At JP's suggestion I did indeed read the Charkrabarti Report, on the basis that it is always good to go to the source of any information. (https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chakrabarti-Inquiry-Report-30June16.pdf)But quite contrary to the impression given, Charkrabarti makes no criticism of Jeremy Corbyn, and certainly did not find him guilty of antisemitism. Corbyn is mentioned only once: "Leader Jeremy Corbyn MP asked me to conduct this Inquiry into anti-semitism and other forms of racism". So, far from Corbyn doing nothing to counter anti-semitism in the Labour party, in fact he commissioned a report to investigate and address it!I am not a fan of Corbyn, but what struck me about the antisemitism allegations against him was that they were always general, and never specific - i.e. they made accusations but never gave examples of anything he had said or done that was antisemitic. The other thing that struck me was that opposition to Israeli abuse of human rights in occupied Palestinian territories is often categorised as “antisemitic”, and moreover that this conflation has often seems to have been deliberate (on both sides: (a) by some people to discredit others who were specifically opposing the abuse; and (b) by some people to seek to justify their own racism / anti-semitism by extending criticism of Israeli abuses to all Jews).Charkrabarti makes some good points: - “During the short period of my current Inquiry, I have learned of a new modern-day racist epithet. "Zio" is a word that seems to have gained some currency on campuses and on social media in particular. No doubt it began as an abbreviation of "Zionist" (a term I will discuss later). However, I am clear that no one uses this word to describe their own political or cultural identity. It is a term of abuse, pure and simple, and should not in my view have any place in the vocabulary of Labour members, whether online, in conversation or anywhere else.”- “I recommend that the word "Zio" should have no place in Labour Party discourse going forward.”- “Similarly critical and abusive reference to any particular person or group based on actual or perceived physical characteristics cannot be tolerated.”- “My advice to critics of the Israeli State and/or Government is to use the term "Zionist" advisedly, carefully and never euphemistically or as part of personal abuse.”Also relevant is the EHRC Investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party (Report October 2020). I have not read it in full, but its summary focusses on comments by two Labour party members (Ken Livingstone and Pam Bromley) which do appear to have been antisemitic, and in particular the Labour party’s failure to appropriately deal with the complaints raised. So in that regard, it seems that the criticism of Corbyn was that he showed a failure of leadership (so no surprises there). But I cannot see any evidence that he was motivated by antisemitism.
T P Howell ● 886d