World outlook
ple to cultural, linguistic and national traditions, and who know nothing of Jewish history.
I don’t know if Corbyn has read this but I’m certain he’s familiar with its thesis, because it’s a standard text in the circles he’s been mixing in throughout his political life. Once left-wingers succumb to the fallacy that Israel, rather than being a flawed democracy with a just national claim, is an oppressive colonialist state, they misunderstand far more than just the geopolitics. They also fail to grasp the connection of modern Jews with the Jewish state, and the moral imperative of ensuring that Jews must have a place of refuge.
And because, in a peculiar far-left heresy, Jewish history is destined to come to an end, there needs to be an explanation for why it hasn’t done so. The answer that some on the far left come to, I fear, lies in those grotesque cartoons of Jewish bankers. There is a thin line between modern anti-Zionism and antisemitism, and the reason the boundary is so porous is that these do have common ideological roots.
I’m sure Corbyn is sincere in his belief that he is a principled opponent of antisemitism. It just happens not to be true. There are leftists from the generation of 1968, like Joshka Fischer — who went on to be German foreign minister 30 years later — who realised the descent of their comrades into traditional antisemitism and recoiled from it. Corbyn doesn’t even recognise antisemitism when he is literally looking straight at it. That is why he has brought a great political party to a state of obloquy, while erstwhile supporters look on in despair.
Oliver Kamm writes for The Times