Opinion
We made some progress, but there is a way to go with the Labour leader
February 11, 2016 12:52
2 min read
This was always going to be a difficult meeting .
Jeremy Corbyn's campaign for the Labour leadership was characterised by a number of revelations about past meetings with people with extremist, terrorist and antisemitic associations. He was closely associated with the Stop the War Coalition and with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and there was a feeling of real alarm among many in our community that here was a mainstream party leader who didn't understand our concerns.
We therefore went into our meeting this week with a mission to convey these concerns to Mr Corbyn, and to ensure that the seven questions posed by the JC in the summer were put to him and his team.
Given the low expectations, it was good to see progress on some of these issues. However, we were less than satisfied by what he said on his past meetings with extremists and terrorists, and by his reluctance to come out solidly against boycotts of Israel.
Mr Corbyn was unambiguous in his view that Israel had the right to secure and recognised boundaries as part of a two-state solution. He was clear that the sort of violence and intimidation we saw at King's College London cannot be tolerated.
For the first time, he went on the record to say that he would defend Jewish freedoms like shechitah, brit milah and Jewish schools. He condemned antisemitism "from any part of the political spectrum" -
ie from the left as well as the right.
We hope he will act to stamp out antisemitism, masquerading as anti-Zionism - an increasing problem on the left of British politics.
But there were areas where we were not reassured. While we asked Mr Corbyn at least to acknowledge and draw a line under associations with people we perceive to be terrorists and antisemites, he said he only committed himself to "reflect further" on such associations - an attitude we consider inadequate.
I put it to Mr Corbyn that it was perfectly possible to criticise Israeli government policy without being extremist or antisemitic. But when a person fails to condemn terrorism directed at Jews, minimises the Nazi Holocaust, or repeats the "blood libel", it is antisemitism, pure and simple. Some of the people he has met are clearly guilty of the above.
We also wanted a firm commitment against boycotts. Not a big ask you would think, as this is official Labour Party policy. However, he committed only to "reflecting" on our strong opposition to any type of boycott, adding that policy was made by conference rather than him alone. If Labour adopts a boycott policy, alienation of the vast majority of the Jewish community from the party will grow exponentially.
We want to work with Mr Corbyn - as we do with other party leaders - to ensure that most Jews feel comfortable to vote for any mainstream party on the basis of their wider policy alone
We clearly have a way to go with Mr Corbyn, but we made some progress this time. We have a further meeting planned and we will continue to press on the issues which matter to us all. But ultimately, the future course of the relationship between Jeremy Corbyn and the Jewish community will be for Mr Corbyn himself to decide.
