Tony Klug’s piece is by far the more thoughtful, altruistic contribution to the debate. Writing in the Jewish Chronicle today, Tony Klug warns that,
this whole saga might generate a resentment against Jews, producing the very opposite effect to that which newspapers like the JC claim they want to achieve – fomenting anti-Jewish feeling rather than combatting it.
It is time to calm down, end the hysteria and restore a sense of proportion.
While on Medium, Keith Kahn-Harris says he doesn’t ‘feel that the Labour Party has become “institutionally antisemitic”,’ and sets out in detail why ‘Labour’s antisemitism row is scaring’ him ‘(but, perhaps, not for the reasons you might expect)’:
Even if you think that the examples of Labour antisemitism that have been highlighted in the last few weeks are exaggerated, one-off incidents or simply not antisemitism at all, the controversy over these incidents may well lead to antisemitism.
Tony Klug appears to accept the premise that there is a problem on the left, albeit a small one – and refers to the ‘ignorant cynicism of Ken Livingstone’ – but asserts that,
While antisemitism is monstrous – and, like all forms of racism, should be vigorously dealt with – false accusations of antisemitism are monstrous too. Not only are they damning, they diminish authentic occurrences, of which, sadly, there are still many.
and further cautions:
Some of these explanations are patently spurious, unfairly charging people genuinely committed to universal human rights with being antisemites because they grieve for the Palestinian plight. By abusing the charge of antisemitism, there is a danger that it could turn into a badge of honour.
Klug adds that it gives him no pleasure to repeat what seemed ‘self-evident even 40 years ago’:
In the mid-1970s, in a pamphlet on the conflict, I mapped out the following hypothetical future scenario: “While Israel continues to rule over the West Bank, there are bound to be ever more frequent and more intensive acts of resistance by a population that is suffering the consequences of economic difficulties in Israel, that is feeling encroached upon by a spreading pattern of Jewish colonisation, and whose yearning for independence is no less than was that of the Palestinian Jews in the early months of 1948.
“As long as Israel continues to govern that territory, she will have little choice but to retaliate in an increasingly oppressive fashion… The moral appeal of Israel’s case will consequently suffer… and this will further erode her level of international support, although probably not among organised opinion within the Jewish diaspora. This sharpening polarisation is bound to contribute to an upsurge in overt antisemitism…”
Klug astutely concludes that,
Other demographics – not least the hard-pressed youth and beleaguered Muslim communities – may feel that the Jewish situation in this country, compared with the problems they face, does not warrant the hogging of the headlines in the way it has.
Kahn-Harris omits any explicit reference to the relevance of Israel’s illegal settler-colonial project to attitudes towards British Jews, and spares no thought for the legitimate grievances of other minority communities. Instead, he focuses on the feelings of Liberal Zionists, the impact on ‘intra-Jewish debate,’ and his own inner conflict.
I’m scared that the pressures on me to choose between a concern for all Jews and a commitment to left-wing politics that includes robust criticism of Israeli government (together with careful and nuanced critique of certain elements of the Zionist project), will only increase.
Where, he asks, does that leave him.
He explains that his relationship to Zionism is ambivalent. But, he clearly implies that anti-Zionism can be antisemitism, just not always. A view, he writes, that puts him ‘in a minority amongst the Jewish community.’
Kahn-Harris doesn’t help his cause by at once defending his right to robustly criticise Israel, then adding the proviso that it be ‘careful,’ and appearing to put off limits a critique of most elements of the Zionist project.
