Antisemitism on the right – and on the left?
JVL Introduction
Antisemitism is real and the fact that it has been weaponised against the left does not mean it can be ignored any more than any form of racism and discrimination. Those of us who lived through its (mis)use by those opposed to the politics of Jeremy Corbyn and how many governments use assertions of antisemitism as the “reason” for suppressing those who speak and act in support of Palestinian rights. The Jewish – and non Jewish Establishment like to conflate Jews and Israel with references to “the new antisemitism” when referring to criticism of Israel and especially criticism of the ideology of zionism.
However, antisemitism needs to be addressed if we are to end attacks such as in Manchester and on Bondi Beach this year or other attacks in the not too distant past. Here Julia raises important points not only about antisemitism from the far right but its use by some on the left. The Far Right have never stopped being antisemitic even though many of them will support Israel and then get support from Jewish Establishment figures as well as from political leaders in Israel.
Julia has provided some examples and we would be interested to know what you think about this important issue. In practice the antisemitism towards non zionist Jews from pro zionist Jews (and non Jews) has been a nasty feature of the past few years but we have also noticed its echoes on the left so how to address those on the left who do talk about Jewish or even Zionist conspiracies dominating governments and media?
Julia Bard is a JVL member and a member of the Editorial Committee of Jewish Socialist magazine and the National Committee of the Jewish Socialists’ Group. She is also on the Interim Steering Committee of the new alliance, Together Against the Far Right.
LL
This article was originally published by Morning Star on Tue 23 Dec 2025. Read the original here.
Left? Right? Anti-semitic? Not anti-semitic?
Julia Bard looks at the persistence of anti-semitism on the political right – and its troubling emergence on parts of the left,
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Being a Jew was once upon a time no indication in itself of what political position any given Jew held. Politics was as varied among Jews as was that of the whole population. Israel and Zionism introduced a polarisation that essentially divided the Jews into two camps, those who were for Israel and those who were against it. Those who were for Israel could justify their view in so many ways because of the Holocaust. Those who were not for Israel could not present an equally compelling case. Their moral arguments fell flat in the face of the Zionist exploitation of the Holocaust years. Nor did they have the kind of political or economic machinery that Israel could muster to sell its cause and justify its actions. That made things straightforward in the public mind: Israel was Jewish and all Jews were essentially Israeli. This idea alone was enough to spark both right and left into adopting a highly contorted view of Israel which made it appealing to both extremes as a resolution to the problems that Jews presented or were presented with. Then Israel blew it by taking open pride in its destruction of Palestine. Confusion has reigned ever since, especially among the left who saw Israel as a solution only to find that it was creating a whole new problem; and that problem was coming from the Jews who opposed Israel who would not let anybody, whatever their politics, justify their support of a genocidal government. We need Israel’s as a buffer-state and market: Israel has a right to exist – right and left in one neat package. And those of us caught in the middle of that, all we can do is proclaim that it is as Jews we stand against any and all racial hatred, exploitation and genocide of any kind anywhere for any reason. That is the only rational stand we can take against the zealots of both ends of the political spectrum who want to do us down.
This is incredibly confused and muddled. Yes elements of the left are adopting conspiracy theories of one type or another. But why? The collapse of a socialist and class consciousness.
Why should we oppose genuine anti-Semitism? Is it because Jews are under attack or in danger? Why is it that the ruling class is so concerned with ‘anti-Semitism’ that it funds the CST to the tune of millions?
First we should recognise the magnitude of the culpability of so much of the Jewish community in not speaking out against a genocide carried out in their name. It is not only shameful but it is against their own interests. If Jews are seen to support the horrors in Gaza it is no wonder that some people take them at their word and launch their own individualistic attacks as we have almost certainly seen both in Sydney and Manchester.
Anti-Semitism should be opposed whenever it springs up in the Palestine solidarity movement or amongst the left. Why? Not because it endangers Jews but it endangers Palestinians who, in the words of Primo Levi are the Jews of Israel.
That we can have a Chief Rabbi who openly endorses the genocide and is not told where to go by those he purports to minister to speaks volumes.
The open alliance between fascists like Tommy Robinson and much of the Zionist movement now is barely commented on. Likewise the support to the Great Replacement theory by leading Jews including ex-Chief Rabbi Sacks, Gary Mond etc.
Julie poses this as a moral question when it is a political question
Surely this paragraph should be cut:
“The frustration of all this is that the misuse of anti-semitism as a weapon against the left and as a means to corral Jews into a zionist fold is becoming less effective.”
The mind boggles…
Language matters; so the addition of “new” to antisemitism indicates that even the users of the term acknowledge that they are referring to a different phenomenon. The introduction of the IHRA was a blatant political attempt to codify this with the examples having more weight than the already flawed definition of antisemitism that it proposed.
I think that all of the quotes need context in order to make sense of them.
Never before have people been arrested for their opposition to genocide. Or for reporting on those arrests when MSM wont touch it. You KNOW why and to conflate it as antisemitic is nonsense. Look at tony Greenstein and the highest lawyers in the land picking and choosing who to arrest. Zionists pointing out people in peaceful protests. Doctors getting suspended. If half of all mps were funded by islam or were so afraid of saudi Arabia there would be absolute uproar. Quite why the uk is subservient to the Israeli jewish lobby i dobt know.
The idea that parts of the left are genuinely antisemitic is not true in my view. The simple test is – are they hostile to all Jews as Jews and having met people such as David Miller on Zionism and listened to what the various pro-Palestine doctors say about Jewish supremacy the answer is clearly no. (And we could also discuss whether some of them are what we would call ‘left’ anyway but let’s say they are in other respects.)
We can argue that it’s actually imperialism to blame overall but we can hardly say that Zionism/Jewish supremacism/exceptionalism is confined to the borders of greater Israel and is not active elsewhere, and experienced as such in lawfare, unqualified support for Israel and its actions by ‘communal’ groups and spokespeople (‘our IDF’), funding (eg of American universities) and politicians, and the mainstream media.
If you are taken to court by the Campaign Against Antisemitism backed by UK Lawyers for Israel, BoD, JLM, CST, LFI, etc. I dare say you are not looking at imperialism as the proximate cause.
I take issue with exaggerating Zionism at a global level and applying Zionism rigidly as a purity test over past behaviour but I have concerns that this is attributed to antisemitism and not faulty political analysis.