Anti-semitism is an inexcusable evil. It has been described as the canary of racism – whenever racism starts to infect a society, it often begins with attacks on the Jewish community.

So we should welcome the Board of Deputies of British Jews’ and the Jewish Leadership Council’s ringing of the alarm bell.

DEFINING

ANTI-SEMITISM

Anti-semitism is not just hatred of Jewish people for being Jewish. Things are being said which are deeply insulting to the Jewish community and – just as we took the racist image off our marmalade jars – there are ‘anti-semitic slanders’ which need discarding.

Although there are many definitions of anti-semitism, the one favoured by the Board of Deputies and the JLC is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition (bit.ly/2qkXzfr), which outlines what it calls ‘manifestations of anti-semitism’. The idea is that, if someone does or says certain things, then that is a sign that person harbours anti-semitic attitudes.

MANIFESTATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM

These ‘manifestations of anti-semitism’ include:

• Downplaying the Holocaust

• Spreading anti-Jewish conspiracy theories

• Writing or speaking about the state of Israel in an anti-semitic way.

Thus, alongside the openly-racist tweets that some MPs have received, current disciplinary cases against Labour Party members include: one member who shared a link on his Facebook page to an article claiming that the death of 6 million Jews was a “hoax”; another who suggested that Jewish people financed the slave trade; and another who interpreted a 1933 agreement as implying that Hitler was a Zionist.

LABOUR AND ANTI-SEMITISM

In 2016, Shami Chakrabati conducted an Inquiry into anti-semitism in the Labour Party. She found that “the Labour Party is not overrun by antisemitism”, although she did acknowledge “minority hateful or ignorant attitudes”. She made twenty recommendations, including improving the Party’s disciplinary procedures, and banning abuse words, stereotypes, Nazi metaphors, and minimising of the Holocaust (bit.ly/2HoOcT7).

And whilst it is clear that the Board of Deputies and the JLC want the Labour Party to take much firmer action, we need to acknowledge too that there are Jewish groups who support Jeremy Corbyn, and who oppose attempts to widen the definition of anti-semitism beyond its meaning of ‘hostility or discrimination against Jews as Jews’.

Therefore, we need a process of respectful discussion and political education so that honest Labour Party members – who believe with all their heart that they do not have an anti-semitic bone in their body – can be confident to act and speak in a way which overtly values, and does not unintentionally distress, the Jewish community.

John D Clare

This letter is a precis of a longer article which you can read online at http://bit.ly/LAA-S