Corbyn needs a 12-step programme to overcome anti-semitism denial

Fixing any problem begins with acknowledging that you have one. And the Labour Party has an anti-semitism problem.

You don’t need to take my word for it. Hear it from Ruth Smeeth, a Labour MP who is Jewish who received 25,000 pieces of hate mail, including death threats, after she fled a Labour anti-semitism event at which she was accused of colluding with the right-wing media. Or read back over comments made by Labour activists such as Vicki Kirby and Gerry Downing, which include anti-semitic slurs and calls to address the “Jewish question”. Or listen to a Ken Livingstone interview (any one will do these days) in which he asserts yet again that Hitler was a Zionist, and looks shocked, all wide-eyed and Bambi-like, when it is suggested such a comparison is sickeningly offensive.

But if those examples are all too subjective for you, the Home Affairs Select Committee report published on Sunday should put the matter to rest once and for all. The Labour party, the report concludes, is “demonstrably incompetent” in dealing with anti-semitic abuse; the party’s own inquiry headed by newly-appointed peer and shadow cabinet member Shami Chakrabarti was “ultimately compromised”; and Jeremy Corbyn’s “lack of consistent leadership” has created “a ‘safe space’ for those with vile attitudes towards Jewish people”.

Here is where we stop to note that no one – not even the HASC report – is accusing Corbyn himself of being anti-semitic. Corbyn, as we repeatedly hear, condemns anti-semitism (although we rarely hear him say it without the suffix “and all forms of racism”).

So how has a man so committed to eliminating anti-semitism responded to this scathing assessment of the party he runs? With denial, bitterness, and accusations. Here are some of his rebuttals.

“Not a single woman was called to give oral evidence in public.” It is unclear how Corbyn thinks this is relevant. Of course, female representation is extremely important, but it is hardly as though the lack of public evidence from women negates the report’s findings. Is Corbyn implying that, had more women been interviewed, all the other evidence of anti-semitism within the Labour party would have somehow dissolved? It also seems particularly insensitive to make a point about this when one of the most prominent examples of anti-Jewish vitriol within the Labour party concerns Ruth Smeeth.

“The report’s political framing and disproportionate emphasis on Labour risks undermining the positive and welcome recommendations made in it.” Maybe the report does focus too much on Labour, or maybe the extreme situation within the Labour party merits closer scrutiny. Either way, Corbyn is essentially blaming the findings of the report for his hostile reaction to it, glossing over the “welcome recommendations” to attack the content.

“Under my leadership, Labour has taken greater action against anti-Semitism than any other party.” Never mind that it took Corbyn two full days to suspend Ken Livingstone after the former London Mayor alleged that Hitler supported Zionism in a live TV interview. Never mind that, at the launch of Labour inquiry into anti-semitism within the party itself, Corbyn appeared to compare the state of Israel with the terrorism organisation IS. Never mind that Corbyn has repeatedly shut his ears to reports of anti-Jewish sentiment, letting his dislike of Israel shape his perspective of anti-semitism, lashing out at any journalist or politician who dares to mention it. Corbyn has declared himself a crusader against anti-semitism, and in the cult of Corbynistas that surround him, the leader’s word alone is enough.

It is clear that Jeremy Corbyn is “still in denial”, to use the words of the committee’s acting chairman. It is uncertain if he will ever not be in denial about the festering prejudice against Jews that his leadership has allowed to bubble to the surface of his party. Which is fine – if he, as Labour leader, refuses to confront anti-semitism and would rather call for anti-war activists to demonstrate outside the US embassy, that is his prerogative.

But if Corbyn ever has the audacity to claim he and his Labour party stand “against all forms of racism”, I hope the “Zionist media” his supporters revile so much don’t let him forget his negligence, denial, and blatant hypocrisy.