Former leader of the Labour Party and darling of the far-left, Jeremy Corbyn, was suspended from the party on the 29^th of October after failing to accept the findings of a report that highlighted the party’s failure to deal with allegations of anti-Semitism under his stewardship.

This is not the first time that Corbyn has been subject to questioning over his stance on anti-Semitism, yet this time the hammer has rightfully fallen.

In May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) conducted a probe into allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party as Corbyn drew criticism from various Jewish groups across the country. The Jewish Labour Movement noted that it had been continuously warning party officials about a “deepening casual culture of anti-Jewish racism” since 2015.

Released at 10:00 GMT on Thursday, the EHRC report found that the Labour Party was responsible for breaching the Equality Act (2010) on the account of:

• Committing unlawful harassment of its Jewish members
• Political interference against complaints of anti-Semitism
• Failing to provide proper training to those responsible for handling the complaints

According to Corbyn, the presence of anti-Semitism in the party was “drastically overstated” and that allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party affected just 0.3% of its members.

His successor, Sir Keir Starmer, replied that those who believe anti-semitism to be “exaggerated or a factional attack” are a source of the problem and admitted that he was “deeply disappointed” with Corbyn’s comments. Consequently, Starmer suspended Corbyn from the party, a decision that has sadly not been received equally well throughout the Labour Party.

A host of MPs , including Margaret Hodge, the Parliamentary chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, stood by Starmer’s decision. However, radical factions such as the Socialist Campaign Group have vowed that they “will work tirelessly for his reinstatement”, and General Secretary of the Unite union called Corbyn’s suspension “an act of grave injustice…”

Comrade of Controversy

Jeremy Corbyn, a self-proclaimed socialist and an admirer of Marx, has been a member of the Labour Party for over half a century.

Between 2015 and 2020 Corbyn assumed the role of party Leader and has been heralded as a champion against the egregiousness of the right. Yet, he has never managed to shed the shroud of anti-Semitism that has hung over him and his party under his leadership.

During a parliamentary meeting in 2009, footage of Corbyn calling the militant Islamist groups Hezbollah and Hamas “friends” went viral. He later said that naming Hamas a terrorist group was a “really, big, big, historical mistake.” In 2016, MP’s began to investigate these statements, to which Corbyn replied that he was using “inclusive language [which he would] rather not have used.”

In 2012 another high-profile instance occurred, when a  mural allegedly depicting hook-nosed bankers was shared across social media. When the mural was asked to be removed as a result of its anti-Semitic connotations, Corbyn replied “Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller (sic) destroyed Diego Viera’s mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.”

More recent cases of anti-Semitic allegations occurred in 2018, when two MPs, John Woodcock and Frank Field, left the party due to anti-Semitism among other reasons. Their departure was followed by Luciana Berger leaving the party, as she was critical of how Labour dealt with cases of anti-Semitism.

The Elephant in the Room

For many, the idea that the left-side of the aisle could be culpable of a form of racism synonymous with right-wing nationalism seems preposterous. However, the recent chaos that has engulfed the Labour Party, is a clear reminder the left, is equally prone to anti-Semitism.

Historically, the left has been guided by the Marxian dichotomy, where the finite struggle between the haves and have-nots ensues, supporting those burdened by oppression. As such, support for Jewish national self-determination swelled amongst European leftist movements following the Second World War.

However, since the 1960’s the left’s stance has changed. With the conclusion of the Israel-Palestinian war in 1967 and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the left began a 60 year and continuing campaign backing the Palestinians – the newly oppressed victims of the elite.

The result has been a pan-Western leftist shift in attitude towards Israel and subsequently the Jewish people.

In 2018, The Economist published a revealing piece about the true state of anti-Semitism. According to their piece, “liberals” in the U.S. were just as likely to believe that the Holocaust was a myth as conservatives. Astonishingly, liberals and conservatives are both tied in their belief that Jews exploit the Holocaust for the purpose of their own victimization.

Another study commissioned in 2018 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, indicated that, across 12 countries survey in Europe, victims of anti-Semitic harassment believed that 21% of the crimes committed against them were carried  out by left-wingers. Right-wingers clocked in at a mere 13%.

It is clear that anti-Semitism on the left is a rising concern and with political and economic uncertainty ever-growing, a scape goat will be found. Thus, Starmer’s decision to address the elephant in the room and crack down on the anti-Semitism running through the Labour Party is exactly what was needed. For too long the, woke, Corbynite, fringes of the party have exercised their radical ideology and with the removal of the dragon’s head, a new non-radical Labour Party may ensue.