In an exclusive Newsweek op-ed, ELNET-UK Executive Director Joan Ryan talks about her resignation from the Corbyn-led Labour party, and the growing wave of antisemitism which threatens Jews across the globe. She notes that this is an ideological battle, one that like climate change, terrorism or COVID-19, must be fought across international boundaries.
She stresses that in many ways, the more pernicious manifestations of antisemitic anti-Zionism come from supposedly more respectable sources. This ideology—antisemitic anti-Zionism—is on the march. It is an ideology rooted in ancient hatreds which targets for hate and opprobrium the modern-day State of Israel. And tragically, in the West, it is Europe—in whose bloodlands six million Jews were murdered eight decades ago—which is at its epicentre.
She states that the lesson of Corbyn showed the need not just to condemn antisemites but also to hold their fellow travelers to account. Jew-hate will never be snuffed out in an environment in which anti-Zionism is tolerated and condoned.