Will the Democrats Resist Corbynization?

Mark Regev was Israel’s ambassador to the U.K. when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the Labour Party, leading it to three grievous defeats at the polls, for which he was finally removed as Labour leader. He was subsequently expelled from the party for his antisemitism. Regev reports on the possible lessons of the “decorbynization” of the Labour Party for supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party here: “The problem with Corbyn, AOC and left-wing antisemitism – opinion,” by Mark Regev, Jerusalem Post, October 7, 2021:

…FOR BRITISH Jews, the Corbyn phenomenon was highly unsettling. The outbreak of antisemitism at the top tier of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition was a genuine shock, especially as it was centered on the individual who challenged three consecutive Tory prime ministers for the keys of 10 Downing Street.

American Jews also took notice. Prior to COVID-19, delegations to Israel from American Jewish organizations were always looking for something new to attract participants, and years ago started including a stopover of interest in the itinerary – a tour of Jewish Prague, a visit with Morocco’s Jewish community or even a meeting in Amman with the Jordanian foreign minister. During my tenure as Israel’s ambassador in Britain, more and more they included a stopover in London.

A UK visit was not just a matter of showing solidarity with a Jewish community undergoing a difficult period. The American Jews I met in London were anxious that Corbyn’s takeover of Britain’s Labour could be a sign of things to come in the Democratic Party.

Such fears were exacerbated following the 2019 phone call between Corbyn and US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a conversation that took place after Corbyn’s antisemitism had already received significant media coverage in the US. Corbyn, who at the time had legitimacy issues with social-democrats across Europe, thoroughly enjoyed his 45-minute discussion with the New York representative, tweeting: “Great to speak to @AOC on the phone this evening and hear first-hand how she’s challenging the status quo.” AOC responded with a warm tweet of her own: “It was an honor to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, @jeremycorbyn!” Consistent with honoring Corbyn, she later pulled out of an event hosted by the dovish American Friends of Peace Now to commemorate assassinated prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yitzhak Rabin.

A meeting of hearts-and-minds, apparently, that phone call between Corbyn and AOC. After all, they have so much in common, including – perhaps above all other links — their antipathy to Israel. After speaking with her, Corbyn was ecstatic at having found his soul-sister: “great to speak to @AOC on the phone.” And she gushed in return: “it was an honor to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, @jeremycorbyn!”

Does the Iron Dome funding episode indicate that “the chickens have come home to roost?” Unclear. In Britain, the Jewish community played a decisive role in the effective public campaign against antisemitism in the Labour Party. If American Jews and their allies act with a determination akin to that shown in Britain, the Iron Dome funding affair may turn out to be just a troubling aberration. If not, the incident could very well be a milestone in the growing Corbynization of the Democratic Party. The latter development may have highly problematic implications for the American Jewish community and for the US-Israel partnership.

Regev is urging American Jews “and their allies” (including the tens of millions of Evangelicals), to emulate the British Jews who did not stint in their efforts to get Corbyn removed from the Labour Party, to expose the antisemitism of Corbyn’s allies in the party, and to help Keir Starmer, a stout defender of Israel who has been determined to stamp out antisemitism in the party, to replace Corbyn.

A discredited Corbyn was ultimately forced to resign his leadership after Labour’s unprecedented losses in the 2019 national elections, with the party’s faithful increasingly convinced that Corbynism was a prescription for keeping Labour out of office in perpetuity. Hopefully, Democrats are closely following developments across the pond.

After losing his position as leader, Corbyn was finally expelled from the party he had headed for four years after he downplayed a report that detailed serious failings in the party’s handling of persistent antisemitism complaints during his 2015-2019 leadership.

The question is: will supporters of Israel in the Democratic Party be as successful in marginalizing the Squad – Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley — as Labour’s pro-Israel members, led by Keith Starmer, were in finally bringing down Jeremy Corbyn? Regev thinks they would do well to study how Corbyn was exposed as not merely viscerally anti-Israel, but as both an antisemite himself, and as a protector of other antisemites in the Labour Party. So far the mainstream Democrats have managed to successfully stop the members of the Squad (and such willing collaborators of it as Congresswomen Cori Bush and Primala Jayapal) in their attempt to prevent a one-billion-dollar special appropriation for Israel, in order that it might replenish its stock of Iron Dome defensive missiles that had saved so many lives during Israel’s May war with Hamas. That appropriation, which was taken out of the overall budget, was then passed as a stand-alone measure by a vote of 420 to 9. So far, so good.

But Regev does not think the American Jewish community can be complacent because of such a vote. The Squad is popular on campuses, and on social media. Rashida Tlaib has 1.5 million followers on Twitter; Ilhan Omar has 3 million. AOC herself has 13.8 followers on Twitter – a colossal number — and is wildly popular among “progressives.” She is not the only Squad member who is talked of as a possible Senatorial candidate. Opinion polls suggest a lessening, albeit still small, in Democratic support of Israel. American supporters of Israel have to do more than push for passage of aid money. They can learn from the upheaval in the Labour Party, in which Keith Starmer and others in the party presented the evidence of Corbyn’s own antisemitism, and his callous dismissal of complaints about the antisemitism of other members, which finally were enough to result in his expulsion. Some of the squadroons are clearly antisemitic, and supporters of Israel should not be squeamish about providing the considerable evidence. Do as they did in the U.K’s Labour Party, Mark Regev advises Israel’s American supporters. Take the gloves off.