A Warning to Democrats from Across the Atlantic

By Aaron Kliegman Hopefully some Democrats stepped away from the mania of the 2020 election over the past week to watch what’s happening in Britain. The latest news from there about the fall of the British Labour Party and its former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, should serve as a warning to Democrats of what happens when a historically center-left party embraces far-left politics. On Thursday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent body that enforces anti-discrimination laws, released a report detailing how the Labour Party accepted antisemitism under Corbyn’s leadership. Specifically, the report found that the party violated the Equality Act of 2010 in three ways: by harassing Jews and others who complained of antisemitism within its ranks, by interfering politically in the handling of complaints of antisemitism, and by failing to provide adequate training to staff investigating those complaints. Corbyn’s Labour Party was “responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination,” concluded the EHRC, which noted that that the party could have combated antisemitism more effectively “if the leadership had chosen to do so.” Examples of harassment included “using antisemitic tropes and suggesting that complaints of antisemitism were fake or smears.” The report also found “evidence of a significant number of complaints relating to antisemitism that were not investigated at all” and a failure to “take effective measures to stop antisemitic conduct from taking place.” According to the EHRC, its analysis “points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.” An adamant Corbyn denounced the report, claiming its findings were the result of a conspiracy against him. “One antisemite is one too many,” Corbyn said on Thursday, “but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.” Corbyn’s response was reminiscent of Ken Livingstone’s defense of Naz Shah, a fellow member of Labour who on social media suggested Israel should be relocated to the United States and compared Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany. Livingstone, a former mayor of London, refused to concede that Shah’s posts were antisemitic. According to the EHRC, Livingstone also “alleged that scrutiny of Shah’s conduct was part of a smear campaign by ‘the Israel lobby’ to stigmatize critics of Israel as antisemitic and was intended to undermine and disrupt the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.” In other words, accusations of antisemitism against Labour are part of a Jewish conspiracy to silent dissent. If that defense sounds absurd that’s because it is. The Labour Party responded to Corbyn’s comments — and subsequent failure to retract them — by suspending him. The decision was unprecedented — and illustrative of a party trying to atone for its antisemitic sins following a crushing electoral defeat in 2019 and a subsequent change in leadership. Of course, not everyone in the Labour Party is ready to give up its institutional antisemitism. One day after the EHRC released its report, far-left figures in Labour, including several members of Parliament, gathered virtually to protest the party’s suspension of Corbyn. At the event, writer and activist Rivkah Brown defended Corbyn by quoting from a 1942 book titled, Antisemitism and the Jewish Question. “Throughout the ages antisemitism and the Jewish Question have been used as a diversionist weapon against the progressive forces and their struggle for a better and higher order of things and today they can still be used for the same purpose,” Brown quoted. She then added her own commentary. “This (quote) is entirely relevant to our moment,” Brown continued. “We have just had a day, and you know years, when antisemitism and the Jewish question, as we might call it, have been used to distract us from what ought to be the focus of the Labour Party which should be about winning power but should also be about transformative change.” Translation: Antisemites are trying to obtain power, so stay out of their way. Labour’s embrace of antisemitism is not only terrible in its own right but also terribly relevant to the US — specifically the Democratic Party, which is heading toward the same dark politics of Corbyn’s Labour Party. The Democrats are certainly not there yet, but they will be dangerously close soon enough, unless braver, more centrist figures take control of the steering wheel and change course. Don’t be optimistic. It’s telling that both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — the soul and future of the Democratic Party, respectively — praised, supported, and even identified with Corbyn and Labour under his leadership. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are notoriously hostile to Israel and supported by various antisemitic groups and individuals. Of course, they’re not alone. Rep. Ilhan Omar, for example, (D-MN), has made numerous antisemitic remarks that not only demonize and delegitimize Israel but also invoke classic, medieval Jew-hatred. Omar’s bigotry became so egregious that Congress moved to pass a resolution condemning antisemitism and singling out Omar by name. But then progressive Democrats revolted against their party for daring to propose a condemnation of Jew-hatred. As it always does, the Democratic leadership caved to the far left within its ranks. The resolution that the House ultimately passed did not include Omar’s name and generally condemned hatred of all kinds, obfuscating the text to the point of rendering it meaningless. Antisemitism was given no special attention. Now more Democrats are being elected who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, which seeks the Jewish state’s destruction through economic warfare. Indeed, the Democratic Party is becoming increasingly tolerant of people who oppose Israel’s existence — and of anti-Zionists whose views and rhetoric would fit well in medieval Europe and Nazi Germany. Even figures of the Democratic establishment are engaging in blatant antisemitism. Take New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who is demonstrating astonishing hostility toward the Jewish community with his coronavirus restrictions. This troubling trend is part of a broader embrace within Democratic circles of far-left politics and its antisemitic underbelly. Labour went through the same process: Ideas and figures once considered marginal and extreme progressively became mainstream — and eventually dominated the party. We know from Britain where this can lead. Fortunately, the British people recognized the Jewish community’s alarm and the absurd impracticality of quasi-socialist policies, repudiating Labour’s descent into the sewers of antisemitism and socialism at the ballot box. Hopefully, America never gets to that low point with the Democratic Party. But the last few years aren’t encouraging. Perhaps the Democrats need to experience the same electoral thrashing that Labour endured to go through something of a renaissance. But even if that’s the answer, we know it’s not happening in 2020. Order Newt's Latest Book: https://www.gingrich360.com/trump-and-the-american-future