Lord Sacks' attack on Jeremy Corbyn was irresponsible and dangerous

There is no doubting that there are those within the Labour Party, as well as those who are eager to jump on the party’s bandwagon from outside it, who continue to voice despicable and blatantly racist remarks against Jews. It is hard to believe that scarcely 70 years after the Second World War, in living memory of those who lost family members in the death camps or arrived here as refugees, we have come to this.

We have known what it means to be branded as victims of antisemitism; six million of our very own people were murdered in the Shoah because they were Jews and the object of Nazi hatred. We are, understandably, deeply sensitive and fragile when it comes to this issue.  

But Lord Sacks’ comparison of Corbyn’s remarks to Enoch Powell’s "Rivers of Blood" speech, a speech that was delivered by a Shadow Defence Secretary to the nation, is irresponsible and dangerous. 

Powell’s speech was devastating, a stain on British history, and has had a malign and lasting effect on the way race and migration are addressed or ignored. 

The former Chief Rabbi has appropriated the speech in a way that is deeply inappropriate and that serves one purpose only: to separate us as Jews from the rest of society.  We are, in the words of Edie Friedman, "othering ourselves".

This is not to undermine the ignorance, malice and racism that exist in the far left of the Labour Party.  And social media and the press have done nothing to lower the emotional temperature of the "debate" which has been abrasive and aggressive on both sides.

In his 2009 book, Future Tense, Lord Sacks addressed antisemitism in the wake of the rise of intimidation against students on university campuses. Yet, while facing the reality of Jew-hate and its effect on our life and security, instead of resorting to the appropriation of violently worded analogies, he wrote, "And now I want you to do the most unexpected thing. I want you to lead the fight against Islamophobia."

I appeal to our Jewish community, young and old, grassroots and leadership, religious and secular: please take a step back and reflect on whether communal anger and tribal politics will help us to resolve the issue or stir its febrile nature into an unending whirlpool of conflict and hatred.

Antisemitism and racism of any kind should never be tolerated, but it is vital and urgent to listen to that earlier voice of Lord Sacks, who has been at the forefront of Jews and Muslims fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia together, that "Jews are not the only people who face prejudice and hate.

"So do the other groups and we must stand with them if we are to expect them to stand with us.  We share a covenant of fate and human solidarity."

Alexandra Wright is the Senior Rabbi of The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John’s Wood, London.