s expense. But now Corbyn’s criticisms of those who exploit workers, or accumulate vast wealth, or hide it off-shore where it can’t be taxed, are also being denounced as antisemitic. 

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