When Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission announced it was investigating Labour’s treatment of its Jewish members, many of Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents claimed this as proof of his supposed antisemitism. But the inquiry is itself a political weapon — and as the Commission publishes its much-hyped, long-delayed report today, the attacks against the Left are only intensifying.
by Daniel Finn
Part 6 - Reality Check
In a classic example of the circular logic underpinning the false narrative of “Labour antisemitism,” the JLM even cited a failure to accept that narrative as evidence of an “antisemitism crisis” in the party:
A YouGov survey of Party members found that while 68 per cent of respondents think antisemitism is a problem, 77 per cent believe that claims of antisemitism are being “exaggerated” or “hyped up” to damage Mr Corbyn and the Party.
The JLM apparently considers it damning that the vast majority of Labour members could see what was staring them in the face.
After several years of wall-to-wall media coverage of “Labour antisemitism,” academic researchers asked members of the public to guess what percentage of the Labour membership had been disciplined for antisemitism. The average estimate was one-third: approximately three hundred times greater than the actual figure — barely 0.1 percent.
This vast gulf between perception and reality was a function of misleading reportage on a gargantuan scale, with few, if any, precedents in modern British history. The willingness of Labour members to maintain their empirical foothold in the face of this hurricane was entirely commendable, however frustrating some might have found it to be.
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