December 2022, Year XIV, n. 12
Dave Rich
The Hate Hunter
Telos: Is there really a 'Jewish problem' among left-wingers?
Dave Rich: The short answer to this is ‘yes – but only for some’. In recent years the United Kingdom saw a surge of antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, which came to an end in early 2020. This was confirmed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the UK’s anti-discrimination watchdog and regulator of equality legislation, which ruled that the Labour Party had unlawfully discriminated against its Jewish members. Given that the Labour Party is a party of the left and had, historically, been the most vigorous of all parties in opposing racism and antisemitism, this was a striking turn of events ...more
Editorial
Choosing to talk about conspiracy theories, hate and racism in December, the month when “we’re all better people” is a bit of a gamble, or at the very least, off-topic. Instead, we here at PRIMOPIANOSCALAc have a different take, whichis exactly why we have asked Dave Rich, a historian and one of the foremost experts on antisemitism –and on conspiracy theories andracial hate in general– to unpack these ever-timely phenomena for us.
Rich explains the roots of left-wing antisemitism, far less known than that of the right but widespread, especially in Great Britain. He wrote his graduate dissertation then a bestseller, The Left's Jewish Problem, specifically on this topic and analyses it in the hope of finding some answers.
“There’s no use denying it -Rich states-the left has historically had a Jewish problem.” One such example is the tweet, which was later removed, by Rebecca Long-Bailey, MP of the British Labour shadow government, falsely accusing Israel of training US police to asphyxiate with their knees, a practice which cost African-American man George Floyd his life ...more
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