There has been a lot of fuss in the press recently about allegations of anti-semitism in the Labour Party. If I've got it right, three councillors have been suspended because of remarks they made which were deemed to be unacceptable.
I don't know the full facts, but it appears that in at least one case the supposed anti-semitism revolves around a quite reasonable although tongue-in-cheek criticism of Israel. I interpret anti-semitism to mean an irrational dislike of Jews, and therefore I will not use that particular label about criticism of the terror state of Israel.
I remember how a year or two back a famous newspaper columnist asserted that people who criticise Israel also want Britain to have sharia law. Am I perhaps the exception which proves that particular rule?
More recently another newspaper columnist asserted that people who condemn Israel for its various crimes are unwilling to condemn other countries for similar crimes. However I will happily condemn any government in any country which perpetrates acts of terror.
While Jeremy Corbyn has reacted to the negative press coverage about his party by expelling a few people, his response has still been dismissed as inadequate by many people in the media. Apparently Jeremy Corbyn said publicly just before the local elections that there are more important issues facing the country than anti-semitism, and so there are.
What exactly is a Jew? A few months ago I read an essay on the internet about the causes of anti-semitism which argued that Jews are not a race, which is absolutely correct. Nevertheless the law in the United Kingdom on inciting racial hatred does protect Jews - but how many people in the Jewish community ever protest about this? It seems that the non-race of the Jews are quite happy to be treated as a race when it suits them.
Pretty well anyone can become a Jew because pretty well anyone can pretend to follow a religion based on the Old Testament. Once you have asserted that you are a Jew, you acquire a privileged status whereby you apparently have the right to label anyone who annoys you as an anti-semite.
Of course being Jewish - or claiming to be Jewish - does not exempt you from being unemployed or homeless or hungry.
Jeremy Corbyn was right to say that there are more important issues facing Britain than anti-semitism. If you dispute that, then maybe you should try going without food for a couple of days. It might help you to reassess your values.
Related previous posts include:
Starvation Britain
Are you anti-semitic?
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