Anti-zionism is a proven fig leaf for Jew-hating

A report showing a 30 per cent rise in anti-semitism makes it clear that Labour progressives can be racist

Idoubt the authors of yesterday’s report into British anti-semitism planned it, but they could not have chosen a more appropriate day on which to release their findings. Yesterday was Roald Dahl Day, the occasion for breathless tributes on radio and TV to the author of classic children’s books. But Dahl was also an unashamed, virulent and lifelong Jew-hater. Hitler, he once said, “didn’t just pick on them for no reason”.

According to the authoritative new report from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), a mere 2.4 per cent of Brits share Dahl’s hard-core anti-semitism. Using extensive data, JPR has produced the most detailed and meticulously researched assessment of the British population’s view of Jews. With the official figures showing a record number of antisemitic hate incidents in the first half of 2017 – 767, a rise of 30 per cent on last year – we need some hard evidence on anti-semitic attitudes. That result is encouraging and depressing.

Encouraging, because the

2.4 per cent figure for hard-core anti-semitism is trifling. These are the full-on Jew haters who, when presented with a series of anti-semitic caricatures such as “Jews think they are better than other people” and “Jews get rich at the expense of others”, tick most boxes. And they remain a tiny minority. But that is where the encouragement ends.

Because the report also finds that 10 times that number – 28 per cent – agree with at least one antisemitic idea, even if they disagree with lots of others. That 28 per cent figure presents a dilemma. It would be absurd to call these people antisemitic in the sense of meaning harm to Jews. Some of their best friends, to coin a phrase, may well be Jewish.

But they none the less hold views of Jews that are typically anti-semitic. Take Kevin Myers, the journalist who recently wrote that Vanessa Feltz and Claudia Winkleman got good deals from the BBC because “Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price”. He insists that his words show simply that he holds Jews in the highest regard. But whatever his thinking, his expression of that regard consisted of a classic anti-semitic trope about Jews and money.

JPR’S sensible answer to this dilemma is to argue that there is no clear demarcation line between those who are and those who aren’t anti-semitic. The line is elastic. You can be a bit pregnant, as it were. But within all this, there is a fascinating – albeit predictable – finding.

It is always important to point out that you can be anti-israel and oppose the Israeli government without being in any way anti-semitic. If that weren’t so, the many Israelis who oppose Benjamin Netanyahu would be anti-semitic.

But we now have evidence to confirm what has long been obvious: that anti-zionism is none the less often a fig leaf for Jew hate. There is a strong crossover between many of those who describe themselves as anti-israel and those who hold anti-semitic views. The report shows that nearly half of those who describe themselves as anti-israel also believe, for example, that Jews exploit the Holocaust for their own advantage.

This is true across the spectrum. The far Right, as you would expect, combines anti-semitism with anti-zionism. But it’s especially interesting with regard to the Left. Since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, there has been a spate of anti-semitic comments and attitudes revealed among Labour members. Most of the time, the reaction from Corbynites has been to deny that these were in any way anti-semitic – they are all, we have been repeatedly told, simply anti-zionist and the Israel lobby is using the accusation of anti-semitism to shut down debate.

Once and for all, this report demolishes the argument that, as progressives and anti-racists, Labour members simply cannot be antisemitic. It is pure nonsense. The level of anti-semitism on the Left is exactly what one would predict when looking at a political extreme. But with the extreme Left now in control of the Labour Party, and anti-zionism now a characteristic of the extreme Left, Labour has its own special problem with anti-semitism.

Important as it is to have the facts, however, I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that to change.