Listening to @ayeshahazarika on Today, I think she got to the heart of the issue with Corbyn's interview over antisemitism - the mystery of the missing empathy toward the Jewish community. (thread)
Corbyn's interview demonstrates first hand the cause of the deep unease within the Jewish community which caused the Chief Rabbi's unprecedented intervention.
Simply, the Jewish community don't trust the Labour leadership. Why would they trust a Labour government?
Simply, the Jewish community don't trust the Labour leadership. Why would they trust a Labour government?
For those who haven't been following this issue as closely as I have, this is something I have been talking about since at least March last year when I wrote this thread about what Corbyn *needed* to do to restore trust. He did none of it.
And you must remember that the Jewish community has a good reason not to trust bland words and to look to actions instead. In living memory the majority of European Jews were murdered by an evil regime which set new standards for mendacity
Corbyn is the leader. The buck stops with him. He is asking us to make him Prime Minister. What has he done to help? Well, people say he has apologised before. But has he done so in an unscripted interview? I have been saying for ages his interviews are so illuminating.
Here he is telling an interviewer, who is putting the concerns of the community to him, that he needs to speak to the "very many other" Jewish people who are "pleased" with Labour's response
This is quite something - even though statements on Corbyn's behalf accepted *that* mural was antisemitic, he wouldn't admit it was when interviewed
And whilst we're talking about empathy - just watch this. I found it pretty horrifying to be honest, knowing what a Jewish MP in Labour was going through
For Jewish people, who are not zealots or political tribalists, it is legitimate to ask why the Labour leader is apparently (by many accounts) so good at showing empathy, at sympathising, at fighting for, other communities. But not, when the chips are down, Jews. Why is that?
Ultimately, perhaps people have made up their minds about Corbyn. My experience of speaking to people in the movement is that many see him as a liability but want a transformative Labour government more than they want to get rid of him.
I can understand the utilitarian or consequentialist approach to this election. Voting for Labour is the least bad option as the Labour government would do the most net good. I think that is a respectable argument, but not one I can swallow myself, for me or my children.
To return to where I started, I don't think empathy is a necessary requirement to become PM. Johnson doesn't seem an empathetic person and he has shown none towards the Muslim community. But it is important, and I hope that people watching that interview last night understand why
I will say one other thing - after I wrote that thread in March last year I met with people who are very close to the centre of the Corbyn project, and very close to him, to see if anything practical could be done. I tried a number of different ways of intervening. (1/2)
I was told in no uncertain terms, and this was over 18 months ago, that Jeremy was unreachable on the issue, had taken against the mainstream Jewish bodies who he thought were out to get him, and he would need to 'worked around' if there was to be any progress. (2/2)
Many Jewish people on the left tried similar approaches using their own contacts. Nothing worked. It is no surprise that the Equality and Human Rights Commission ultimately decided to intervene.
