Saul Freeman, a lifelong supporter of Britain’s Labor party, writes of his shock at the growing hatred for Israel in its ranks, which is often indistinguishable from pure anti-Semitism. The recent selection of Jeremy Corbyn—a parliamentarian unapologetic about meetings with his “friends” from Hamas and Hizballah—as the party’s leader made the problem clear:
[M]y wife and I . . . are of the left, but are no longer welcome, unless we become “good Jews” who are not “bad, Zionist Jews.” We worry about our son. He will be confronted by “Israeli Apartheid Week” when he arrives on a university campus in a few years. If he is a Jew who believes that Israel has a right to be, he will be hated by many on the student left. My son is an enthusiastic, articulate, and kind boy. The realization that he will be hated by those who will not see any of these attributes, but instead will see only one attribute—his Jewishness—chills me.
Strangers feel compelled to say hateful things to me. Others threaten violence to all Jews—“go back to Auschwitz, Zionist scum.” All this from the left.
We slowly become traumatized by the sheer horror of what has unfolded around us. Mostly, we are distressed because we cannot understand why the left is so silent when Jews call out. . . . None of this makes sense. We have no critical lens through which to view this rupture. . . .
Read more on Harry's Place: http://hurryupharry.org/2015/10/16/its-the-maths-stupid/