Lifelong Labour supporter writes of anti-Semitism shame

As a lifelong supporter and one-time candidate of the Labour Party, Rev Alex Jacob is shocked and ashamed by its association with anti-Semitism.

The UK’s chief executive officer of the Church’s Mission among Jewish people (CMJ), an international Anglican society co-founded 210 years ago by William Wilberforce, Rev Jacob has written to party leader Jeremy Corbyn about the issue a number of times, but has yet to receive any reply or acknowledgement.

He has even offered to meet with Mr Corbyn and share his insight, warning that Corbyn’s leadership, along with the future success of the party, rest upon this issue, and that time is running out for decisive action to expose and uproot those individuals responsible for fanning the flames of anti-Semitism.

Conceding that he is clearly informed and shaped by his current position with CMJ, Jacob has assured Mr Corbyn that he is writing in a purely personal capacity and that his concern is not fuelled by any anti-Labour sentiment or wider political agenda.

Rev Alex Jacob. Photo courtesy of CMJ.He acknowledges that anti-Semitism has a variety of sources, including Christian circles which have “at times been seduced by misplaced theology and poor pastoral practice”.

Labour’s Worthy Track Record

Nevertheless, some of Jacob’s work colleagues and other contacts have expressed surprise at and even challenged his involvement with Labour, especially in light of its current problems. But he has rightly pointed out that Labour has traditionally been a great supporter of Israel:

Many of the early pioneering Zionists were strong socialists and, alongside this, the struggle for the full emancipation of the Jewish people was often linked to members of the emerging Labour and Trade Union movements, who saw this as a foundational issue of social justice.

He further writes that today’s party includes some outstandingly diligent Jewish MPs and councillors, that Labour has a strong and respected record of fighting fascism and is even committed to a just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which Israel can flourish within secure borders.

But such points are often obscured by images of Labour supporters waving Palestinian flags and singing songs calling for the total annihilation of Israel.

CMJ CEO Alex Jacob has written to Corbyn on a number of occasions about the issue of anti-Semitism, but has yet to receive any reply or acknowledgement.

Jacob even commends Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry for her recent comment that “…there are sickening individuals on the fringe of our movement who use legitimate support for Palestine as a cloak and cover for their desperate hatred of Jewish people and their desire to see Israel destroyed.”

And he adds: “Clearly, I would argue that such individuals must be identified and, after due process, expelled from the Labour movement. This must be a priority for you; time is running out for you to act decisively and expose and uproot such anti-Semitic individuals. I am sure that your leadership and the future success of the Labour Party rest upon this issue!”

Anti-Semitism Exposed

Meanwhile, virtual civil war has broken out within the party as it comes under increasing pressure – even from its own deputy leader Tom Watson – over its failure to deal effectively with the problem.

A BBC investigation for its Panorama programme has thrown further shocking light on the subject with the help of whistle-blowers, who have in turn provoked fury from colleagues amidst accusations of BBC bias, while Labour officials are accused of displaying “Stalinist levels of paranoia”.¹

The documentary, broadcast last week, aired allegations of interference by Mr Corbyn’s closest aides into the party’s complaints procedure. One official said her party was no longer a safe space for Jews after she was told “Hitler did not go far enough”.²

Izzy Lenga, who is Jewish, said she had heard Labour members denying the Holocaust in party meetings. Others told the programme how they had been called a ‘dirty Zionist’, a ‘Nazi’ and a ‘Jewish pig’ by members.³

Seeing Prophecy Fulfilled

In the light of Rev Jacob’s contribution to the debate, it might be helpful to retrace our historical steps to the founding, in 1809, of the mission he now leads.

Evangelical leaders acted on the biblical call to preach the Gospel “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16) with the arrival in London’s East End of Jewish refugees from the pogroms of Russia – including the ancestors of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who will be appearing on the popular BBC TV programme Who Do You Think You Are? on Monday night (22 July).

Also motivated by their debt to the Jewish people for the scriptures, and their Messiah, CMJ’s work expanded throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. And in focusing on Israel’s spiritual restoration repeatedly prophesied in the Bible (Jer 31:33; Ezek 36:26; Zech 12:10; Rom 11:26), they also helped prepare the way for the Jews’ return to the land from which they had been exiled for so long – this too in line with biblical prophecies.

Virtual civil war has broken out within the party as it comes under increasing pressure over its failure to deal effectively with the problem.

Because it is there – in the Promised Land – where Jesus will return as King of Kings and finally be recognised by those who pierced him. This is God’s great plan, and world events are rapidly heading towards its fulfilment. But the devil and his hordes will do everything to prevent that happening, which is why such a fierce battle is being fought over Jerusalem, and Israel, and why anti-Semitism is once more on the rise.

The psalmist predicted this some 3,000 years ago with these words: “See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.’ O God, do not keep silent…Let them know that…you alone are the Most High over all the earth” (Psa 83:2-4, 1, 18).

He won’t keep silent. He will wipe away every tear when he comes again, and there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-4)!

References

1 Daily Mail, 15 July 2019.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

The Church has remained silent on Israel for too long

As Jews the world over next week mark a feast they have celebrated annually for the past 2,500 years, it presents a perfect opportunity for the Church to step into the breach on behalf of God’s chosen people.

The feast of Purim recalls the time when a beautiful young orphan queen known as Esther saved her people from annihilation in ancient Persia.

Her identity as a Jew was a secret at the time of her accession to the throne, as the potential for anti-Semitism was so great that the Bible’s account of her heroics only mentions God in code.

But when her guardian, Mordecai, alerted her to Haman’s genocidal plot against all the Jews in an empire stretching from India to Egypt, he challenged her with these words: “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Est 4:14).

Esther knew it would be dangerous to approach the king without being summoned but, just as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego risked the fiery furnace rather than compromise their faith, Esther too bit the bullet, defiantly declaring: “If I perish, I perish” (Est 4:16).

Modern Threats

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews as Esther did? The Church in Germany were, for the most part, silent as they watched Hitler’s anti-Semitic cancer spread.

Thankfully, para-church organisations like Christian Friends of Israel, representing thousands of individual Christians, have until now played the part of Mordecai in their attempt to alert the Church to the dangers.

One of them, Christians United for Israel, has actually launched a campaign called 'Operation Mordecai', warning of the danger posed by Iran (modern-day Persia) to Israel and the West, and is encouraging churches to nail their colours to the mast by showing corporate support for Israel rather than leaving it to individual believers.

Is it not time for the Church to stand up for the Jews just as Esther did?

Israel’s existence – and by extension that of the Jewish people – is threatened once again. First Pharaoh tried to obliterate them, then Haman, followed by Herod and Hitler. Now the likes of Hamas are inflicting their murder and mayhem on Israel’s southern borders while, in the north, Hezbollah have some 120,000 missiles hidden among Lebanon’s civilian population.

At the same time, a harrowing new wave of anti-Semitism is sweeping across Europe and America, while in Britain we are witnessing an unholy alliance between hard-left Labour and the far-right - including Islamists - viciously persecuting innocent Jews.

Time to Stand Up!

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed against the Jews. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised for Britain’s blocking of those trying to escape the Nazi butchers and for its holding of others in detention camps like Atlit, near Haifa, during the 1940s. And Home Secretary Sajid Javid has finally pronounced a full ban on Hezbollah.

But the Church in Britain – as a whole – has badly neglected the Jews. We are not only responsible for the scourge of social engineering now blighting our beloved country, but also for the disgraceful scandal of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

Where have the strong Christian voices of support for Israel been over the years? Do we really think God has reneged on his promise of everlasting love for the Jews (Jer 31:3)? Do we realise that such misguided belief gives carte blanche to the sort of unbridled hatred for Israel pronounced by many of those seeking to wrest power from the Conservatives?

Jeremy Corbyn and his close allies – like terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas – believe Israel has no right to exist. It’s time to make amends for our indifference by taking on the role of Esther – intervening on behalf of an endangered people, both in prayer and action.

The Tory Government has made a start in repenting of past sins committed by Britain against the Jews. But the British Church – as a whole – remains silent.

Cursing Turned Around

In modern Persia, the ayatollahs are determined to wipe Israel off the map, using nuclear weapons if necessary. But the tables were turned on the anti-Semites of ancient Persia. Haman literally made a rope on which to hang himself and the evil scheme he had devised came back on his own head. Those who dare to stand against the Jews or their Messiah will surely come to ruin!

Indeed, the tables were turned on Germany, and it all came back on their own heads as their cities were reduced to rubble – Darmstadt, for instance, had its own 9/11 when, on 11 September 1944, the city was destroyed, leaving 12,000 dead and many more homeless.

Similar devastation awaits those who touch the apple of God’s eye today (Zech 2:8).

Charles Gardner reviews ‘Dangerous Hero’ by Tom Bower (William Collins, 2019).

If you want to know what a godless society looks like, just read this book.

I spent the best part of a fortnight thoroughly absorbed in Tom Bower’s intriguing, and very readable, biography of Jeremy Corbyn.

It wasn’t, however, always a pleasant experience - in view of its portrayal of a man who comes across as an inveterate liar with little fondness for people. But I trust that the book – which also serves as an excellent political history of Britain’s modern era – will prove an antidote to other aspiring Marxists, who hopefully will be sickened by the vitriol, abuse and hatred liberally dished out in the name of hard-left politics.

Animal Farm?

I think I can safely say that I was forever inoculated against Communism through reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm at school. It’s a pity that the young Corbyn apparently never read the collection of Orwell essays his mother gave him as a 16^th birthday present.

Respected biographer Tom Bower has performed a great service by further exposing the disgraceful anti-Semitism that has been allowed to spread through the Labour Party like gangrene, and may well prove its ultimate undoing.

The book also serves as an excellent political history of Britain’s modern era.

All who have stood against the Jews over several millennia have eventually come to a sticky end, though tragically not before inflicting terrible pain, heartache and humiliation.

That Corbyn keeps bouncing back from a series of often self-inflicted setbacks – whether through anti-Semitism or sheer incompetence – is a shocking indictment, not only of the Labour Party, but of the British electorate as a whole.

Need for Prayer

The author indicates that he was reluctant to tackle this project, but felt it necessary to discover the truth about a would-be Prime Minister who has been cagey about his past, and who apparently hates talking to journalists.

The one thing that became clearer to me than anything else on reading this book is that Jeremy Corbyn needs an encounter with Jesus Christ. Please pray that he has one – for his sake, and also because the alternative might well lead to Britain becoming the next totalitarian state.

‘Dangerous Hero: Corbyn’s ruthless plot for power’ (400pp hardcover, paperback) retails for £20. Available widely in bookshops and online, including on Amazon. Also available as an e-book and an audio-book.

Tom Bower is a British investigative journalist and biographer who has also written on such as Prince Charles, Tony Blair and Richard Branson.

The tragedy of Corbyn’s rise to political prominence.

The sick, anti-Semitic hounding of an MP who is not even Jewish takes the scandal within the British Labour Party to a new low.

Former Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan has suffered death threats since resigning from the Party over what she termed its “culture of anti-Semitism”. She has also been branded a “Jew whore” who should burn “in the ovens”.¹

Corbyn’s Hypocrisy

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude to Israel and the Jews has been brought into sharp focus by Tom Bower in his book Dangerous Hero (William Collins, £20) – an absorbing, shocking read that begs the question of how a man with little intellect or understanding of the world has been raised up as a potential leader of one of the greatest nations on earth.

Over many years as a backbench MP, Corbyn’s overt Marxism went largely unnoticed and ignored as irrelevant since he was expected to remain on the fringe of the political scene.

But these are not normal times. For this ‘man of peace’ who opposes military intervention has at the same time shown consistent support for blatantly violent organisations like the IRA, PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas – the latter three committed to the destruction of Israel.

Much of the electorate seem blind to such hypocrisy, also demonstrated by the unholy alliance between Corbyn’s extreme-left cronies and far-right Islamists who would be happy to stone adulterers and throw gay people off roofs.

This ‘man of peace’ who opposes military intervention has at the same time consistently supported blatantly violent organisations like the IRA, PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Communism is Brutal

It is clear that on many issues, including Marxism, Corbyn holds a very blinkered and simplistic view. He also has no concept of Israel’s long history of persecution or, indeed, any understanding of its emergence as a modern state.

For example, he insists that all conflicts should be settled by the United Nations, but fails to see that it was the UN that legitimised Israel in the first place.

As for Communism, Corbyn seems oblivious to the fact that it has been consistently discredited wherever it has been practised, and keeps flagging up Venezuela as a wonderful example of Marxist management even while its people are starving with inflation running at 1,000%, despite rich oil reserves.

As for Communism closer to home, in the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago, a friend of mine who has been helping Jews escape to Israel since those days² described to a gathering last weekend the appalling conditions experienced there, with people forced to live in crumbling, stinking apartments amidst communities where food was scarce and money virtually worthless.

He recalled with horror the pitiful sight of a child lying on a step, frozen to death in its own urine. “Life under communism was brutal. And it was the Church – along with the prayers of Christians – that changed society in Eastern Europe, not politics. It was these brave people of faith who changed world history, not Gorbachev or Reagan.”

Chaos and Dysfunction

The story of Corbyn’s rise to power is a tragedy, not a triumph. Out of an apparently chaotic, dysfunctional domestic life, he focused his vision and energy on imposing similar disorder on the rest of us – by replacing capitalism with an enforced ‘paradise’ of equality in which the poor are lifted up and the rich dispossessed.

But it is political ideology, not people, he evidently loves. His purpose for living seems to be driven by fury for wealth creators and innovators, and of all middle class folk out to improve their lot, more than by a genuine love for the vulnerable – promising ‘friendlier’ politics, but delivering back-stabbing aggression instead.

It is political ideology, not people, Corbyn evidently loves.

It has clearly been a miserable existence constantly plagued by strife, dissension, vengeance and division even among those who sing from the same hymn-sheet as he does.

Joan Ryan (left) and Luciana Berger, now ex-Labour MPs, have both received vile anti-Semitic abuse. See Photo Credits.War on God

So why and how has hate-filled, anti-Semitic, anti-bourgeois thuggery like that suffered by Joan Ryan gained such unprecedented popularity in this sceptred isle?

Whether you consider the attitudes of the far-left, or those of Islamists, or those of the far-right, the collective picture should leave us in no doubt that we are witnessing a furious battle for the soul of our nation. The forces of darkness are arrayed against those wishing to defend the Judeo-Christian values which alone have raised us above other nations in the past.

Jesus is the litmus test of all truth (John 14:6) and the devil is the father of lies for whom lying is his native language (see John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). It is no surprise, therefore, that it should feel quite natural for those who peddle godless ideologies – of whatever nature - to lie, deceive and act dishonestly.

It should also alert us to the fact that any ideology (however noble) which rejects the truths of Scripture will inevitably join the war on God, his truth and those who bear his name.

Ultimate Rebellion

The Jewish people are God’s chosen, eternally and irrevocably. Even today, Christians the world over – some 1.5 billion of them – worship the ‘God of Israel’ who, in the fullness of time, sent his beloved Son, the Jewish Messiah, to save his people (and all believing Gentiles) from their sins.

The devil is out to destroy the image of God in this world, which means we would ultimately all lose out if he succeeded, because we are all made in God’s image. Our enemy’s thinking is that, if he can destroy the Jewish people (God’s chosen) as well as non-Jews who believe in God (Christians), then he will have won the battle for men’s souls.

The truth, then, is that anti-Semitism is effectively one of the ultimate expressions of rebellion against God. And God himself, I believe, has allowed it to be exposed.

From Tragedy to Triumph

Jesus said that the devil is out to “kill, steal and destroy”, but that He had come that we might have life in all its fullness (John 10:10). The Bible also says that “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps 14:1, 53:1).

The devil is out to destroy the image of God in this world.

The miserable life led by Corbyn and his cronies is not what God has purposed for us. If you are fulfilled by endless political rows and confrontations, stoked by a hate-driven, destructive ideology, that is truly a tragedy. But Jesus came to turn tragedy into triumph and, by his resurrection from the dead, has proved once and for all that he holds the answer for every hopeless cause.

He will turn your ugliness into beauty, your darkness to light, your hell to heaven, your grief to joy, your pain to purpose, your hate to love. Please pray for Joan Ryan and her colleagues - for their protection and blessing - as well as for Jeremy Corbyn.

References

1 World Israel News, quoting Mail on Sunday, 3 March 2019.

2 Fred Wright’s action-packed adventures in aiding Aliyah (immigration to Israel) over the years is the subject of a forthcoming book.

Britain toughens up over Iran-backed group threatening Israel.

Amidst the ongoing shame of anti-Semitic revelations surrounding the Labour Party, it is no small comfort to hear of positive moves in the opposite direction from Theresa May’s Tory Government.

Following an apology of sorts from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt over Britain’s disgraceful treatment of Jews during our charge of Palestine, Home Secretary Sajid Javid this week announced the full banning of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, who have long been committed to wiping Israel off the map.

The Government has finally accepted that there is no distinction, as previously claimed, between the group’s political and military wings.

Israel the Divider

At long last we are seeing a clear dividing line between the two main parties which, for the past two decades, have become more or less indistinguishable from one another on many important issues, including the dreadful liberal social engineering which has seen the Judeo-Christian values of our society progressively replaced by those of aggressive minorities.

But now – over Israel – a gaping chasm has opened up, and Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn had better watch out. A supporter over the years of the IRA, North Korea, Eastern European and other socialist dictatorships, he has also famously referred to Hezbollah, along with equally frightening neighbours Hamas, as ‘friends’.

This certainly suggests that he shares their vision for Israel’s destruction, as apparently does Seumas Milne, Labour’s head of strategy and communications, who is considered so influential that he has been referred to as ‘Corbyn’s brain’.

According to The Mail on Sunday,¹ Milne’s links with terrorist groups dedicated to destroying the Jewish state are decades old. A party staff member, speaking anonymously, said: “Seumas has been supporting groups that deny Israel’s right to exist for many years.”²

At long last we are seeing a clear dividing line between our two main parties: over Israel, a gaping chasm has opened up. 

A Crisis of the Soul

Javid said: “My priority as Home Secretary is to protect the British people. As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organisation which threatens our safety and security…”

It will now be a criminal offence to be a member of, or to invite support for, Hezbollah, carrying a sentence of up to ten years’ imprisonment.³

Much of what goes on within the ranks of today’s Labour Party could surely be interpreted as “inviting support for Hezbollah”. Only last Sunday, Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson revealed he had received 50 new complaints relating to Jew-hatred in the previous week!

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Watson urged his boss to address “a crisis for the soul of the Labour Party”.

As I’ve said before, the position taken on Israel by nations, governments and even individuals or church denominations will inevitably have a bearing on their respective fortunes. This is based on a crucial promise in the early pages of the Bible (Gen 12:3) – that if you bless the seed of Abraham, you in turn will be blessed, but that if you curse them, you will come under judgment.

Britain has been under a curse since the time immediately before, during and after World War II when we refused entry to their ancient homeland for many of those Jews trying to flee Nazi Europe, while at the same time betraying our pledge to resettle them there through repeated appeasement of Arab demands.

Righteous Intervention

But a light has dawned at the Foreign Office, and we pray it will grow ever brighter. However, this is not just a political issue; it is intensely spiritual. And it is thanks in some measure to the efforts of Christians United for Israel UK (CUFI) that we have got this far.

Their current campaign, Operation Mordecai, is aimed at alerting Government to the grave threat posed to Israel and the West by Iran – supporter of Hezbollah, who have thousands of rockets on Israel’s northern border ready to fire at the Jewish state.

It was Mordecai who heard of a plot to destroy the Jews of ancient Persia and successfully persuaded his niece, Queen Esther, to intervene.

CUFI know full well the importance for Christians of standing with Israel. But there is a deafening silence from the Church in Britain as a whole. Israel Today journalist Ryan Jones told me: “It always amazes me how even many Christians still don’t grasp Israel’s importance when they can see how much impact policies and positions regarding the Jewish people have on the politics of the world’s greatest powers. How else can one explain the fact that tiny Israel and the Jews are consistently major election issues in the US, UK and other powerful nations?”

The position taken on Israel by nations, governments and even individuals or church denominations will inevitably have a bearing on their respective fortunes.

For the Gospel’s Sake

Clearly, today’s Jews are also under threat from hard-left politicians gaining momentum in our country. But this predicament is just the latest example of centuries of European persecution, as was brought home this week in a moving personal documentary on the Jews of Leeds by Simon Glass,⁴ some of whose Lithuanian ancestors were taken out and shot, along with the rest of their community, by invading Nazi soldiers.

CUFI and others have helped to unveil a modern plot against the Jews. But this isn’t just about preserving freedom, fairness or even lives. We need to clear the obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel – to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (Rom 1:16).

When Rees Howells and his Bible College students fought the great battles of World War II on their knees in Wales, they were mindful that Hitler’s regime blocked the path to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission.

The Marxist, atheist agenda of the rising tide of hard-left MPs is a demonic distraction from our chief calling. And we desperately need to lance this poisonous boil – not as an end in itself, but so that we can concentrate on focusing the attention of both Jew and Gentile on the destiny of their souls.

The Gospel is the absolute priority for our nation. As St Paul wrote: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16).

References

1 The Mail on Sunday, 24 February 2019.

2 Quoted by United with Israel, 25 February 2019.

3 Christians United for Israel UK, 25 February 2019.

4 A Very British History, February 25 2019, BBC4.

Nine MPs resign over Corbyn leadership

Jeremy Corbyn’s abject failure to deal with anti-Semitism within his party has helped spark Britain’s biggest political split in 40 years.

And one of his MPs has even suggested that Israel could have funded the resignation of seven Labour MPs, which has since swelled to nine. Ruth George made the comment on Facebook before withdrawing it with ‘unreserved’ apologies, saying she had no intention of “invoking a conspiracy theory”.¹

Meanwhile the Jewish Labour Movement also threatened to quit the party. Wes Streeting, a Labour MP and vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Jews, warned that such a move “would be a nail in the coffin for the Labour Party itself”.²

Anti-Semitism, or Brexit?

The so-called ‘Gang of Seven’ – joined on Wednesday by Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan and on Friday by Ian Austin – said they were ashamed of Mr Corbyn’s leadership, condemning his handling of Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Luciana Berger, the heavily-pregnant Jewish MP who had been subjected to death threats necessitating bodyguards at last year’s party conference, said she could no longer remain in a party that was “institutionally anti-Semitic”.³

But the hiatus is as much about the vexed issue of Brexit as anything else, which makes the future even less certain for bewildered British voters.

The MPs, who have formed a new Independent Group already bolstered by several disaffected members of the Conservative Party, appear to be represented by some ardent Remainers, whose issue with Mr Corbyn is at least as much about his leadership on this issue as it is over his anti-Semitism.

So while initially perceived as an opportunity for Theresa May to consolidate her negotiating position with Brussels, it now looks like the British political ship is being stranded in troubled waters with diminishing hopes of finding a safe harbour.

Jeremy Corbyn’s abject failure to deal with anti-Semitism within his party has helped spark Britain’s biggest political split in 40 years.

Winds of Change

A quickly conducted poll suggests the new group could become very popular. If so, it may stir up fresh waves of EU support that could leave both Parliament and the people more confused – and frustrated – than ever.

Certainly, the reputation of politicians is at an all-time low, but at least this breakaway movement offers the apparent consolation that there are still men and women of principle who are prepared to stand up to the bullies.

And in the sense that these resignations are likely to prove a death-blow to Mr Corbyn’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister, they have done us all a favour.

But the winds of change are blowing dangerously strong across these isles, and we need to batten down the hatches in anticipation of a very choppy crossing to calmer seas and national stability.

Luciana Berger. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images.Bullying Culture

As for Ms Berger, leaving the party has obviously been a painful decision for her – she is the great-niece of Manny Shinwell, a much-loved major figure of the Labour Party who was a member of the Attlee Government in the immediate post-war era.⁴

But there is a sense of déjà vu about her departure as Shinwell resigned the Labour whip in 1982 for similar reasons – in protest against hard-left infiltration by the Trotskyite Militant Tendency. And Momentum, Militant’s apparent successor, is behind the bullying culture that has led to Ms Berger’s break with the party.

However, with reference to the 17.4 million people who voted for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 Referendum, Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn makes the telling point: “If most Labour MPs had displayed the same kind of resilience standing up against Momentum as they have in resisting the popular vote for Brexit, Corbyn would be long gone by now.”⁵

The esteemed journalist also pointed out that he had made a TV documentary exposing anti-Semitism in the Labour Party 12 years ago, long before Corbyn came to prominence, and that “most Labour MPs I approached for comment didn’t want to know”.

Corbyn’s Jewish Problem

Meanwhile, Part II of the Mail on Sunday’s serialisation of an explosive new book on Corbyn – Dangerous Hero, published this week by William Collins – exposes further highly damaging instances of the Labour leader’s ruthless push for power.

Tracing the roots of Corbyn’s view of the Jews, author Tom Bower writes: “Since he disdained materialism, culture and anything spiritual, he was an empty vessel, uneasy with a race complicated by its history of survival over 2,000 years of persecution.

“Jews in London were the victims of discrimination by all classes, including the working class – a truth that did not quite fit Corbyn’s Marxist theory of history.”⁶

It now looks like the British political ship is being stranded in troubled waters with diminishing hopes of finding a safe harbour.

He adds: “The truth is that Corbyn’s antagonism towards Zionism is one of the most consistent – and toxic – lines of his career. To him, Jews aren’t victims of racism and oppression but rather racist oppressors themselves.”

And Jewish Chronicle Editor Stephen Pollard writes in the same paper: “As this devastating biography shows, supporting terrorists who want to murder Jews and allying with the most rancid anti-Semites in Britain has been a lifelong obsession for Mr Corbyn.”⁷

Our Cornerstone

The only way to ensure survival amidst all the hatred and division we are witnessing is for the country to turn back to the God who saved us from disaster at Dunkirk. But that only happened after our leaders acknowledged our peril without his help, by calling for national prayer.

He can – and will – do it again if we humble ourselves before him, seeking his forgiveness for our wilful rebellion against his ways.

The nation as a whole has forsaken faith in Jesus, the “chosen and precious cornerstone” of our civilisation which, when removed, causes the structure of society to collapse into a heap of rubble (1 Pet 2:6; Isa 28:16).

The scriptures explain that this capstone would be laid in Zion (i.e. Jerusalem/Israel) “and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame”. And while this vital stone is ‘precious’ to believers, it also causes men to stumble and fall (1 Pet 2:8; Isa 8:14) “because they disobey the message”.

I’m sure Jesus weeps over London as he wept over Jerusalem when he said: “If you…had only known on this day what would bring you peace…” (Luke 19:42).

Peace amidst the tempest is found only on the rock of Christ, the Jewish Messiah, who stilled the storm on Galilee with a word. Or as someone commented on the Israel Today site – www.israeltoday.co.il – “Peace is not complicated when you follow the Prince of Peace.”

References

1 Mail Online, 20 February.

2 Ibid.

3 Daily Mail, 19 February.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 The Mail on Sunday, 17 February.

7 Ibid.

How the left-wing turned the Jew from hero to villain

How can a self-proclaimed anti-racist and life-long supporter of the underdog find himself encouraging rampant anti-Semitism within his own Party, to the point that it is now splintering apart? Worse, how can he be found guilty of the same behaviour?

Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Semitism problem is poorly understood by most, but it is key to explaining Labour’s current crisis. To understand it properly, we have to go back in time.¹

The Early Years

19^th Century socialism, trade unionism and the Methodist revivals combined to give the British Labour movement quite a different flavour to the revolutionary socialism of continental Europe. Christian Socialists such as Keir Hardie dominated the Labour Party’s leadership in its infancy at the turn of the 20^th Century, promoting the interests of the working class.

Indeed, it was Labour Party principles that undergirded the development of the British welfare state, with Labour campaigns for better working conditions and social reforms such as free education, free medical treatment and aid for society’s most vulnerable. Whatever the rights and wrongs of these policies from a biblical perspective, Labour was marked undeniably in its early years by biblically-inspired concerns: justice for the oppressed, compassion for the vulnerable, mercy and grace for those in need.

Labour was marked in its early years by biblically-inspired concerns: justice for the oppressed, compassion for the vulnerable, mercy and grace for those in need.

In this spirit, Labour gladly took up the Zionist baton from Lloyd George’s Liberals. The romantic idealism of the Zionist dream chimed strongly with classic Labour ideals: a down-trodden, persecuted people uniting in common cause of collaborative self-determination, pursuing lives of hard manual labour and bearing one another up through a populist culture of co-operation, shared ownership and mutual benefit, manifested most obviously in the kibbutz system.

Labour leader Arthur Henderson published his own version of the Balfour Declaration three months before the real thing was published under Lloyd George in 1917. Labour endorsed Zionism through the 1920s, 30s and 40s, opposing the Conservative Government’s White Paper limiting Jewish re-immigration and re-iterating strong support for Jewish settlers during and after the war years. Despite some back-tracking from Clement Attlee’s administration, this general support for Zionism continued well into the 1950s and was extended beyond this by philo-Semitic Labour PM Harold Wilson.

Promises of Freedom

It was during the 1960s, however, that the broader political context began to change dramatically, as a new age of rebellion and revolution swept in. As prosperity boomed, empires disintegrated and technology connected up the world, the old class-based politics was replaced by identity politics and a new pre-occupation with the global. Across the West there was a cultural shift as an entire generation rebelled against all forms of authority, choosing instead to experiment – politically, sexually, spiritually.

Under the banner of ‘liberation’ from the old order, a whole host of new movements and intellectual theories gathered, including but not limited to:

• The sexual liberation movement
  
• The anti-capitalist movement
  
• The anti-war movement
  
• The radical green movement
  
• Moral/cultural relativism (the idea that there are no absolute rights or wrongs)
  
• Post-structuralism (the idea that it is impossible to understand the world through universally applicable concepts or ‘grand meta-narratives’)
  
• Third World ‘liberation’ movements
  
• Post-colonial theories (the corresponding academic movement re-narrating the West’s history of colonialism as an unadulterated evil)
  

What unites all of these profoundly influential movements is their pursuit of freedom – by any means necessary - from the perceived ‘oppression’ of the old order of Western culture, grounded as it was in Judeo-Christian beliefs and principles.^2,3

This has manifested most notably through a revival of atheistic Marxism, which turns Judeo-Christian principles on their head and which has been mobilised systematically – and often intentionally - to undermine and overturn them. But Marxism, as we well know, carries within it an illiberal spirit of subjugation and control – not the ‘freedom’ it promises, but tyranny.

While the Cold War seemingly dealt a death blow to communism, the Marxist concept of life as a power struggle between oppressed and oppressor, resolvable only through radical system-change and the forced imposition of a new order, was being re-fashioned in the halls of the Western intelligentsia as a socio-cultural (cf. economic) theory. This eventually became the new guiding ideology for most Western educators, politicians and journalists – and it remains so today.

It was, therefore, the 1960s, 70s and 80s and the gradual rise to prominence of ‘cultural Marxism’ under the guise of social ‘progressivism’, that gave us victim culture and identity politics, the doctrine of multi-culturalism, political correctness and the policing of speech and thought, and the extension of coercive state power into every sphere of life, for ‘the greater good’ of enforced equality.

This era saw the re-organising of Western political and legal systems around a new morality marked by permissiveness, boundary-pushing and a lack of respect for the sanctity of human life. It also saw the entry of Jeremy Corbyn into left-wing activism and politics.

The Marxist concept of power struggle was re-fashioned as a socio-cultural theory which eventually became the new guiding ideology for Western educators, politicians and journalists.

Zionism Inverted

Under this new system, Zionism was inverted: it was no longer a socialist dream for the pursuit of national self-determination by an oppressed people fleeing Western persecution (and with every historical and legal right to return to their homeland), but an oppressive outpost of Western colonialism, with the real victims being the Palestinians. Followed through, this thinking has entrenched on the left the belief that the Israeli state is a racist, colonialist, fascist endeavour that has no right to exist.

White Western Jewish immigrants enjoying increasing economic and military success could not (even despite the Holocaust) possibly attain to the level of powerlessness and victimhood claimed for darker-skinned, Muslim Arabs. The former, as oppressive occupiers, could do no right. The latter, as oppressed victims, could do no wrong.

And this is the nub of the problem: because of its a priori ideology, left-wing progressives see the world and its problems through a particular grid of assumed power relationships that dictate who is right and who is wrong, who is righteous and who is evil, before the evidence is even considered. Reality is then contorted to fit this picture.

Appeal to Labour

That the British Labour Party bought into this utterly inverted worldview shouldn’t be entirely surprising. After all, cultural Marxism mobilises emotive, virtuous-sounding concepts that seemingly run close to traditional Labour values, such as the plight of the oppressed and justice for the most vulnerable.

However, concepts of oppression, vulnerability, freedom and equality here are twisted and inverted to serve a very different ideology than the one which motivated Keir Hardie – one which strips God, his boundaries and ethics, from the picture entirely.

And it is this secular humanist, ‘progressive’ version of social justice (really the French Revolution in new clothes), to which Jeremy Corbyn subscribes more ardently and consistently than most of his colleagues.

From Anti-Zionism to Anti-Semitism

Palestinian flags at the 2018 Labour Party Conference. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images.

And so we arrive at today’s situation, where the current Labour leader’s antics place fourth on the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s ‘Top Ten Global Anti-Semitic Incidents’ of 2018. Corbyn makes common cause with Islamist terrorists who overtly seek Jewish genocide while refusing to meet with Israelis, defends and celebrates terror attacks on Israeli Jews and allows anti-Semitic chants to be sung at the Labour Party Conference.

He fails to defend Jewish MPs in his own party as they are singled out for torrents of verbal abuse and death threats, and targeted internally for unseating. He also refuses to recognise that the Party even has an anti-Semitism problem (let alone apologise for it), while his supporters dismiss the allegations as a vicious smear.

Rife within Momentum are Holocaust denials and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that seem more at home on the far-right (indeed, the far-left is blind to them for this very reason). References to ‘Zio-Nazis’ or to ‘apartheid’ Israel degenerate quickly into age-old anti-Semitic tropes, from blood-sucking, baby-killing Jews to Jews as evil masterminds manipulating the world. Israel is singled out uniquely and disproportionately for distorted, ideologically-motivated criticism.

Fuller accounts of Labour’s anti-Semitism problem can be found easily elsewhere. Suffice to say that, in the span of a generation, the Labour Party has completely inverted its position on Israel, and that this has triggered a drastic rise in anti-Semitic attitudes. The inevitability of this slide into anti-Semitism can be argued from both a biblical/spiritual and a philosophical perspective (though many would undoubtedly disagree).

Left-wing progressives see the world and its problems through a particular grid of power relationships that dictate who is righteous and who is evil before the evidence is even considered.

Conclusions

With the whole of the 20^th Century in view, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Jeremy Corbyn is not a freak accident, but an extreme, outlying example of a general trend: the shift of British politics towards the extreme secular left, in rebellion against our former commitment to biblical ethics and ideals. In the words of Melanie Phillips, “Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate – he’s the result”.⁴

The roots of this issue lie in our cutting ourselves loose from our spiritual and ethical moorings in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, a move being described by some as cultural suicide. It is no coincidence that this has brought with it a volte-face regarding Israel and, from there, the Jewish people.

From a biblical perspective, the situation is quite simple. An embrace of God’s word produces not only a love of God’s ethics, but also a respect for all that he has marked as his own – whether land or people. Rejection of his word induces a hatred of all who are connected to it - all who bear his name.

This hatred, in turn, results in a cursing (Gen 12:3) which the Labour Party – despite its honourable beginnings – may even now be experiencing, and from which it may never recover.

Notes

1 What follows is a necessarily potted history. For a lengthier comment on this whole topic, I recommend ‘The Left’s Jewish Problem’ by Dave Rich (2016, Biteback Publishing). Also 'It backed Israel before Balfour: Corbyn stance is stark shift from early Labour' by Robert Philpot for The Times of Israel, 17 April 2018.

2 These movements gained a lot of momentum by piggy-backing on worthier causes, such as the civil rights movement in the USA and the anti-apartheid movement for South Africa (though both of these also had their more violent, revolutionary elements).

3 Read more about this in Melanie Phillips’ book ‘The World Turned Upside-Down’. That these movements cohere around a reaction against the Judeo-Christian West means they find common cause with a variety of other movements with the same agenda (e.g. radical Islam).

4 Jeremy Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate, he’s the result. Melanie Phillips, 21 October 2018.

‘He’s not fit to govern’, says ex-colleague of Britain’s Labour leader

Revelations expected to further stoke the fires over Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party have been published in the British press.

The Mail on Sunday has dedicated a dozen pages of coverage to initial serialisation of a new book by one of the country’s leading investigative authors.

Tom Bower’s Dangerous Hero (to be published on 21 February by William Collins at £20) is a damning expose of a man ‘not fit to govern’, even in the words of long-time friend and former hard-left MP Reg Race.

“He’s not fit to be leader of the Labour Party, and not fit to be Britain’s Prime Minister,” the man who worked closely with Mr Corbyn over three decades is quoted as saying.¹

Coinciding with the serialisation comes news of vicious racist attacks against Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger over claims she plans to join a breakaway movement along with several others. This was followed by an admission from the Party’s deputy leader Tom Watson that the Liverpool parliamentarian is indeed being bullied by constituency activists, as claimed.²

In doing so, Mr Watson repeated his call for the Party branch in Liverpool Wavertree to be suspended over its treatment of her.

Ruthless Tactics

Alarmingly, tucked in among the acres of copy on Mr Corbyn straddling the voluminous Sunday paper was the observation that he was ‘insult-proof’.

The culture of intimidation that is shaping today’s Labour Party is a culmination of 40 years of following Lenin’s and Trotsky’s bloody blueprint of seizing power, purging moderates and crushing dissent, Bower concludes.

“And, just like today, the man secretly driving it all swore blind that it had nothing to do with him.”

The culture of intimidation shaping today’s Labour Party is a culmination of 40 years of following Lenin’s and Trotsky’s bloody blueprint, Bower concludes.

Upon his resignation in 1992 as Corbyn’s constituency agent, Keith Veness is quoted as having said: “You’re an anarchic shambles, without any discipline.”

The leader of Her Majesty’s official opposition has famously talked of engaging in “a kinder, gentler politics”, but a very different story of ruthless tactics is emerging.

A relentless campaign to root out moderates classified MPs into five categories in which every Jewish MP was ‘hostile’ or ‘negative’ including former Labour leader Ed Miliband, who represents the Doncaster North constituency in my hometown.

High on the list of targets was Ben Bradshaw, the MP for Exeter in Devon, who denounced Corbyn as a “destructive combination of incompetence, deceit and menace”.

And the intimidation of Ms Berger was not unique. “Many female Labour MPs, particularly Jews, complained of renewed abuse by the Left,” writes Bower.

Denying God

Corbyn was evidently an academic failure who apparently doesn’t read books. This is a shame because, for his 16^th birthday, his mother gave him a collection of George Orwell’s essays. Orwell’s Animal Farm – a classic allegorical tale of the destructive and hypocritical dogmatism of communism – might have proved a useful lighthouse keeping his ship away from the rocks.

The trouble is, he has failed to build his life on the Rock – Jesus, the Jewish Messiah – which ultimately explains his reluctance to deal effectively with gross anti-Semitism within his party.

Opposition to Israel is usually associated with denial of God, for it is the God of Israel whom Christians worship and who forms the basis of our Judeo-Christian civilisation which the likes of Corbyn are so keen to destroy.

Corbyn’s ‘kinder, gentler politics’ has involved a relentless campaign to root out moderates, classifying MPs into categories and labelling every Jewish MP ‘hostile’ or ‘negative’.

In its place, all they have to offer is the prospect of a lifeless, colourless, totalitarian regime that imprisons people into ghettos of misery, poverty and purposelessness.

But the greatest teacher of all time said: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them” (Matt 7:15f).

And then he added: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

“But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27).

References

1 Mail on Sunday, 10 February 2019.

2 Daily Mail, 11 February 2019.

We must return to our roots – Labour PM Harold Wilson was devoted to the Jewish cause

I confess that the article I am about to write was initially intended only to address the important issue of roots – both of Christianity and of Western civilisation as a whole.

But I have been somewhat diverted along a different route, which I shall explain. So stay with me as I will eventually return to the roots of my story.

Labour’s History

In looking up a verse from Isaiah, where he refers to the “root of Jesse” (one of many prophecies of the coming Messiah, Jesus), I was reminded¹ of the fact that former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson had made much of a text from this passage in support of his Zionist views, spelt out in his book The Chariot of Israel² and clearly inspired by his strong Christian faith (I am reliably informed that both Harold and his wife Mary were Bible-believing Congregationalists, to which he also owed his brand of Christian socialism).

The text in question, Isaiah 11:11, refers to a second return of Jewish exiles,³ which trumps the notion that such prophecies were all fulfilled with the return from Babylon so that modern Israel has no right to their ancient land today.

I believe this is very significant in light of the ongoing controversy over rising anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, of which Wilson was a long-time leader and the only occupant of No. 10 Downing Street to have won four general elections.

By contrast, current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has openly embraced those who wish to destroy Israel.

Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has openly embraced those who wish to destroy Israel.

Our Godly Heritage

Writing for the Jewish Chronicle on the 50^th anniversary of Wilson’s first election victory,⁴ Robert Philpot dubbed him “the forgotten friend of Israel” who sprang to her aid in 1967 and 1973 and whose first overseas visit after leaving office in 1976 was to Israel, where he received an honorary doctorate and inspected a forest near Nazareth that had been named after him!

In Parliament he described the Jewish state “by any test…the only democracy in [the] region” and his book was described by his Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Jenkins as “one of the most strongly Zionist tracts ever written by a non-Jew”.

Tragically, however, his devotion to the cause of Israel contrasts sharply with today’s Labour left from whose ranks he originally hailed.⁵

Which takes me back to my starting point, for the survival of our Judeo-Christian civilisation will depend entirely on whether we remain connected to our biblical roots. If we cut ourselves off from our godly heritage, the ‘sap’ that gives us life, direction and purpose will no longer flow, with the result that our culture will wither and die like a tree pulled from the ground.

Gentiles Grafted In

Though some of the UK has just been blanketed in snow, nevertheless it’s that time of year when we begin to witness the shoots that produce flowers like snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils pointing the way to another springtime. These beauties come from roots (or bulbs) buried in the ground for many months.

Christianity was the new spring in the purposes of God that emerged from the roots of Judaism. According to St Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, who had to be reminded that God was not finished with his chosen people, Gentile believers “now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root [of Israel]…You do not support the root, but the root supports you,” he thundered (Rom 11:17f).

If we cut ourselves off from our godly roots, the ‘sap’ that gives us life, direction and purpose will no longer flow, and our culture will wither and die like a tree pulled from the ground.

This should encourage us to put our trust squarely in the God of Israel, and his Son, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David” (Rev 5:5), also prophesied by Isaiah as “the root of Jesse” (Isa 11:10) who will draw the nations (Gentiles) to himself.

In this respect it is also significant that there is a strain of Gentile ‘blood’⁶ in Jesus, through his ancestor Ruth, the Moabitess, King David’s great-grandmother, a wonderful woman of virtue who threw in her lot with her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi.

Spring is Coming

Still on this theme, Isaiah’s discussion of roots is related to a springtime for the nation of Israel that surely speaks of today, with its reference to a second return from exile, this time not just from Babylon but “from the four quarters of the earth” (Isa 11:11f) including “the islands of the sea” considered by some theologians to refer to the British Isles.

This passage also speaks of a coming millennial age of perfect peace when “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:6, 9).

As for Israel, the Lord speaks emphatically of final restoration through the Prophet Amos, concluding with the words: “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted…” (Amos 9:15).

References

1 See Defending Christian Zionism by David Pawson (Terra Nova Publications, 2008), p104.

2 Ibid.

3 The text begins: “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people…”

4 Wilson, true friend of Israel. The Jewish Chronicle, 27 October 2014.

5 It is only fair to record that after chairing the debate in Parliament to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27), my own MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central) said: “It is shocking that many British Jews are considering leaving this country…We must support those in our community who feel threatened. This means tackling and condemning anti-Semitism wherever we find it, including in the Labour Party.”

6 Obviously not actual blood, as Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary, though certainly ancestral as Jewish genealogy would confirm.

Lawyer exposes mixed messages behind Labour leader’s denial of anti-Semitism

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is playing with fire over his mixed messages on Israel. He denies being anti-Semitic while at the same time openly supporting a terrorist group committed to wiping Israel off the map.

Meanwhile his party continues to be embroiled in controversy over anti-Semitism with a police investigation now underway over allegations of “anti-Semitic hate crimes”.¹

Acceptable Anti-Semitism

Mr Corbyn reacted sympathetically to the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, though a Labour Party branch in Stockton voted down a motion condemning it after members criticised that there was too much emphasis on “anti-Semitism this, anti-Semitism that”.²

A Manchester-based Times of Israel blogger, commenting on Corbyn’s apparent compassion, said he believes it is because the attacker was a white supremacist rather than an Arab shouting ‘Allah Akbar’.³

Solicitor Robert Festenstein wrote that the shootings in America, which left 11 dead and six wounded, reminded him of a visit three years ago to a friend’s Jerusalem synagogue where, the previous year, two men had run in one morning with guns and knives and killed four congregants.

Corbyn denies being anti-Semitic while openly supporting a terror group committed to wiping Israel off the map.

He was particularly struck by Mr Corbyn’s tweet on the latest tragedy: “My thoughts are with those killed or injured in this horrific act of anti-Semitic violence, and with their loved ones. We must stand together against hate and terror.”

Festenstein wrote: “This was the first time I had heard him make any comment about any incident concerning attacks on Jews where he expressed a specific opinion and furthermore some support. At which point the penny dropped.

“Mr Corbyn, when he speaks of fighting anti-Semitism, is being mischievous, at best. It appears that he is deliberately misleading his listeners. He is not interested, as I am, in the identity of the victim. His motivation and those of his supporters…is based on the identity of the perpetrator.

“In other words, he is at the outset only interested in the person who pulled the trigger. In his world, therefore, and those of his supporters, it appears that a Jew can only be a victim of anti-Semitism if their attacker is white and crucially a neo-Nazi or white supremacist.

“If, though, the attacker is not white and is left wing, the attack cannot possibly be anti-Semitic…”

Festenstein went on: “Here in the UK, the writing is not only on the wall about the risks of a Labour Government; it is in letters of fire. What Mr Corbyn has now made perfectly clear is that he will not protect the Jewish citizens of this country if they are attacked by anyone other than a white neo-Nazi. Since the threats against us are mostly from the left, including from some members of Mr Corbyn’s party, we will not be safe if he becomes Prime Minister.”

Appeasement Doomed to Fail

It is by now well known that Mr Corbyn once referred to Hezbollah and Hamas as ‘friends’, but few will be aware that, when making that comment, he went on to say that labelling Hamas as a terrorist organisation was “really a big, big, historical mistake”.⁴

Hamas, he declared, were dedicated to a peaceful solution!⁵ Yet they have openly, and consistently, vowed to destroy Israel and ‘reclaim’ all the territory “from the river to the sea”, as their slogan goes – a mantra also heard at this year’s Labour Party conference.

So he is trying to convince all who will listen (which includes a vast swathe of our young people) that Hamas and Hezbollah are people with whom we should be negotiating for peace – because they are purportedly interested in peace; though of course there is scant evidence of this.

Corbyn is trying to convince all who will listen that Hamas and Hezbollah are interested in peace, though there is scant evidence of this.

Neville Chamberlain tried to persuade the British Parliament – and public – that Hitler was interested in peace. But Chamberlain was playing with fire. And 50 million people died in the fallout, a tally which included the unspeakable murder of six million Jewish civilians.

Claiming that Hamas are interested in peace clearly amounts to playing with fire – quite literally – as we have seen for the past seven months on the Gaza border, where protestors have engaged in murderous mayhem as they vent their fury with kite and balloon firebombs and Molotov cocktails while, behind them, Hamas keep up their constant volley of rockets into southern Israel (this was even replicated in New York last Friday where an arsonist attacked Jewish schools and synagogues at seven different locations while ‘Kill all the Jews’ graffiti was found daubed elsewhere⁶).

As I write this on 5 November, when we give thanks for the uncovering of a religiously-motivated plot to blow up Parliament, it seems that Mr Corbyn is engaged in something even more sinister – support for those who want to destroy Israel, the very source of our civilisation.

Holy Fire

It is paramount that we don’t get too close to the fire, as I was reminded yesterday on our return from a weekend away when, after running the gauntlet of rocket fire down the half-mile stretch of our road before turning into our drive, I saw what looked like a house on fire nearby and promptly dialled 999.

It turned out that neighbours were ‘enjoying’ a bonfire right beside a half-completed house, with huge flames appearing to lick the exposed wooden beams of the roof. The Fire Brigade paid a visit, and the bonfire was soon snuffed out.

And yet, while fire destroys, it can also turn the wheels of industry; it can even be redemptive and is among the symbols of the Holy Spirit. When Elijah called down fire in his great contest with the false prophets on Mt Carmel, it burnt up the sacrifice and sparked a turning back to the God of Israel (1 Kings 18).

The devil wants to destroy Israel and the Jewish people, but the Lord “whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem” is more than a match for his enemies (Isa 31:9; see also Zech 2:5).

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6).

References

1 Jerusalem News Network, 5 November 2018, quoting INN.

2 Christians United for Israel, 23 October 2018.

3 My Friend David, Times of Israel blogs, 31 October 2018.

4 See note 2.

5 What he actually said was: “The idea that an organisation that is dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about long-term peace and social justice and political justice in the whole region should be labelled as a terrorist organisation by the British government is really a big, big historical mistake and I would invite the government to reconsider their position on this matter and start talking directly to Hamas and Hezbollah…”

6 JNN, 7 November 2018, quoting INN.