Not good enough

Jeremy Corbyn has finally responded publicly to Labour’s anti-semitism scandal, and it is a sad disappointment. “Driving anti-semitism out of the party,” he writes in an article, is one of his priorities, which sounds strong. But the text is familiar: parts of it look as though they have been cut and pasted from an article dating back to April. And why was it published on a Friday night, when many Jewish readers, observing Shabbat, can’t respond? Why has it taken so long to write at all?

In one sentence, Mr Corbyn says that socialists must be prepared to go “the extra mile and beyond to address Jewish concerns”. In another, he describes the concerns of Jewish newspapers as “overheated rhetoric”. And while his article is full of rhetorical urgency, on the key matter of explicit definitions of anti-semitism he responds with Soviet-esque institutional lethargy: there will be “dialogue with community organisations” as part of a “consultation”.

He is still fighting his corner: he does not embrace a full definitional example of antisemitism that could affect criticism of Israel, and the reason why is easily inferred. Mr Corbyn has shared platform after platform with people who have criticised Israel in the most troubling terms.

Mr Corbyn has double standards. He is happy to be seen with former terrorists, but has refused to share platforms with David Cameron and Tony Blair. His standard excuse for meeting extremists is that he will go to any lengths in search of peace, yet he declined to meet the Israeli prime minister last year. This article is just the latest in a long line of obfuscations that betray a central fact: Labour’s leader is unhealthily obsessed with Israel, and tainted by association with fanatics.