You don’t fight bigotry by walking away from it, Lord Levy
Lord Levy said he was shocked and horrified by comments that led two party activists to face disciplinary action [Image: Christian Sinibaldi].
Here’s a man making a wrong decision.
If there is anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, then it would be wrong to quit the party – effectively running away, as Lord Levy is suggesting he will do.
Far better to address the issue head-on, root out the culprits and not only expel them, but make it clear why their views are utterly unacceptable.
That goes for any other form of bigotry as well – sexism, racism in any form, anti-Muslim sentiment, anti-immigrant attitudes… hate speech against the long-term sick and disabled, too.
Lord Levy, Labour’s former chief fundraiser under Tony Blair, has warned he could quit the party if it does not do more to confront antisemitism.
The Labour peer made the comments amid a row over whether the party had done enough to weed out people who had expressed antisemitic views.
The party has had to take action in recent weeks to re-suspend a former parliamentary candidate, Vicki Kirby, who had made comments about Jews’ “big noses”; expel Gerry Downing, a Labour activist, who had spoken of the need to “address the Jewish question”; and launch an investigation into claims of antisemitism in its youth movement.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has repeatedly stressed that there is no place in the party for antisemitism.
Source: Lord Levy warns he could quit Labour over antisemitism | Politics | The Guardian
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and back to reality, antisemitism almost always translates to criticism of Israel and its politics.
If you mean criticism of the Israeli government tends to be labelled wrongly as anti-Semitism, I certainly agree.
bye bye
Anti-Semitism should not be confused with Anti-Zionism.
I am totally against discrimination and race/religious hate. I am just been through the painful experience of being involved in expelling someone from a political organisation for their anti-Semitic statements which have evolved from their anti-Zionist position. HOWEVER, the situation can be complex. There is an increasing trend to label any criticism of the Israeli government and Zionism as anti-Semetic; and lets face it there is a lot to criticise. This is partly because criticism of Israel and Zionism is uncomfortable for a number of vested interests. It is also because Zionism also uses, incorrectly, the Jewish faith as the basis of their political philosophy. When the Zionists confuse the Jewish faith with Zionism, it is perhaps not surprising when those who oppose Zionism do the same.
Thanks for this comment. You’re absolutely right that some people try to muddy the distinction between criticism of the Israeli government and criticism of Judaism.
They aren’t the same.
Lord Levy should remember the knife cuts both ways.
Lord Levy would have done better to state that ANY kind of discrimination should be addressed, not just that of anti-Semitism. That would have impressed me, citing only discrimination against Jews, which is totally inexcusable anyway, suggests he has no thought for any other types of discrimination. So the Labour Party should savage anti Jewish rhetoric with “special” emphasis? Or should they be doing a clean sweep of all forms of bigotry and discrimination? THAT would impress me. Think again Lord Levy on how you word your criticisms and speak and work on behalf of ALL who suffer from discrimination!
has Levy got another agenda and is using criticism of the double standards evident in the way the palestinians and israelis are treated. also there are many national vested interests in the middle east politics which have created the double standards.
neither of these are forms of antisemitism although they attempt to contribute opinions which may have a positive effect.
I question what steps Tony Blair has taken to contribute to a middle east peace initiative. nothing to this writers knowledge.