Jeremy Corbyn

• WE write as Jewish members of the Islington North Labour Party to express the enduring distress we have experienced watching the continual accusations of anti-Semitism made against our MP, Jeremy Corbyn, with our own experiences completely ignored.

Right now we are devastated that this process has climaxed in the suspension of our cherished MP and former leader, (Shock suspension of long-serving MP Corbyn sparks Labour rebellion, October 30).

Unlike most of his critics, it is we who actually know and regularly meet Jeremy Corbyn. As Jews we have always felt safe, welcome, and supported in everything we do in the borough and the party.

Indeed we often feel this all the more strongly, knowing that so many who choose to speak in our name completely disrespect our commitment to combating anti-Semitism and racism of all kinds in struggles for a better world, including the vital struggle for Palestinian rights.

Corbyn has been our MP for almost 40 years, yet battles to discredit him as anti-Semitic began only after his unexpected victory as leader of the party, some three decades later.

Tellingly it was especially after his relative success in the elections of 2017 that we saw orchestrated denunciations that Corbyn was presiding over a party that was “institutionally anti-Semitic”.

There is so very much that is wrong with this account. Until very recently the real prevalence of anti-Semitism in political parties remained unaddressed.

It was only in the last few years, under Corbyn, that continuing investigations into anti-Semitism began in the Labour Party. Tragically this served as much to confuse as to enlighten people, in ways too numerous to list here.

But they were clearly tied in with Corbyn’s support for Palestinian rights and the recent introduction of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, making it difficult to distinguish legitimate criticisms of the Israeli state from what might be declared anti-Semitic.

One thing we know for sure is that Corbyn faced an unrelentingly hostile campaign of disinformation, as established by comprehensive media research led by Justin Schlosberg and Laura Laker in their report in 2018.

There is so very much that has been deliberately evaded or denied about Corbyn’s actual relation to Judaism and anti-Semitism.

Over the years he has created mutually supportive relations with the practising Jewish community in Islington, attending numerous official Jewish events in north London.

In 1987 he participated in a successful Jewish-led campaign to reverse a decision by Islington Council to sell an early 19th-century Jewish cemetery to property developers.

Against some local resistance, he promoted the installation of a plaque on a demolished synagogue site in 2015 to celebrate Jewish life in the borough.

Above all, unlike most of his Westminster critics, Corbyn unfailingly turned up to vote for parliamentary motions addressing anti-Semitism, just as he worked tirelessly against racism on every front.

This is precisely why Jews on the left in the Labour Party – and there are still many of us – are among the most supportive of Corbyn’s overall political project.

Finally, carefully buried under mountains of misinformation, YouGov polls on anti-Semitism in political parties from 2015 and 2017 revealed that anti-Semitism significantly declined within the Labour Party under Corbyn.

We know that there remains anti-Semitism in the party, as the Equalities and Human Rights Commission report found, and that there was some interference in the speed with which complaints about it were handled (though details of the nature of this interference remain ambiguous). Corbyn accepted the evidence provided by the EHRC, saying it should be acted upon.

In our view it is only right that Corbyn should attempt to reassure Jews that the extent of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party had been grossly exaggerated by the media, and others; not in order to fight such prejudice but as a way of attacking him.

Promoting the false belief that 34 per cent of the Labour Party had been accused of anti-Semitism, when in reality it was 0.3 per cent (thus exaggerated by a factor of 100) serves only to undermine the significance of the real struggle against anti-Semitism, as well as harming the Labour Party.

And accusations or allegations need to be rigorously investigated; only a proportion of that 0.3 per cent have merited further action.

If Sir Keir Starmer wants to follow the suggestions of the EHRC, he will reinstate Corbyn forthwith.

This is because that document explicitly protects freedom of expression, with protection under Article 10 (including enhanced protection for elected politicians) for Labour Party members who “express their opinions on internal Party matters, such as the scale of antisemitism within the Party, based on their own experience and within the law”.

We would welcome a meeting with Sir Keir and Angela Rayner so they can hear the whole range of Jewish perspectives within the Labour Party.

LYNNE SEGAL, JULIA BARD, TONY GRAHAM, DAVID ROSENBERG, JENNY KASSMAN, RIVKAH BROWN, ELANA DALLAS, MICHAEL ELLMAN, L KAPLIN, JULIAN LOUSADA, MICA NAVA, PROFESSOR ANNABELLE SREBERNY, RUTH STEIGMAN, ALEXANDRA STEIN, ANNETTE THOMAS, PETER THOMAS, DR GILL YUDKIN, PROFESSOR JOHN YUDKIN, PAM ZINKIN