Responding to the recent rise of anti-Semitism within the UK’s Labor party, an activist associated with its hard-left, anti-Israel wing issued a statement condemning the hatred of Jews, and calling for the expulsion from the party of anyone who expressed it—until such time as the culprit was “re-educated.” He also called for a similar policy toward anti-Muslim bigotry, and for the establishment of separate commissions to confront each problem. Douglas Murray comments:
As everyone involved in politics knows, there are two ways truly to ignore a problem: the first is just to ignore it; the second is to “set up a commission.”
But there are several perhaps unwittingly interesting things about this flaccid suggestion. The first is the reflexive and unthinking demonstration among many these days that they cannot possibly deal with anti-Semitism unless they also throw Muslims into the mix. To deal with anti-Semitism on its own might raise too many problems.
But let us say that two such commissions were set up. And let us pretend for a moment that they were indeed headed by people who were not merely “leading” but also honest figures.
The head of the commission to look into anti-Semitic prejudice, might find a number of startling things. He or she might find, for instance, that the dominant strand of anti-Semitism in British life in 2016 comes not from [left-wing parliamentarians] but from the British Muslim community. . . .
[Furthermore], the Labor party’s anti-Semitism problem comes from people who propel the very hatred they profess to despise. As such, they remain in no position to “re-educate” anyone, as they so stubbornly refuse to educate themselves.
Read more on Gatestone: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7646/uk-labour-anti-semitism