From reading the reactions of the major news agencies in Israel to the outcome of the UK election, one gets the impression that Israelis had supported Jeremy Corbyn, whose antisemitism has been proven beyond doubt time and again. So who are those Israelis supporting an antisemite, and why?
Ynet, the most popular news portal in Israel, chose this headline to describe Corbyn’s defeat: “The nationalists’ victory: The beginning of the end?” Ynet seemed to be concerned about nothing less than the collapse of the United Kingdom. If Boris Johnson will succeed with his Brexit plan, reasons Ynet, it could cause Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to break free from the UK.
This is a concern for Ynet because the outcome of the election could herald the return of nation-states, a conservative idea abhorred by a New Left that dreams of globalism, which, they believe, is the only way to put an end to the kind of nationalism that breeds social injustices like racism and anti-immigration sentiments. And so Israel’s Left is concerned for the fate of the UK because they fear Johnson’s victory will bolster local conservatives who believe that Israel must remain the one-and-only Jewish nation-state.
A headline appearing on the Walla news portal echoes the same concern. “The nationalists have won in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the future of the United Kingdom is put in doubt.” Here again, Johnson’s victory is viewed as the victory nationalism, which, at least in Israel, is a code word for fascism. That Johnson has repeatedly said that he is committed to keeping the UK united makes no difference because, Israel’s New Left reasons, the outcome of the election proves otherwise, that Scotts and Irish and Welsh have given fascism two thumbs up.
Fear of nationalism, therefore, is that which drives Israelis to ignore Corbyn’s antisemitism. And if one wishes to know the unadulterated version of Israel’s New Left, there is no better place to go than the digital magazine Sicha Mekomit, which reflects the tacit view of many Israeli journalists and opinion-makers.
“Corbyn is not an antisemite,” read the headline of a piece written by Yonit Moses just a few days prior to the election. “He is on the cross because he wants to save the world,” she opined. Those tarring Corbyn’s reputation, therefore, are the “privileged, the Islamophobes and even antisemites.” “This unfounded allegation [regarding Labour’s antisemitism] directed toward a man who has worked tirelessly throughout his entire public life against any form of discrimination, racism, suppression and war-mongering,” continues Moses, “was regrettably backed up by people of political and economic interests.”
The “antisemitic campaign” against the Labour party, she concludes, “is akin to a bunch of violent husbands who are campaigning aggressively against beating women. A collection of racist, privileged misogynists, some of whom are simply Islamophobes, and others who are genuine antisemites, are gathering for a very particular xenophobic fight.” And just in case the point was missed, the attack here is against masculinity itself, in the form of neo-Liberalism, which is “an ideology of extinction” of all the peace-loving people of the world.
Though Moses may sound extreme, the fact is that this kind of discourse characterizes Israelis who support Corbyn, who in turn happened to support the BDS, PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah, all of which have one goal in mind – eradication of the racist, misogynist Jewish state. In the final analysis, therefore, Israeli support of Corbyn is really a call for national suicide, as it shows a willingness to die for the sake of the revolution that will erase Judaism for the sake of global peace, which is the very same wish that has given rise to antisemitism in the first place.
In this kind of a world, Israeli support for Corbyn makes sense, because in today’s progressive madness, support of antisemites like Corbyn means support for a better world. And that twisted dream has a much better chance of being realized if Israel would just be willing to step aside and get off the stage.
