Jenny Manson, chair of Jewish Voice for Labour, a small group that was founded last year to counter accusations of antisemitism within Labour, shared thoughts from “a friend in the JVL”, who said Mr Margrain “is clearly committed anti-racist who fears that the antics of the Zionists and the resources they pour into their activities could promote a resurgence of antisemitic sentiment.
“The offending passage is certainly carelessly expressed but, as usual in these cases, the accusation of antisemitism only looks plausible if you take these words in isolation. Which is what they always do.”
Robert Deakin, chair of the Garden Suburb branch of the Finchley and Golders Green Labour party, said he believed that Mr Margrain was “perpetuating dangerous fantasies of Jews pulling the levers of history”.
However, he also said: “I think we need to move away from the idea that someone should be condemned as necessarily an antisemitic person for saying or believing something deemed to be antisemitic.”
In another e-mail thread, members of the Momentum group discuss the expulsion of Moshe Machover, a Jewish anti-Zionist who was ejected from the party after writing a piece titled 'Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism' which quoted Reinhard Heydrich, one of Hitler’s most notorious lieutenants. Mr Machover 's expulsion was later overturned.
One member wrote of the explusion: “It is not democratic and its only purpose is trying to stop free speech on, and criticism of Israel… although I see the need to bring as much of the party along with us as possible, there are those in the party who's [sic] allegiances lie with a foreign government.
“I still support Momentum, and the Labour Party, but, I strongly feel that we need to let Momentum know that this behaviour is not what we expect from the organisation we joined to support.”
Tirza Waisel, chair of the Woodhouse branch of the Finchley and Golders Green Labour party, replied saying: “I feel the same.”
Discussing the agenda for an upcoming meeting and asked whether an emergency motion on the subject would be tabled, she said: “We will have a report from Conference and the political discussion first, which will be allocated at least half of the meeting, so I am happy that this bloody 'antisemitism' issue will not take up too much time.”
Defending her remarks, Ms Manson told the JC: "We should always look at the context for any remark which is in a larger piece and think carefully about it (as this colleague whoever it was did) and ideally speak to the person who has been accused of antisemitism to get their explanation."
Mr Deakin said: "As I repeatedly explain in the emails, Margrain's comments were unequivocally antisemitic and should not be defended.
"I believe he should be challenged through political education on anti semitism, and my comments were aimed at encouraging Momentum members to educate one another on these issues. I abhor antisemitism and racism in all its forms."
Ms Waisel had not responded to a request for comment as this story went live.
In another email conversation, one Momentum activist poured scorn on the threat of violence to Jews, saying: “Zionists will exploit and generate the fear of antisemitism to promote their own agenda.
“Do people really think all these security guards outside Jewish and other centres are protecting anybody rather than just generating an atmosphere of insecurity?"
Another argued against attempts to try and reach out to local Jews, writing: “Surely there are many more non Jewish voters we can attract? I personally don't believe appeasement ever works.”
She also said that: “People are leaving Israel in large numbers. Antisemitism is necessary either real or manufactured in order to persuade Jews they are safer in Israel and so to move there.”
A Momentum spokesperson told the JC: "Momentum takes a zero tolerance approach to antisemitism, and is committed to stamping it out across the Labour movement. Any complaints we receive will be investigated fully in line with our code of ethics, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken."
