Did a Corbyn-Led Government Pose an “Existential Threat to Jewish Life” in the UK? Revolutionary States and the Destruction of Jewish Communities

In a united front-page statement issued on July 25, 2018, Britain’s three largest Jewish newspapers claimed that a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn would pose an “existential threat to Jewish life in this country.”1 On September 2, 2018, this unprecedented claim was echoed by Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.2 On August 1, 2019, the UK Equalities and Human Rights Commission or EHRC announced a formal investigation into allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party under its statutory enforcement powers. On November 26, 2019, a Times article by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis accused Corbyn of having “sanctioned” antisemitism “from the very top”, claimed that “the vast majority of Jews [were] gripped by anxiety” at the prospect of a Labour victory, and adjudged Corbyn himself to be “unfit for high office”.3 On December 5, 2019, a dossier of evidence compiled for the EHRC by the Labour Party’s official Jewish affiliate, the Jewish Labour Movement, was leaked to the press. Featuring sworn testimony from seventy current or former Labour Party staffers, it provided evidence that the party was “institutionally antisemitic” and that the party leadership had directly interfered in the investigation of antisemitism allegations referred to the party’s disciplinary unit.4 Abstract