Canadian psychologist and writer Gabor Maté, who is a Jewish holocaust survivor and former Zionist, was asked about Labour’s supposed antisemitism crisis. He responded that the idea that Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders are anti-semitic is “laughable, or rather it would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. The reality is that the Israeli state oppresses, disenfranchises, dispossesses, destroys, kills, demolishes the houses of, tortures, invalidates the Palestinians. That’s the actual reality.
And nobody is supposed to talk about this because if you talk about it, you’re an antisemite. The whole antisemitism charge, when it comes to the Palestinian issue, is simply a way to intimidate and silence critics of horrendous Israeli policies.”
• In 2016 the Home Affairs Select Committee held an inquiry into antisemitism in the United Kingdom and found "no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes within the Labour Party than any other political party"
• In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) commissioned YouGov to survey British attitudes towards Jews. The 2017 survey found that supporters of the Labour Party were less likely to hold antisemitic views than those of the Conservative Party. Further analysis by the blog Evolve Politics of the survey data revealed that, among Labour Party supporters, antisemitism had actually declined between 2015 and 2017.
• A study into contemporary antisemitism in Britain by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) in September 2017 found that "Levels of antisemitism among those on the left-wing of the political spectrum, including the far-left, are indistinguishable from those found in the general population.” The study stated that "the most consistently found pattern across different surveys is heightened animosity towards Jews on the political right".
• In February and July 2019, Labour issued information on independent investigations into complaints of antisemitism against individuals, with around 350 members in total resigning, being expelled or receiving formal warnings, equating to around 0.08% of the total membership.
• In August 2015, dozens of prominent Jewish activists signed an open letter criticising The Jewish Chronicle for what they viewed as its "character assassination" of Corbyn. They wrote: "Your assertion that your attack on Jeremy Corbyn is supported by 'the vast majority of British Jews' is without foundation. We do not accept that you speak on behalf of progressive Jews in this country. You speak only for Jews who support Israel, right or wrong."
They continued, "There is something deeply unpleasant and dishonest about your McCarthyite guilt by association technique. Jeremy Corbyn's parliamentary record over 32 years has consistently opposed all racism including antisemitism." Signatories to the letter included Laurence Dreyfus, Selma James, Miriam Margolyes, Ilan Pappé, Michael Rosen and Avi Shlaim.
• In August 2018, American scholars Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein called the criticism of Corbyn and Labour 'insane' and 'hysteria' and led by powerful interests, with Chomsky arguing that the aim is to undermine Corbyn's attempt to create a political party responsive to the electorate, and Finkelstein asserting that, given the lack of evidence, the campaign was a calculated hoax.
In May 2019, Finkelstein called the allegations of antisemitism "witch-hunt hysteria". In July 2019, Chomsky said: "The way charges of anti-semitism are being used in Britain to undermine the Corbyn-led Labour Party is not only a disgrace but also ... an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The charges of anti-semitism against Corbyn are without merit and part of disgraceful efforts to fend off ... a political party ... that is actually committed to the interests and just demands of its popular constituency".
• In 2017 a Jewish Voice for Labour report noted that "A smear campaign of McCarthyite proportions has been taken up unquestioningly by the mainstream media, including the BBC and even the notionally left-supporting Guardian, and has been enthusiastically supported by Corbyn’s opponents in his own and other parties. The effect has been to intimidate and silence critics of Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians, to severely curtail free speech and comment on the issue, and to close down public debate and rights of assembly."
Some left-wing Jewish groups have also disputed the antisemitism claims. These include Jewish Voice for Labour, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Jewish Socialists' Group, Jewdas and Independent Jewish Voices; all of whom have said that accusations of antisemitism against the Labour Party have a twofold purpose: firstly, to conflate antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to deter such criticism and, secondly, to undermine the Labour leadership since Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n5YiCRIujo