Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Collings’ actions and statements amount to breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our methodology.
By sharing a video in which the actions of Israel in Gaza were compared to those of the Nazis [4a][4b], Mr Collings was disseminating material which was “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
By sharing an image on Facebook which purported to show that Israel or supposedly pro-Israel donors and other groups and individuals collectively termed “The Lobby” (thereby deploying a trope regarding the hidden power of diaspora Jews or Israel which originated in the antisemitic propaganda of 1970s Soviet Russia) influence British politics [12]; and by endorsing the suggestion that the Prime Minister of Israel has the ultimate sanction over the choice of a British premier [6b], he was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”
The assertion that Jews exploit the Holocaust politically and financially is an antisemitic trope based on the perception of negative Jewish character traits; namely the classic antisemitic stereotypical portrayal of Jews as dishonest and greedy. This trope is now so widespread that, in a 2018 CNN survey, a third of Europeans expressed the opinion that Jews exploit the Holocaust. By sharing a video in which it was asserted that the Holocaust was being exploited [4a], therefore, he was disseminating material which was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews…”
By labelling Jews who protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party as “right-wing” [8][9], and by alleging that Jewish groups were in a “coalition” with “Tory party members and supporters” [2b], Mr Collings was advancing an antisemitic trope which has gained currency in left-wing discourse which allows the views and concerns of Jewish people not only to be dismissed, but which also seeks to demonise them by association with political groups already demonised on the left, either by employing the generalised term ‘right wing’, or by explicitly linking them with the Conservative Party, which is often associated with the notion of ‘evil’ in left-wing discourse. By making these assertions, therefore, he was again “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews..”
Moreover, members of the mainstream Jewish community are often accused of regarding others as being “the wrong sort of Jew”; for example, some members of the so-called Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), who have defended the Labour Party against allegations of antisemitism, or have even engaged in antisemitic discourse themselves, and appear to have embraced being called antisemitic as something of a badge of honour. This seems to be a form of projection of the antisemitic action of making a distinction between supposedly “good” Jews and “bad” ones, which has manifested itself in many ways over the centuries, and which allows the accuser to withold sympathy, solidarity and protection from those so accused. Such accusations are deployed in the same way as the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, whereby the accuser refuses to engage with a complaint of antisemitism, and instead makes a counter-accusation in order to invalidate it. Thus, by sharing a post in which the Jewdas group were presented as being considered the “the wrong sort of Jew” [3] and by ironically describing the actor Miriam Margolyes as such for downplaying the extent of antisemitism in the Labour Party and denying the possibility that Jeremy Corbyn might have engaged in antisemitic discourse [9], he was further “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews…”
Zionism is an expression of national self-determination for Jews, and since the establishment of the State of Israel, of support for the maintenance of that state. However, the allegation that Zionism is an inherently far-right and racist ideology was promulgated by the Soviet Union in the post-war era until 1989, as part of a deliberate and explicitly antisemitic campaign to persecute Jewish citizens who wished to practise their religion and/or leave the Soviet Union — especially to emigrate to Israel — as well as to demonise and undermine Israel on the foreign stage for global strategic gain. A singular purpose of this propaganda was to drive a false distinction between “Jews” and “Zionists”, in which the latter is the enemy of the former, and the embodiment of many older antisemitic tropes. By both defending Richard Burgon MP for having stated that “Zionism is the enemy of peace” and asserting the same view [11], Mr Collings was demonising Zionism, and as such was “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination…”
Furthermore, we note the words of the Labour Party’s own guidance issued on the use of the term ‘Zionism’, particularly where it states that: “…for many Jews, Zionism represents national liberation. The concepts of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem run deeply in Jewish religion, identity and culture, and…are symbolic of a homeland, refuge, or place of safety. The sensitivities around these concepts should be considered before using them.”
Given that many of those claiming that there is a significant problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party are Jewish, by variously sharing or endorsing material and statements which described, or directly making statements himself which described accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party as “politically motivated”, “misrepresented for political gain” and “nothing to do with antisemitism” or “nothing to do with protecting Jews from antisemitism” [1][2a][8]; as a “smear campaign”[2b][7a]; as a “witch hunt” [3][11]; as a “totally fake issue” [5a]; as being “promulgated…to deny Palestinians any substantial portion of their homeland along with their basic human rights” [5b] and “really about Israel” [6a]; as “fundamentally mendacious” [7b]; as “twisted behaviour and outrageously dishonest propagandising” made with the aim of “duping” Jews into being fearful [7c]; and by signing a letter defending remarks made by Jackie Walker (which included having asserted that Jews were among the “chief financiers of the…slave trade” – a proven antisemitic myth) as “obviously not anti-Semitic” [sic], but rather, “false accusations” made by “Zionists” as a “method of defending the Israeli state” [10], he was deploying or disseminating material which deployed the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism. This further constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews…”
