Corbyn and Arkush show how Balfour is marking the end of the British consensus on Israel

Corbyn and Arkush show how Balfour is marking the end of the British consensus on Israel October 22, 2017

This past week Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn snubbed a dinner invitation from the Jewish Leadership Council while Jonathan Arkush, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, sent an angry email to the UK Ambassador to the United Nations.

Arthur Balfour and his infamous Declaration are to blame for both incidents.

It doesn’t sound like much to get worked up about. But you should do. As the Balfour centenary year approaches its climax on 2 November, we’re witnessing in Britain the fracturing of decades of mainstream political consensus over Israel and the gradual isolation of the Jewish communal leadership as it becomes ever more intolerant of Palestinian solidarity.

Labour Party conference

Three weeks ago at the annual Labour Party conference, Corbyn’s biggest applause line was not about Brexit or austerity but for this:

“Let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50-year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.”

It wasn’t only because the 4,000 party members in the hall endorsed the sentiment that they applauded for so long. It was because they were fed up with the intimidation from the Israel lobby in the UK that attempts to turn every expression of Palestinian solidarity into an investigation about antisemitism. See Jamie Stern-Weiner for a forensic take-down of the most recent attempt to make Labour toxic on this issue.

Hardly surprising

Corbyn has been a Patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for many years. So it was hardly surprising that he refused the JLC invitation to celebrate Balfour when Palestinians view the document as an historic betrayal of their rights. It would have been astonishing if the Labour leader had said “yes”. And the JLC would have known that.

That didn’t stop the JLC Chair, Jonathan Goldstein, from using the dinner refusal to accuse Corbyn of more anti-Jewish sentiment. But that was likely the plan all along.

“I do think it will not have been amiss for Mr Corbyn to understand that the Jewish community will have taken great heart and great comfort for seeing him attend such an event because it recognises the right of Israel to exist.”

You can be sure though that Tony Blair or Gordon Brown would have accepted the invite if either of them had still been leading the Labour Party today. So times have certainly changed.

The Board gets mad but not even

Meanwhile, over at the Board of Deputies, there’s been plenty of pointless bashing and feigned upset going on too in the last few days.

The whole story turns on a tweet sent by a member of the UK’s UN Mission in New York which said:


Browse Our Archives