Corbynism and Chanukah: A Response to Joe Glasman

JVL Introduction

The Campaign Against Antisemitism is supposedly a charity but it is hard to think of a more politically interventionist factional organisation – as exemplified by Joe Glasman’s video after the election.

Deborah Maccoby takes one of Glasman’s accusations – that while lighting Chanukah candles each year Jeremy Corbyn knows nothing about Chanukah – and shows how distorted an effort it is to use the Maccabean rededication of the temple to justify Israel’s nationalistic, militaristic claim of sovereignty over Occupied East Jerusalem.

Unlike the militaristic reading, writes Maccoby, “Corbyn’s Chanukah message this year correctly puts all the emphasis on the miracle of the oil and the message of hope amid darkness conveyed by the lighting of the candles.”

This article was originally published by Norman Finkelstein blog on Sun 5 Jan 2020. Read the original here.