Ahhh, so Jeremy Corbyn finally comes out and admits there is a problem with anti-semitism in the Labour Party. Well, not actually ‘finally’ in that the much-hyped article in today’s Guardian is actually a re-hash of virtually the same article published in the Evening Standard in April. So in terms of immediacy of intentions, I think he’s shot himself in the foot by re-using the words in April which were so heartfelt that we have to have the exact same conversation today, four months later, following precisely… no action whatsoever. You know, ‘action’ wot speaks louder than words.

But heh, its a start. Isn’t it?

I’ve just spent Saturday morning listening to debates on the radio about this very topic. On my way to tai chi, coming home, before going to tennis, after tennis… and its interesting. Mainly in how many people use ‘Jews’ and ‘Israel’ as synonymous terms. So to clarify: I am a Jew. We’re (almost) human in appearance, fairly autonomous (but check that with my wife) and I’m very beautiful. Israel is a self-governing, independent, democratic state. A country in the middle east. It looks nothing like me, nor like anyone I know. Though also has beauty.

Yet people were saying how ‘Jews kill innocent Palestinians’. What all of us? Together or separately, I wonder. But really that is the essence. That people ‘like Corbyn’ conflate Jews and Israel. And they hate Israel so ergo, they hate Jews. Simplistic but true. Because all Jews, whilst questioning and disagreeing with a lot of Israel’s politics and policies, feel a burning need for it to exist. Ironically and in rather circular fashion, because should Jeremy Corbyn ever (heaven forbid) come to power, we’d have a safe haven to run to.

Then you have to wonder why Israel is hated. I know why Jeremy Corbyn hates it, because of its ties to his main enemy, America. And because he seems to want to befriend anyone and everyone who wants to see Israel wiped off the face of the Earth. The rest of the text used by Corbyn’s mates in Hamas and Hezbollah stating a similar fate for all Jews, by the way. But I know Israel does things which make its staunchest supporter cringe at times. And there’s another difference. When Israel gets heavy-handed the Jews of the world wince. When the Lockerbie bomber returns to Lybia he’s cheered as a hero.

But you’re allowed to criticise anything that causes death, particularly to ‘innocent civilians’ (though apparently the raining bombs of Hamas on Israeli farms doesn’t count in this), as long as you do it consistently.

The UN has passed more resolutions against Israel than against North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Russia all put together. In Syria and Yemen alone hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, hundreds of thousands more displaced. And that’s interesting. Because if you complain disproportionately about Israel then that can only be accounted for by the fact that they’re looking to have a go at Israel specifically. And why would you do that if you didn’t start with a predisposition against Jews. And that also sounds overly simplistic. But how else could you account for it.

And so, once again, we await Le Corbyn’s next move to ‘rebuild confidence with the Jewish community’. The only advice I can give him, despite the usual ‘I abhor racism and there’s no place for anti-semitism’ soundbytes, is ‘don’t hold yer breath’.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx