Open letter to Ms. Shami Chakrabarti
Open letter to Ms. Shami Chakrabarti

Dear Ms. Chakrabarti  

For fifteen years now, I have been researching anti-Semitism in its three main permutations: classic religious and ethnic anti-Semitism as well as the much more recent anti-Israel hate mongering. Part of my findings have been published in ten books in English. Some of these have been published in other languages as well.

From 2000 to 2012 I was Chairman of one of Israel’s leading think tanks. My main focus is on the anti-Semitic outbursts in Western Europe in the 21st century.

I take the liberty of drawing your attention to a number of issues in view of the upcoming inquiry into anti-Semitism, racism, and Islamophobia in the British Labour party, headed by yourself. I am addressing this open letter to you personally as you have said that you will take responsibility for the report.[1]

1. Much of the outcome of an inquiry into anti-Semitism depends on the definition used to describe this hate mongering.

The 2006 Report of the British All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism recommended that “the EUMC definition – is adopted and promoted by the [British] Government and law enforcement agencies.” The inquiry was initiated by a Labour MP and was headed by another Labour MP. Six of its 14 members were Labour MPs.[2]

Recently the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted an identical definition of anti-Semitism. In order to do so, this intergovernmental body whose purpose is to promote Holocaust education, remembrance and research required the agreement of its thirty one member countries.[3] The United Kingdom is one of them.  

2. One cannot investigate the issue of classic anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in the Labour Party without mentioning British history and culture. Earlier this year the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stated that anti-Semitism is embedded in British culture.[4] In 2015 he had already noted that anti-Semitism is a complex and difficult subject, adding that it was deeply embedded “in our history and culture in Western Europe.”[5]

The world’s leading academic anti-Semitism expert of our generation, Robert Wistrich, – since deceased – expanded in an interview with me on how deeply anti-Semitism is embedded in British culture.[6]

A study by the University of Bielefeld in 2011 found that 42% of British citizens over 16 years of age believe that Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.[7] This is an extreme and widespread calumny. If this were indeed the case, one would expect the Palestinian population to have nearly disappeared over time. The great increase in the Palestinian population over the years stands as self-evident rebuttal to this lie.

3. Anti-Semitism, and in particular its anti-Israel version, has a long, wide-ranging history in a number of European social democrat parties. Several decades ago, leading European social democrat politicians were already falsely accusing Israel of using Nazi practices, an anti-Semitic slur. These included French president François Mitterrand,[8] Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme[9] and Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.[10]

The trend continues today, with much anti-Israel incitement -- and deliberate disregard of Palestinian genocidal hate promotion against Jews -- in social democrat parties, in Sweden, Norway[11] and the Netherlands, to name but a few.[12] Many experts consider the third largest Swedish city Malmö to be the anti-Semitism capital of Europe. Its former social-democrat mayor Ilmar Reepalu bears much of the responsibility for this development.[13]

I would suggest that in your report you address the question what in particular brings out the anti-Semitic hate mongering in social democrat and Labour parties.

4. As said the problem of anti-Semitism in its classic forms and as anti-Israelism is recurrent in quite a few Western European social democrat or Labour parties. Yet never before have I seen such a magnitude and broad range of slurs as has been published and attributed to elected representatives of the British Labour party.

There have been suggestions that Jews were behind 9/11 and ISIS, together with claims that orthodox Jews in Russia were involved in sex-trafficking. Expressions of disgust have been voiced regarding "powerful" Jews in the United States. Hitler’s name has also featured prominently in the slurs, in statements opining that Hitler was the greatest man in history, that Hitler was the Zionist God and that Hitler supported the Zionists. Due to their number, I will not present a complete list of the slurs in this letter.[14]

5. There are strong indications that the anti-Semitism in the Labour party does not only concern just a few individuals, but is a far more widespread phenomenon. Elected representatives of the Labour Party would not be making extreme anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements if they were encountering any significant opposition to such statements from their constituents. Their hate slurs posted on social media platforms are easily accessible to their constituents and the number of such posts indicates that there is little or no resistance to them.

Jewish MP Luciana Berger has received thousands of extreme hate mails, some threatening her with rape or murder, in response to her criticism of the Labour Party’s refusal to condemn anti-Semitism.[15] It seems logical that these are all or mainly Labour members or supporters. Indeed, why would people who do not support Labour care about MP Berger’s criticism of that party?

A poll by the Times daily newspaper found that only one in ten Labour party members consider that the anti-Semitism issue is a problem in the party.[16]

6. As you have extended the inquiry you head to include Islamophobia, I want to draw your attention to the fact that a disproportionately large number of those suspended or accused of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party are Muslims. Furthermore, the most extreme slur, a genocidal one, against Israel seems to have been made by a Muslim local counselor. It is alleged that she has tweeted that she hoped Iran would use a nuclear weapon to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’[17]

It must also be noted that various suspended elected representatives in the Labour Party come from areas with a high percentage of Muslims, for instance the Bradford region, where about a quarter of the population is Muslim.

A variety of studies in different Western European countries show that anti-Semitism among Muslims is substantially higher than among native populations, and is also often far more extreme.

In addition, the most violent expressions of anti-Semitism in Western Europe have frequently emerged from among Muslims. All anti-Semitic murders of Jews in Western Europe since the year 2000 have been committed by Muslims. (Paris 2003, Paris 2006, Toulouse 2012, Brussels 2014, Paris 2015, Copenhagen 2015.)

It would be a great distortion if your inquiry investigated Islamophobia, and remained silent about specific Muslim anti-Semitism. 

7. An issue which has barely been addressed in the media is that there are acts that do not fit any formal definition of anti-Semitism yet clearly belong to its periphery. These include for instance legitimization of anti-Israeli terrorist organizations -- including genocidal ones – meetings with Holocaust deniers, political appointments of those who express anti-Semitic slurs, minimizing, ignoring or denying anti-Semitism, suppression of reports on anti-Semitism and so on.

In view of a number of Jeremy Corbyn’s actions, this is an issue which your committee should address.[18] He has in the past called Israeli leaders criminals.[19] He has also called the genocidal Muslim movements Hamas and Hizbollah his friends and refused to explicitly disavow them in a parliamentary debate with Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Hamas Covenant declares its genocidal position toward Jews, stating: “The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”[20]

8. As your inquiry also deals with racism, I would like to draw your attention to a rarely mentioned form of racism, for which, years ago,  I coined the term ‘humanitarian racism.’[21] Similar to the well-known right wing racism, of say the Ku Klux Klan, humanitarian racism is based on considering other people inferior, for example, people of color.

The conclusions of the two types of racists are however very different. The Ku Klux Klan discriminates against a person of color because it considers him inferior. The humanitarian racist considers that a person of color cannot be held fully and sometimes even partly responsible for his or her acts, an attitude which implies that he or she is inferior.

Yet in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it says that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”[22] Equal dignity also means that people are equally responsible for their acts.

I am at your disposal for any queries you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Manfred Gerstenfeld

[1] www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/158247/head-inquiry-labour-antisemitism-shami-chakrabarti-reveals-she-has-joined-party

[2]Report of the British All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism (London: Stationery Office Ltd, September 2006), para. 26.

[3] www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf

[4] religionnews.com/2016/05/20/archbishop-anti-semitism-embedded-in-british-culture/

[5] www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5492/archbishops-remarks-at-appg-antisemitism-report-launch

[6] http://jcpa.org/article/antisemitism-embedded-in-british-culture/

[7] library.fes.de/pdf-files/do/07908-20110311.pdf.

[8] www.nytimes.com/1982/08/11/world/begin-hints-that-mitterrand-remark-paved-way-for-terrorists-attack.html

[9] Per Ahlmark, “Palme’s Legacy 15 Years On,” Project Syndicate, February 2001.

[10] Moses Altsech (Daniel Perdurant, pseud.), “Anti-Semitism in Contemporary Greek Society,” Analysis of Current Trends in Anti-Semitism, 7 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1995), 10.

[11] Manfred Gerstenfeld and Orna Orvell, “The Norwegian Government: Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Policies (2005–2013).” The Vidal Sassoon Center, Acta 37, 2015

[12] www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16474#.V0vL4vl967Q

[13] www.jta.org/2013/01/09/news-opinion/world/in-malmo-record-number-of-hate-crimes-complaints-but-no-convictions

[14]www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/18841#.V1Qxv_l967Q;

www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/18921#.V1QyYfl967Q

[15]www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3566667/Jewish-Labour-MP-speaks-vile-anti-semitic-abuse-subjected-online-bullies.html; www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-labour-mp-posts-anti-semitic-abuse-she-received-online/

 www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/158299/only-one-10-labour-members-believes-party-has-antisemitism-problem-poll-reveals

[17] www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3531852/Labour-councillor-20-suspended-claims-called-Hitler-greatest-man-history-latest-anti-Semitic-scandal-hit-Corbyn-s-party.html

[18] www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/18910#.V1Q5bfl967Q

[19] http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-letter/

[20] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

[21] www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4179427,00.html

[22] www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/