Silencing Jews, Shielding Apartheid: The Political Abuse of Antisemitism

Antisemitism is one of humanity’s oldest and most persistent hatreds, a toxic ideology that has led to unspeakable horrors, from pogroms to the industrial-scale genocide of the Holocaust. In the aftermath of World War II, the global community vowed 'Never Again', forging an unspoken compact: the defence of Jewish people was inseparable from the broader struggle against fascism, racism, and far-right extremism. This post-war consensus recognised that antisemitism is not an isolated prejudice, but a central pillar of fascist movements that endanger all minorities and democratic society itself. For decades, this solidarity protected Jews by keeping the far right marginalised.

Yet today, this fragile alliance is eroding. In a dangerous inversion, pro-Israel organisations, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD), and Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) have weaponised antisemitism accusations to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli state policy. This shift is not just morally bankrupt; it is strategically catastrophic. By turning a shield into a sword, they are undermining the very anti-fascist moral protections that once safeguarded Jewish communities.

Central to this weaponisation has been the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) “Working Definition of Antisemitism”, aggressively promoted since 2016. While its core text defines antisemitism in widely accepted terms, its 11 'examples' that deliberately blur the line between antisemitism and criticism of Israel. Among them:

These examples have been used to smear human rights advocacy as antisemitic. Even the definition’s original author, Kenneth Stern, warned that the IHRA was being misused to suppress free speech. In a submission to the U.S. Congress, Stern wrote:

Despite these warnings, the IHRA definition was adopted by the UK government, local councils, and eventually by the Labour Party, under immense pressure from pro-Israel groups.

In the UK, this weaponisation was deployed with ruthless efficiency during the Labour Party antisemitism 'crisis'. Critics of Israeli policy, including Jewish members, found themselves smeared, suspended, and expelled, not for antisemitism, but for opposing occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.

^{After October 7th lot of Jewish communities were sucked into a moral panic that anyone who questioned the actions of Israel or questioned the geocide in Palestine were somehow anti-Semites and/or supporters of HAMAS. Some possibly were. The vast majority were not. This narrative was not challenged by the mainstream media.}

The antisemitism 'crisis' in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership (2015-2020) stands as a textbook case of weaponised antisemitism. Corbyn, a lifelong anti-racist campaigner and supporter of Palestinian rights, faced a relentless campaign accusing him of fostering antisemitism within Labour.

This represents the darkest examples of this weaponisation. Figures like Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Williamson, and Jackie Walker were relentlessly smeared, not for genuine antisemitic actions, but for their political positions on Israel-Palestine. And they were not alone.

Corbyn, a lifelong anti-racist and supporter of Palestinian rights, became the central target of a coordinated smear campaign. Despite no credible evidence that antisemitism was widespread in Labour, Corbyn was accused of fostering a “culture of antisemitism.”

Yet the media, led by outlets like the BBC, Guardian, and The Times, amplified every smear, while pro-Israel groups like the CAA and BoD piled on. In 2020, Corbyn was suspended from Labour for stating the truth. That antisemitism had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons'. His suspension was a chilling warning: telling the truth about antisemitism’s politicisation had become a punishable offence.

Former Labour MP Chris Williamson, a staunch anti-racist and vocal critic of Israeli apartheid, was another casualty. His 'crime' was suggesting that Labour had been 'too apologetic' in the face of bad-faith antisemitism smears. For this, Williamson was suspended, smeared, and ultimately deselected, despite widespread support from his constituents. Williamson later won a High Court case challenging his suspension's procedural unfairness, but by then, his political career had been effectively destroyed (The Guardian, 2019).

Another casualty of the Labour Party's capitulation to pro-Israel lobby pressures was Marc Wadsworth, a veteran Black anti-racist campaigner and founder of the Anti-Racist Alliance. Wadsworth was expelled from Labour in 2018 after an infamous incident at the launch of the Chakrabarti Report into antisemitism. He had criticised then-MP Ruth Smeeth for briefing against Jeremy Corbyn to right-wing journalists. Pro-Israel groups and media outlets spun this into an accusation of antisemitic abuse. An internal Labour Party disciplinary panel found no evidence of antisemitism, yet expelled Wadsworth for allegedly 'bringing the party into disrepute'

^{Lynch mob: white right-wing Labour MPs heading into the hearing of black activist Marc Wadsworth}

Wadsworth's expulsion was a warning shot aimed at Black and other ethnic minority activists: challenge the Labour right or criticise Israel, and you too could be smeared as antisemitic.The case exposed the intersection of racism and anti-Palestinian censorship, with a Black anti-racist being sacrificed to appease right-wing lobby groups.

Perhaps the most egregious case was that of Jackie Walker, a Black Jewish anti-racist campaigner and former vice-chair of Momentum. Walker, whose own Jewish ancestors were victims of pogroms and the Holocaust, was targeted for questioning the privileging of Holocaust education over other genocides and for criticising Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. For these views, she was smeared as antisemitic, suspended, and expelled from Labour, despite her proud Jewish identity and anti-fascist activism (Independent, 2019).The campaign against Walker exposed the racism and misogyny. lurking beneath the 'antisemitism' smears, as a Black Jewish woman was erased for challenging Zionist orthodoxy.

And of course the very day Starmer was elected as Leader of the Labour Party, heavily funded by the Israel lobby, the accusations of anti-Semitism that had been headlines in the press almost daily for 18 months disappeared like fairy dust.

The most grotesque irony of this campaign was the silencing and proscribing of vocal Jewish groups:

Jewdas: a radical Jewish collective known for its diasporist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Zionist politics, was attacked by the BoD for being a 'fringe group' after Jeremy Corbyn attended their Seder in 2018. Their crime? Being vocally Jewish and unapologetically critical of Israel.
Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL): representing hundreds of Jewish Labour members, was systematically excluded from official party consultations on antisemitism. Despite their lived experience of Jewish identity and anti-racism, they were dismissed as illegitimate because of their politics.

Groups like the CAA and BoD have accused these Jewish dissidents of 'enabling antisemitism' erasing the rich tradition of Jewish discourse in the process. In doing so, they have ttempted to narrow Jewish identity solely to loyalty to Israel, denying the legitimacy of alternative Jewish perspectives.

Turns out that zero tolerance for anti-Semitism isn't zero tolerance for anti-Semitism at all, but a right wing silencing tool for the left who have issues about the behaviour of Israel. Who knew?

This silencing is not unique to Britain. It is part of a global strategy.

In the United States, groups like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow have been smeared as antisemitic for supporting Palestinian rights. They are excluded from mainstream Jewish spaces, attacked by AIPAC, and targeted by pro-Israel media.
In Germany, Jewish Israelis supporting BDS face bans, censorship, and even police repression, despite the fact that many are children or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. The Bundestag’s non-binding resolution equating BDS with antisemitism has created a chilling effect on free speech.
In France, groups like the Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP) have been marginalised and branded as "self-hating" Jews by establishment Zionist organisations like CRIF.

The playbook is the same everywhere: equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, delegitimise dissenting Jews, and monopolise a definition of Jewish identity as solely Zionist.

^{So while pro-Israeli groups go after the likes of Lineker, real threats to Jews are taking positions of power in the US.}

While pro-Israel groups are busy vilifying Jewish critics, real antisemitism is once again on the march. Far-right conspiracies about 'globalist elites' and 'cultural marxism' thinly veiled antisemitism, are mainstreamed by politicians in the US, Europe and beyond. Antisemitic dog-whistles are rife in political discourse, while hate crimes against Jews have spiked across the West. In the United States, antisemitism is not coming from progressive critics of Israel, but from white supremacists, Christian nationalists, and far-right populists. Figures linked to neo-Nazi movements have found platforms in mainstream conservative circles. The same is true in Europe, where fascist parties openly flirt with antisemitism while praising Israel as a model of 'ethnic nationalism'. By recklessly deploying antisemitism accusations against the left, groups like CAA, BoD, and their allies have devalued the term, alienated anti-racist allies, and distracted from the real threat. The post-war anti-fascist compact that once protected Jews has been shattered: not by antisemites on the left, but by Zionist organisations turning antisemitism into a partisan bludgeon and as a smokescreen to cover the actions Netanyahu and the Israeli State

Weaponising antisemitism accusations against political opponents is a betrayal of Jewish safety, of anti-fascist solidarity, and of the moral imperative of "Never Again." By conflating Judaism with Zionism and hurling spurious accusations of antisemitism at critics of Israeli apartheid, groups like the CAA and BoD have:

If we are serious about combating antisemitism, we must confront it in its real, growing forms, on the far right, in fascist ideologies, in racist nationalism: not in the voices of those who challenge oppression, whether in Israel-Palestine or beyond.

By conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, pro-Israel lobby groups have made the world a less safe place for Jews. They have fractured the alliances that once kept the far right at bay, leaving Jewish communities more isolated and vulnerable. It is time to reclaim the fight against antisemitism from those who abuse it. To stand with Jewish and Palestinian voices of conscience. To rebuild the anti-fascist solidarity that defends Jews, not by silencing dissent, but by confronting real hate where it festers. Until we do, the real antisemites will continue to grow stronger, while at the same time the term 'antisemitism' becomes a hollowed-out weapon of convenience.

And this can all be laid squarely at the feet of those organisations who turned accusations of anti-Semitism into a busted flush.

The world has gone mad. If you enjoyed reading this, please feel free to look at the rest of the blogs on www.TetleysTLDR.com. They're free to view, there's no paywall, they aren't monetised and I won't ask you to buy me a coffee. Also please free to share anything you find of interest, we only get the message out if people are aware of it. Just a leftie, standing in front of another leftie, asking to be read. All the best, Tetley