Jews did count but for the wrong reasons – A Lament by Simon Cohen; Book Review

The book “Jews Did Count But for the Wrong Reasons was written as a lament for what has been lost.  Simon Cohen’s starting point is that with so much focus on allegations, accusations and allocation of blame for antisemitism, the focus from the crises facing working class communities in Britain and beyond have almost been forgotten.

As the Hive Review put it:  Cohen makes the point that “ the political leveraging of antisemitism …was part of a patchwork of disinformation largely designed to eradicate the possibility and hope of a deep seated change from a dominant economic ideology that has sustained grotesque inequality, wealth siphoning and asset bubbles that have ravaged our social fabric”  

It is no accident that Cohen entitled his book in this way, it being in part a response to David Baddiel’s book and later documentary “Jews Don’t Count”  (see a critique by two JVL members here: “Jews Don’t Count” – A commentary).  In the context of the revelations about how very differently anti Black and Islamophobic behaviour is treated compared to antisemitism, it is very clear that Jews DO count – as we should – but not more than others who are also experiencing more systemic racism than Jewish people – at least for now.

Cohen is firmly challenging the narrative that has been prominent in the political landscape since Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party.  There is something about pulling things together that is both shocking and motivating; rather like viewing the film, “Oh Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie”, for those of us who have been heavily involved, there is little that is new but it is important to look back, take stock and learn the lessons.  Historians will wonder whatever happened to the brief rise of left-wing politics on the mainstream in Britain and this book will be part of the answer.

Cohen looks at how the use of the allegations of antisemitism have changed over the last half century and how, effectively, the “crisis” has been created. He says: “Never before have I come across such media interest in antisemitism.  Prior to 2015 there was barely any mention of antisemitism in the media yet now the floodgates opened…media figures scrambled to express their newly acquired concern or this historically calamitous form of violent prejudice and it was all focused on the Labour Party despite a 2016 Select Committee inquiry stating clearly that there was no evidence that Labour “was overrun with antisemitism” or that ots prevalence was greater than in any other party.”(pp25/26) He also notes that, contrary to the oft quoted narrative of Labour being the natural home for Jewish people, a poll in 2015, when Labour had a Jewish Leader in Ed Miliband, 69% of the Jewish community had voted Tory.

Cohen highlights that misinformation held sway; how, at best, distortions have become seen as “truths”. He notes some facts about Baddiel’s misinformation: he asserted that “29% of Corbyn voters in the Labour Party think that the world is controlled by a secret global elite and that global elite are Jews.” (Appearing on Frankie Boyle’s “New World Order in 2018”).  In fact the question that produced that figure (actually 28%) was:  do you agree that “the world was controlled by a secretive elite” and there was no mention of Jews at all.  Cohen points out that this sort of gross distortion carried such sway was only possible because of the mainstream media narrative that made groundless accusations of antisemitism acceptable and also “the manipulation of historically justified fears within the Jewish communities that gave these groundless fears currency”.  (My emphasis). This whipping up of real fears is one of the most wicked aspects of the campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s left wing shift in general.

The cultural change towards normalising disinformation goes beyond the misapplication of antisemitism; it is dangerous and is found almost everywhere, especially through the dichotomising of debate.  George Bush’s “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.” was perhaps the most blatant example where nuance, discourse, respectful and passionate debate had no place; so that from that point of view, if you do not back us bombing the terrorists (and innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq) then you obviously support terrorism.  The Brexit “debate” was basically if you supported remain, no criticism of the EU was heard and if you supported leave, then it was not possible to point to even one benefit gained over 40 years of EU membership.  In the Labour Party, the mantra that antisemitism was a serious issue and was widespread, meant that stating the truth that there was antisemitism as there was in society generally but in very small amounts, led to the allegation of being antisemitism deniers, ergo effectively antisemitic yourself…ergo persona non grata who needs disciplining if not expulsion.

Much of what Cohen writes has been covered extensively in our pages and our meetings, but it is powerful to see it from the perspective of one individual Jewish person who has been dismayed by what has been happening.  He notes that leaders in the Party knew that the accusations did not stack up.  He quotes Angela Rayner who said (in 2020) that she believed that “…the statement around the small numbers and to suggest that it is a small number in the Labour Party, whilst that might be true, is completely unacceptable to not understand the hurt and distress…”(My emphasis)

His subtitling the book “A Lament” points to what he considers to be the loss of Jewish values that many of us were brought up with, of social justice and also for “never again” to mean never again for anyone.  A lament for the way that the framing of antisemitism through this lens has meant that there is currently no mainstream political party calling for the changes that the poorest and most vulnerable people need and, I might add, no mainstream opposition to the rise of far right ideas with their apparently simple solutions; no mainstream opposition to the politics of “inevitable scarcity” that sets people apart.

I would recommend this book as a well researched recap on what has happened within the context that this has been an attack on the working class and on the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. You can get the book from several online outlets, here are three: AbeBooks, Rakuten Kobo, Hive Books

Leah Levane

Co Chair, Jewish Voice for Labour (personal capacity)