A member of Jewish Voice for Labour who has downplayed Labour's antisemitism crisis has announced he is running to be Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green.
Justin Schlosberg, who is a senior lecturer in journalism at Birkbeck University and a vocal supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, is among seven candidates expected to compete to represent Labour in the seat in the next general election.
Mr Schlosberg wrote a report attacking the media for its “distortion” of the Labour antisemitism crisis. The report alleged that the media’s coverage of antisemitism within the Labour party was inaccurate.
In another article published last year, he said the Board of Deputies was a “non-elected body consisting primarily of Tory-voting and Trump-endorsing members”.
He said Labour’s problem with antisemitism was “nowhere near as extensive as many assert”, and suggested it was more of a problem “on the right, including in the Tory party.”
According to Mr Schlosberg, antisemitism in the Labour Party was “being deflected and skewed by a politically and ideologically-driven smear campaign against Corbyn’s Labour; and that efforts to confront the root and manifestations of antisemitism in the left are being hampered by a climate of hysteria and repression fostered by Westminster, the media, and the right-wing Jewish lobby.”
Also competing for the parliamentary seat is Sara Conway, a councillor in Barnet and the co-founder of a local Jewish-Muslim women’s group.
Other candidates on the long-list are Andrew Kaye, who is Jewish and Christian Wolmar, Simon Thompson, Roly Hunter, Rob Wakely, Mary Asaria and David Knowles.
It was originally thought that JVL chair Jenny Manson would seek the nomination, but she did not apply.
Mr Schlosberg was one of a few left-wing activists to defend Mr Corbyn over his approval of an antisemitic mural.
The academic backed Mr Corbyn's endorsement of the mural on the grounds of free speech.
The image, titled Freedom for Humanity, depicted a group of businessmen and bankers sitting around a Monopoly-style board and counting money.
Mr Schlosberg argued that there had been mixed reactions to the artwork in 2012, when Mr Corbyn made his endorsement of the mural known.
Mr Schlosberg also signed a letter to the Guardian alongside Ken Loach and Noam Chomsky saying “significant parts of the UK media have failed their audiences by producing flawed reports that have contributed to an undeserved witch-hunt against the Labour leader and misdirected public attention away from antisemitism elsewhere, including on the far right”.
The academic said: "Just because I am a member of JVL doesn't mean I agree with everything that anyone on the JVL committee says or has said in the past. I don't agree with everything Jeremy Corbyn says or has said in the past.
“I actually used the term 'right wing Jewish lobby' which is an important distinction and referred to groups like the Board who have consisted campaigned and lobbied on issues in accordance with broadly right-wing positions.
“I am of course aware of how the phrase 'Jewish lobby' has been and is used in antisemitic discourse."
Stressing that he is a "victim of antisemitic abuse myself and a proud (progressive) Zionist", he said that he agreed that Labour had a problem with Jew-hate.
“My position on antisemitism in Labour has consistently been that it is a significant problem that must be confronted and rooted out at every turn. What I don't believe is that the party is completely subsumed by it or that Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite. I don’t think that’s equivalent to ‘downplaying antisemitism’."
However, Mr Schlosberg described MrCorbyn’s record on antisemitism as "impeccable".
He said: "[Mr Corbyn] has turned up and voted for far more motions in Parliament seeking to defend the Jewish community and protect the legacy of the Holocaust than most of his detractors within the Parliamentary Labour Party."
