Jeremy Corbyn's judgement is the real talking point in Jewdas row
The Labour leader's wisdom in going to the Passover meal after such a turbulent week is the real story, says Sky's Tom Rayner.
Tuesday 3 April 2018 12:00, UK
There is nothing inherently anti-Semitic about being anti-capitalist or anti-nationalist.
Even Jeremy Corbyn's toughest critics acknowledge there is nothing inherently anti-Semitic about criticising Israeli government policies.
So, to the passing observer, it might seem rather strange that the Labour leader's decision to attend a Passover Seder meal in a personal capacity - hosted by a small group of radically left-wing, anti-Israel, religious Jews - has brought the anti-Semitism row back into the spotlight.
Yes, Jewdas has railed against the protests organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council against Mr Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism, even going as far as suggesting their fury was a "malicious ploy" to stop a socialist government.
Yet even the Board of Deputies acknowledge Jewdas has its place - albeit on the fringe - in the broad and varied spectrum of the Jewish community, and acknowledge the group has worked in its own way to combat anti-Semitism.
Jewish comedian David Baddiel, a vocal campainger against anti-Semitism, said: "They are just Jews who disagree with other Jews. Which means: Jews."
But this is not really a story about Jewdas. This is about Jeremy Corbyn's political judgement, and the wisdom of meeting them at this moment.
After a week which saw mainstream Jewish groups lead an unprecedented protest in Parliament Square over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, Mr Corbyn issued a number of statements - including an apology for the "pain" caused to the community by anti-Semitism from within Labour.
And some action has followed the rhetoric.
After significant pressure, close Corbyn ally Christine Shawcroft stepped down from Labour's ruling National Executive Committee.
She had already resigned as chair of the party's disputes panel after an email emerged showing she had defended a local council candidate suspended for sharing a Facebook post that suggested the Holocaust was a hoax.
On Sunday, the party suspended another local council candidate in Tunbridge Wells for sharing anti-Semitic posts.
Momentum, the influential pro-Corbyn bloc in the party, issued a statement saying anti-Semitism was more widespread than previously thought and urged supporters not to dismiss all accusations as right-wing smears.
Mr Corbyn himself did an interview restating concerns were genuine and that anti-Semitism in the party would not be tolerated.
But hours later, he chose to attend the Jewdas Seder meal - a meeting with a Jewish community group, but one that has actively tried to rubbish the row that Mr Corbyn has spent the last week trying to contain.
No doubt his supporters will accuse the right-wing Guido Fawkes blog, which first reported his attendance at the meal - of undertaking an agenda-driven character assassination in the same vein as previous attempts to discredit the Labour leader as a Soviet spy and a terrorist sympathiser.
And his office will reassert he was there in a personal capacity, that his attendance does not reflect any change to his commitment to meet mainstream Jewish groups or his long-standing opposition to all forms of racism.
:: Corbyn tells Jewish community: I'm your ally in anti-Semitism row
But here's the point - once again, they are having to defend him.
Either Jeremy Corbyn attended the Seder in full knowledge that it would invite the kind of accusations from his backbench critics, such as John Woodcock, that he was "deliberately baiting the mainstream Jewish community", or he did not.
Perhaps, given the week he has had, he thought that turning down an invitation to a Seder meal from a Jewish group would be unwise.
Perhaps he was not aware of tweets from the Jewdas account like the one describing Israel as a "steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of".
Perhaps, as Momentum's director Jon Lansman has suggested, it was a simple meeting with a group of constituents that did not run counter to his pledge to work with the wider Jewish community.
"I don’t see what is not wise about attending a meal with constituents of yours, particularly when they are celebrating the Passover," Mr Lansman said.
"Jeremy also has meetings with other sections of the community and has been wanting to meet with representatives of the Board of Deputies and the JLC, this doesn't take away from that."
:: Momentum admits anti-Semitism is a bigger problem than it realised
What that view omits, however, is the fact that in response to Mr Corbyn's request for a meeting with the BoD and JLC, those groups said they wanted him to publicly confirm his commitment to engage with the Jewish community "via its main representative groups and not through fringe groups who wish to obstruct the party's efforts to tackle anti-Semitism".
Perhaps he genuinely did not foresee how attending the Jewdas Seder might be perceived to rub up against this.
Perhaps he did and went along regardless, unwilling to have them dictate how he addresses the problem.
It is not clear what Jeremy Corbyn’s judgement was, but for his critics in the Jewish community and inside the Labour Party both alternatives are problematic, which is why they are up in arms.