Thursday, May 02, 2019
Corbyn caught out by past actions
As voters in England go to the polls, Labour supporters must be wondering what exactly they have to do to rid themselves of the anti-Semitism controversy that has engulfed their party. Many of them will be asking why it is that the Labour leadership keep shooting themselves in the foot on this issue.
The Guardian reports that jewish leaders have written to Jeremy Corbyn to express “grave concern” and demand an explanation after it emerged he wrote a glowing foreword for a century-old political tract that includes anti-Semitic tropes:
The book, Imperialism: A Study, written by John Atkinson Hobson in 1902, claimed European finance was controlled by “men of a single and peculiar race”. Corbyn described the book as “brilliant” and “very controversial”, the Times first reported.
He wrote the foreword when the book was reissued in 2011, four years before becoming Labour leader. Jeremy Corbyn is either blind to antisemitism – or he just doesn’t care
Hobson describes the financial system as controlled by people “united by the strongest bonds of organisation, always in closest and quickest touch with one another, situated in the very heart of the business capital of every state, controlled, so far as Europe is concerned, by men of a single and peculiar race, who have behind them many centuries of financial experience, they are in a unique position to control the policy of nations”.
In a strongly worded letter, the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed “grave concerns” about the emergence of the foreword.
It said an argument expounded in Hobson’s book, that journalism and banking were dominated by Jews, was “pure and unequivocal racism and there can be no apology for it”.
The letter, signed by the board’s president, Marie van der Zyl, went on to cite a series of other recent allegations of antisemitism against Corbyn and demanded a full explanation.
It is little wonder that Labour cannot shake off the charges of anti-Semitism when their leader is so equivocal on the matter and even endorses a book that promotes these ideas.
The Guardian reports that jewish leaders have written to Jeremy Corbyn to express “grave concern” and demand an explanation after it emerged he wrote a glowing foreword for a century-old political tract that includes anti-Semitic tropes:
The book, Imperialism: A Study, written by John Atkinson Hobson in 1902, claimed European finance was controlled by “men of a single and peculiar race”. Corbyn described the book as “brilliant” and “very controversial”, the Times first reported.
He wrote the foreword when the book was reissued in 2011, four years before becoming Labour leader. Jeremy Corbyn is either blind to antisemitism – or he just doesn’t care
Hobson describes the financial system as controlled by people “united by the strongest bonds of organisation, always in closest and quickest touch with one another, situated in the very heart of the business capital of every state, controlled, so far as Europe is concerned, by men of a single and peculiar race, who have behind them many centuries of financial experience, they are in a unique position to control the policy of nations”.
In a strongly worded letter, the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed “grave concerns” about the emergence of the foreword.
It said an argument expounded in Hobson’s book, that journalism and banking were dominated by Jews, was “pure and unequivocal racism and there can be no apology for it”.
The letter, signed by the board’s president, Marie van der Zyl, went on to cite a series of other recent allegations of antisemitism against Corbyn and demanded a full explanation.
It is little wonder that Labour cannot shake off the charges of anti-Semitism when their leader is so equivocal on the matter and even endorses a book that promotes these ideas.
