A letter (9 August), signed by a fringe assortment of British Jews, accused Campaign Against Antisemitism of being “pro-Israel lobbyists” because we believe that Jeremy Corbyn has allied himself with and granted impunity to antisemites on the left, the latest example of which being his peerage for Shami Chakrabarti in return for her report clearing him and the party of rampant antisemitism. How shameful that in 2016, as a Jew who opposes antisemitism, I have to write to a British newspaper for the second time in a year to refute the allegation that our charity, set up exclusively to fight antisemitism, is actually a pawn employed by a foreign government to smear its enemies.
Antisemitism in the Labour party is real and recognised by the full cross-denominational spectrum of British Jews. Had that antisemitic slur against Campaign Against Antisemitism been signed by anything other than a tiny collection of Jews whose views are abhorred by the mainstream Jewish community, you would not have dared to publish it.
Gideon Falter
Chairman, Campaign Against Antisemitism
