Opera chief dismisses ‘hourly smears’ tweet
THE DIRECTOR of a London opera company has denied that he was dismissing Labour’s antisemitism crisis in a tweet condemning the “hourly smear campaign” against Jeremy Corbyn and the British left.
Michael Volpe, the general director of Opera Holland Park, announced that he had joined the Labour Party via Twitter on Sunday. He cited the “smear campaign” as a motivating factor.
In another tweet, he said: “It is about policies, not [Mr Corbyn], primarily. The attacks are ultimately in the policies.
“If Corbyn goes and another person replaces him who has the same policies — same thing will happen. When was the last time you saw any critiques of his policies?”
Opera Holland Park’s primary sponsors include Investec Wealth and Investment, which has close ties with the Jewish community.
The wider Investec banking and asset management group was founded by members of Johannesburg’s Jewish community in 1974.
Investec declined to comment. After being approached by the JC, Mr Volpe denied his tweet about a “smear campaign” was meant to be a reference to Labour’s antisemitism row but said it was a response to a claim on Twitter that Mr Corbyn was linked to a far-left group that was itself linked to an IRA bombing.
Mr Volpe said: “In a wider context, I understand how some who believe and accuse Corbyn of being an antisemite would reject the idea that hundreds of thousands of us, who also loathe antisemitism ( I used to get into fights with skinheads who sang songs about gassing Jews) but who do not agree that Corbyn is an antisemite, dislike any reference to ‘smears’ in relation to AS.
“Do I believe Corbyn is an antisemite? No. Do I believe he is pro-Palestine? Yes. Does that lead to suspicion he is AS? Clearly!
“But we all have to make judgements based on what we hear and see and to see through the noise to the facts. My tweet was about the general suggestion he supports violence — which I do not believe he does.”
He later publicly questioned, via Twitter, why discussing “smear campaigns” would be assumed to make someone “an antisemite”.