Labour doing their best to lose the next election.

[life on mars]

The anti-semitism dispute in the Labour Party is getting me angrier by the day. I'm going to get this off my chest.

We have had loads of debate on this board about it over the past 2 years, and I have moved from shock at the allegations to anger that most of the high profile ones seem to be false or exaggerated, and part of a cynical attack by the anti-Corbyn majority amongst Labour MPs and Peers, most of the media (with the Guardian as chief cheerleader) and a range of Israeli lobby organisations and fronts. There are certainly examples of anti-semitic threats and abuse on social media - thousands of examples - but little I have seen to support claims that Corbyn, or Momemtum, have initiated or encouraged them - quite the opposite. Labour and the left are less infected by anti-semitism than the Tories and the right (despite the racist tropes against Arabs and Muslims used by many commentators). You wouldn't know it from the TV or print media.

The internal soul searching by Labour has been immense. The Chakrabarti Report was wide ranging and considered (unlike the Home Affairs Select Committee fiasco). The Labour Party through its internal disciplinary processes has ramped up the action against members accused of anti-semitism (or when that became untenable, bringing the party into disrepute) and expulsions have been a regular feature - including the purge in June that resulted in expulsions for Marc Wadsworth and Tony Greenstein (I knew both of them a long time ago and they were both principled anti-racist but anti-Zionist campaigners). Tony is Jewish. Both expulsions are scandalous. Livingstone was an idiot (although what he said about German Zionists and the Nazi Regime was nearly true - and he said it responding to a leading journalist question). Jackie Walker (ex vice chair of Momentum) who has Jewish heritage is the next in line and she has probably strayed into a few comments that are unacceptable and untrue - but most of the charge-sheet against her is rubbish. Most of the allegations against Labour students have been shown to be false or malicious, but where genuine they have been expelled.

The anti-Corbyn MPs on the other hand have been given a free ride to accuse, abuse and trash their party as a way of getting at the leader without any significant comeback. Even the latest stuff about Margaret Hodge which is presented as a fast track disciplinary after a complaint about her foul mouthed rant in the Commons chamber came without an accompanying suspension!

The definition of anti-semitism used to be well understood. Then we had the international efforts from early 2005 to 2016 to redefine it in a way that defined opposition to the political ideology of Zionism as anti-semitic, and because the Israeli state is founded on that ideology, to equate many cases of opposition to Israeli government actions as anti-semitic - all of which found their way into the recycled 'working definition' that was adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). A lot of national governments and agencies then endorsed or adopted the wording (encouraged by Israel and the USA) including the UK government and a raft of agencies and local councils.

The definition is poorly written and the illustrative examples were originally heavily qualified to include context. The UK government ditched the context bits and now it has become (a rambling and vague working document) the touchstone of anti-semitism. Labour has actually adopted the flawed main text into its new Code of Conduct and kept most of the examples unchanged. Those it hasn't have been rewritten to make them clearer, more usable and also to bring back the original idea that context will affect judgements. Personally I think it has already gone too far in accepting that Israel operates as a 'normal' liberal democracy and that Zionism is an integral part of Jewish identity that cannot be questioned. Given recent comments by John McDonnell I expect the Labour Party NEC to cave in and adopt the whole IHRA definition with every dot, comma and spelling mistake untouched in September. It will be a victory for the state of Israel (now this week even more clearly shown to be a racist, apartheid state - not an inclusive liberal democracy) and a defeat for those genuinely trying to defeat racism and anti-semitism, and a further tragedy for the Palestinians.

Whilst internationally this is mainly about the legitimacy or otherwise of Israeli actions and as an afterthought the safety and security of Jewish people wherever they live, in the UK it is almost wholly about the co-ordinated campaign to undermine and remove Corbyn. The Labour Party has allowed itself to implode around the issue (which may be the idea for some) and the leadership has been indecisive and weak. The NEC are holding onto their slightly better Code wording whilst the disciplinary panel is carrying out a fast-track witch hunt against pro-Palestinian rights campaigners. Meanwhile Labour is hamstrung in the face of a Brexit debacle and giving the Tories a very easy ride with everything else. And Labour's relationship with many of the UK Jewish communities and organisations (but not all) has taken a nose dive too - as was bound to happen with the way the issue has been spun.

What a criminal mess.

Margaret Hodge outburst was not a conspiracy , it was personal rage directed at the leader of the party, that we know has institutional problems on this matter , her relatives were German Jews .

These enquiries suspensions ,and social media comments are not conspiracies , nor is the enquiry they had to have, nor is the need to meet with Jewish groups to establish the core of the problem , nor is the reason by the NEC too alter its ant semitsim interpretation from one that most apply and abide by around the world .

[jon1959]

Margaret Hodge outburst was not a conspiracy , it was personal rage directed at the leader of the party, that we know has institutional problems on this matter , her relatives were German Jews .

These enquiries suspensions ,and social media comments are not conspiracies , nor is the enquiry they had to have, nor is the need to meet with Jewish groups to establish the core of the problem , nor is the reason by the NEC too alter its ant semitsim interpretation from one that most apply and abide by around the world .

You may know that the Labour Party has 'institutional' anti-semitic problems, but I don't. I haven't seen it from the inside for a while - I left the Labour Party 4 years ago - but I have followed the story very closely. All of the evidence I have seen says that Labour has less of a problem than other main parties, and has done much more to tackle it. The perception is different of course. Perception has its own reality, and the relationship between Labour and parts of the UK Jewish community is now toxic.

There are anti-semites in the Labour Party like in all parties, and there are thousands of racist creeps out there who will abuse and threaten people on social media - including Jewish Labour MPs - but I haven't seen any evidence to convince me that this comes from Jeremy Corbyn or Momentum. The opposite in fact. My problem with Corbyn is weak leadership which means he is backing off his principled position in the face of the PLP and media onslaught, but still getting smeared - the worst of all worlds.

I don't normally do conspiracies. I am convinced that cock ups explain most events. But in this case I am 100% convinced that the whole move to redefine anti-semitism internationally (to conflate it with criticism of Israel) has been pushed by Israel in response to successes of the BDS movement. I am convinced that some of the black and Jewish Labour members who have been expelled (like Wadsworth and Greenstein) are victims of an internal witch hunt. I am also convinced that the charge of anti-semitism has been weaponised to attack Corbyn. You may know Margaret Hodge and her motivations better than me. I know she lost family in the holocaust (as have many on the other side of the argument) and I'm sure she is upset, but she is also one of the leaders of the Get Corbyn campaign who initiated the PLP no confidence vote that sparked the Owen Smith challenge.

But to go back to the OP - whilst Labour tears itself apart with Part X of its civil war, there is no effective opposition in Parliament.