The JC Letters Page, 29th November 2019

Hysterical and absurd

Your correspondent Raphael Sylvester (Letters, November 22) like is sure that Jeremy Corbyn is not personally antisemitic.

I on the other hand believe his Jew-hatred is a modern version of the old 1930’s antisemite who, after making negative remarks about Judaism, would then say: “It’s not you I hate. Some of my best friends are Jews”.

Today’s version is: “I’ve got nothing against the Jews. It’s those terrible racist Israelis I can’t stand”.
This can all be settled very quickly if Jeremy Corbyn will answer one simple question: “If you are elected Prime Minister, will you continue to maintain the same friendly relations with Israel we have at present”?

Don’t hold your breath for an answer.

David Lee
Kingston upon Thames KT2

The JC has performed a signal service to our community in the exposure of antisemitism in the Labour Party and elsewhere.

Raphael Sylvester in his “hysterical and absurdly partisan response” to the extensive coverage of your paper’s reporting is totally inaccurate.

You have revealed existence and evidence of antisemitism in the Labour Party as a threat to our community.
Mr Sylvester’s plea to Jews to support the Labour Party will rightly fall on deaf ears for the vast majority of Jews in the UK.

Malvyn A Benjamin
Hendon NW4

I hope your readers are not deceived by the breathtaking ignorance displayed by Raphael Sylvester.

His claim that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party represents a tradition of solidarity with minorities is, to use his phrase, beyond ridiculous.

He is clearly in denial about the many historic examples of Corbyn’s association with antisemites and his antipathy to claims of antisemitism, about the whitewash Shami Chakrabarti report, about the resignation of Jewish MPs and others from the party because of antisemitism and harassment by party activists, and about the unprecedented ongoing investigation by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.

Mr Sylvester disgracefully conflates the controversy over Benjamin Netanyahu with British Jewry and accuses “ the Jewish establishment” of weaponising anti semitism , allegations which are so outrageous that it is difficult to believe any individual would risk ridicule by exposing such views to the wider public.

The Labour Party has certainly in the past been a party of social justice. Anyone who believes the present party, with its extremist leaders and hateful views , fulfils that role is living in a parallel universe

Eddie Young
Finchley N3

Your campaign in regard to Jew hatred in the Labour party, not to mention in others as well, has been irreproachable. Rabbi Mervis’ intervention likewise.

I wonder though whether we need to consider the next fortnight leading to the election.

Should we perhaps take our communal foot off the pedal?

This issue, so vital to us, is far from the most uppermost in the minds of the 99% of the electorate whose priorities are Leave or Remain, the NHS and the economy.

Apart from the very few constituencies where the number of Jewish voters matter, the rest of the UK will vote Tory to get us out of Europe pronto with the promise of huge spending, or Labour to get us out later [or not] and even huger spending, or the LibDems to Revoke.

While we have had wonderful support from many non-Jewish MPs and others, non-Jewish friends are horrified when I give them evidence of the problem which, while it is headline news in the Jewish media, gets less coverage elsewhere.

We might do ourselves no favours by obsessing on one issue only when so many others, vital to the future of the UK, need solving too.

Barry Hyman
Bushey Heath

Jewish solidarity

Every year, on or around 30 November, more and more Jewish communities in the UK are joining my organisation Harif in marking ‘Jewish Refugee Day’.

This year saw the 70th anniversary of the airlift rescue of the Jews of Yemen to Israel, the 50th anniversary of the hangings of nine Jews in Baghdad and the 40th anniversary of the mass exodus of Jews from Iran.

Over 850,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries and Iran or compelled to leave.

But too many still view the 30 November commemoration as a ‘niche’ concern.

As we approach an election that could bring to power the Labour Party our commemoration becomes more relevant than ever.

No Jew escaping an Arab country was asked for his views on Zionism. Sooner or later, antisemites end up conflating Zionists with Jews.

Our commemoration does not only concern Sephardim and Mizrahim, anymore than Holocaust Memorial Day only concerns European Jewry. Both are part of the history of the Jewish people.

I urge the British-Jewish community to learn from the experience of Jews from Arab countries and show solidarity with them.

Lyn Julius
Harif