The weeks since Labour's election defeat have been spent raking over the various failures of Ed Miliband's leadership. His positions on Israel and rocky relationship with British Jewry were described as "catastrophic" by one of his own senior shadow cabinet members. Yet the party's MPs have shown this week - in their first key decision since losing in May - that nothing has changed.

They prepared for five years in opposition by backing as a potential leader Jeremy Corbyn , a man who has described Hizbollah and Hamas terrorists as "friends". None batted an eyelid when proposing as a possible future Prime Minister a key supporter of a Palestinian cleric who invoked the antisemitic blood libel. A quarter of the three-month leadership campaign will now be spent hearing from a backbencher who believed government policy was under the influence of pro-Israel forces. Selecting candidates simply to widen the internal party debate - as many MPs have admitted to - is hugely irresponsible.

Choosing someone to present to the public as a leader of this country is not a game. It is barely possible to imagine a way of sending a worse message to our community. Many Jewish Labour supporters despair at the direction the party has taken. Jeremy Corbyn's inevitable defeat may come too late to save Labour's reputation.