During the Corbyn era, the Labour Party’s alleged anti-semitism played a leading part in its electoral defeat in 2019. The accusation goes back a few years; although certainly not to the origins of the Labour Party, which was one of the main opponents of any kind of racism, and a major supporter of Jewish causes in the early 20th century. Anti-semitism then was mainly the province of the political Right.
I first commented on modern Labour and ‘anti-semitism’ ten years ago: https://bernardjporter.com/2016/04/28/anti-semitism-and-labour/. I was a member of the party then, as I should acknowledge, as you may think it gives me an interest in defending it. But my arguments for objecting to this kind of demonization of Corbyn, in that post and in subsequent ones, still stand on their own merits, I would claim, and need stating again.
Especially, I would say, for me here in Sweden, where Vänsterpartiet is currently being tarred with the same brush as British Labour was then: see https://bernardjporter.com/2025/04/11/leftist-anti-semitism-in-sweden/. Last night the party held a ‘crisis meeting’ over this via Skype. (My line on the particular issue raised is that the offending MP should have resigned over it, whether she is a good MP otherwise or not. Her intervention was at the very least unwise, and leaves her party vulnerable.)
The reason I’m blogging on this today however is that the issue has resurfaced, in connection with recent accusations against universities, in both Britain and America, of not doing enough to combat anti-semitism among both students and faculty there. – Now, on the one hand, none of us should be surprised at any resurgence of anti-semitism today, in the wake of Netanyahu’s and the IDF’s blatant atrocities in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank. I remember the feelings in Britain against ‘the Germans’, as a people, being equally condemnatory for a few years after the Second World War and the opening of Auschwitz. (I think I shared these, as a very young boy.) Of course that was grossly unfair; but it was understandable. It’s easy to channel even righteous anger on to a particular racial group. In the present case some of the criticism of Israel may well express a pre-existing racial prejudice; but it’s important to realise that this isn’t always so. Netanyahu’s crimes are condemned by many Jews in Israel too.
Unfortunately not everyone shares this view. One of the difficulties stems from an ‘IHRA working definition of anti-semitism’ (IHRA stands for the ‘International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’), which many reject as far too open-ended, but which is treated as holy writ by Israel’s very vocal and influential defenders (the ‘Israel Lobby’?) in Britain and America. (There’s an excellent ‘Wiki’ piece on the controversy over this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHRA_definition_of_antisemitism).
But what particularly struck me this morning was a radio interview with someone from the Israeli Embassy, which leant heavily on that controversial ‘definition’; and in particular took aim at a discussion by students of a recently-published book called Understanding Hamas, and Why That Matters (by Helena Cobban and Rami G. Khouri, October 2024). ‘You wouldn’t discuss a book called Understanding Hitler, would you?’ claimed the contributor, as her coup de grâce. – Well, yes! We would, and do. There are many books trying to get to the bottom of Nazism, and were even during World War II. You need to understand your enemy in order to defeat him: as any general will tell you.
Beyond that, it’s surely every university’s main purpose to try to ‘understand’ everything. So the Israeli spokeswoman was implicitly attacking not only Hamas, or her perceived anti-semites, but also academics like me (I’ve researched many horrible things); and the whole function of universities, and even of education generally. That’s why I take personal umbrage at her intervention. And will continue criticising Israel’s bombing, starving and possibly now annexation of Gaza (as well of course as condemning Hamas atrocities), while continuing to support the many brave Jews and Israelis who criticise these horrors too.
Porter’s Pensées 
I’ve devoted far too much time and attention to the topic of Left anti-semitism over the years. I now think it comes down to two key questions.
Firstly, Is ‘Left anti-semitism’ a credible charge?
Not whether it’s a credible charge to make against this person or that party – let alone against this person’s endorsement of someone else’s social media post, or that party’s failure to condemn comments made by a guest at an event it hosted. Is it a credible charge at all? Is it believable that “anti-Zionism is anti-semitism” – that
Secondly, Are the denunciations of anti-semitism coming from people who believe in ‘Left anti-semitism’?
If you believe, as I do, that the answers are ‘No’ and ‘Yes’, it makes things a lot clearer.
Many people do believe (or at any rate claim to believe) in Left anti-semitism: they believe, in other words, that denunciations of the state of Israel and expressions of solidarity with Palestine, by people who pride themselves on anti-racism, are often or mostly motivated by hatred of Jews. Those people, I believe, are completely wrong. Claims that Left anti-semitism is widespread – and, more importantly, claims about individuals that only make sense if you assume that Left anti-semitism is widespread – should be argued against, not accepted.
Of course, anti-semitism exists in Western societies and needs to be combated when it shows its face. Of course, people can learn and repeat anti-semitic attitudes and tropes – they’re out there to be picked up – and they need to be challenged when they do so, however innocent it is on their part. And we should no more demand that an individual Israeli denounces the IDF than that an individual Palestinian denounces Hamas – let alone an individual Jew. All this is true; anti-semitism on the Left does exist But Left anti-semitism, I believe, doesn’t exist – and those things that are denounced as Left anti-semitism are generally no more than problematic tropes that happen to have been picked up by a Leftist, or else aren’t anti-semitic at all.
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