The risks of conflation between Israel and global Jewry – a response to Dov Forman 

Antisemitism on the left has, sadly, been a significant problem for well over a decade in British politics.

The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn was the most shameful example, with the Green Party now showing similar tendencies.

Much of the issue stems from a conflation on the far-left of the actions of Israel and the Israeli Government with the actions of global Jewry more broadly. 

Bad faith actors wrongly blame Jewish people for any and all actions taken by the Israeli Government and, as a result, attack us with virulent antisemitic abuse. This has contributed to the massive spike in antisemitism since October 7th.

Astonishingly, though, members of our own community are now doing the same thing, and it needs to stop. 

This brings me to an article published by Dov Forman in the JC, titled “Burnham has decided to throw British Jews under the bus”.

A rather sensationalist headline to start with, which would surprise many; Andy Burnham has consistently fought against antisemitism, and I was inclined to read on to see how the new Prime Minister is allegedly throwing our community under the bus. 

The opening example used by Forman is Burnham, before taking office, saying that the Starmer Government had “got it wrong” on Gaza. 

Forman fails to mention that in the same clip he references, Burnham condemns October 7th and antisemitism more broadly.

More importantly, this is the first of many examples cited by Forman where he suggests that not supporting the specific actions of the Israeli Government throws the Jewish community in the UK under the bus, thereby invoking the dangerous conflation mentioned at the start of this article.

He then goes on to criticise Burnham for being interviewed by Gary Lineker and not pushing back against him for describing the war in Gaza as a genocide.

Again, another example about the actions of Israel. You can disagree with the comments of Lineker, but this again does not show Burnham throwing Jews under the bus.

Some of the examples used by Forman are ludicrous. He includes Defence Secretary Wes Streeting’s comments that Israel may have fallen short of British military standards in Gaza.

Sure, you may disagree with this, but to even attempt to argue that this somehow throws Jews under the bus is nonsensical.

The article also cherry-picks significantly. It mentions Ali Milani, the Chair of the Labour Muslim Network who is allegedly close to Burnham. 

While it highlights some horrible and antisemitic things Milani said and did when he was younger, it fails to include Milani’s repeated apologies for his past behaviour, and his assertions that he has been on an educational journey and no longer holds such views.

If we want to stamp out antisemitism, journeys such as Milani’s should be encouraged, not scorned.

Overall, then, the article dangerously conflates criticism of the Israeli Government with attacks on British Jewry, while cherry-picking throughout (every example used by Forman either does one or both of these).

While there can be disagreement and robust debate on Israel both within the community and without, the suggestions made by Forman must be rejected, or else we risk creating an association between all the actions of the Israeli Government with the British Jewish community, which must be avoided.