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.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Guardian Angel’ by Melanie Phillips (Bombardier Books, 2018).

This is an intriguing look at the life and career of one of Britain’s most forthright and controversial journalists who regularly champions our national identity and Judeo-Christian heritage. Here we discover what shaped her early life and the key factors and influences that precipitated, in the words of the subtitle, her “journey from leftism to sanity”.

The book is perhaps better seen as a memoir than an autobiography but it does nevertheless take us chronologically from Phillips’ childhood in London through her career path to where she is now.

Poignant, Personal, Illuminating

The opening chapter is by far the longest as Phillips describes the angst and anxieties she experienced as a child. Clearly her family home was not a happy one, although it provided the moral foundation she would need in later life.

It is interesting that after describing her (Jewish) parents and upbringing in some detail there is little about her own family. We learn how she met her husband and that she has two children, but almost nothing about them. Later family relationships are also noticeably absent. It seems Phillips wants her personal story to be understood more in terms of the social and political changes that have happened in Britain during her professional lifetime (though intuitive readers will undoubtedly feel keenly the ways these have intersected with her family life). 

This is an intriguing look at the life and career of one of Britain’s most forthright and controversial journalists.

In the second chapter Phillips describes how she learnt her trade as a reporter and eventually joined the staff of The Guardian as a promising writer, by all accounts. Later chapters recount her ups and downs (mainly downs) at that publication in a way that is eye-opening and often entertaining (at least for those of us simply reading about them). We are led through the inner and outer turmoil she experienced as she gradually became aware of and came to terms with the vast ideological differences between herself and her co-workers.

Her account is deeply personal and yet illuminating for anyone learning their way around the problems with the ideological left-wing (cf. classic liberalism, Phillips’ background) and desiring to work through them intelligently and face the consequences bravely.

Overall, the account of her career path away from The Guardian is a poignant one - a move as traumatic and bewildering as any she could have imagined, but which was necessary if she was to remain true to her principle of “following the evidence where it led, and only then reaching a conclusion” (p119).

When towards the end of the book she states that “I believe what has happened to me illustrates what has happened to British society and western culture during the past three decades” (p172), we can readily agree. This is not over-inflated egotism but a logical conclusion that clearly follows from what she has recorded of her experiences.

Alfred and Mabel’s Daughter

Anyone familiar with Melanie Phillips’ writing will find this informative and for those who are not regular readers of her articles or blog, this is an excellent introduction to a social commentator who is both prescient and provocative.

An excellent introduction to a social commentator who is both prescient and provocative.

In some ways the book comes across as a sort of self-explanation, an attempt to understand what actually happened to her, personally and professionally. Certainly the book helps us understand her better and appreciate her even more.

When summing up who she is, Phillips concludes that she is neither on the left nor the right: “I am simply Alfred and Mabel’s daughter, a Jew who believes in helping make the world a better place and a journalist who believes in speaking truth to power” (p175).

'Guardian Angel' (175pp) is available on Amazon for £12.50 (paperback) or £5.91 (Kindle). Melanie Phillips writes regularly for The Times, the Jewish News Syndicate, the Jerusalem Post and for her own blog, at www.melaniephillips.com.