Is Labour anti-Semitic?

Is the Labour Party anti-Semitic? I don't think anyone will ever know all the facts, but it seems to me that the media are playing up this label because

1. it's sensational, and the media love sensation, and
2. it's an easy way to tar Labour's image without actually analysing its policies or politics.

I'm Jewish by birth (though I became a Christian in my teens) - so that makes me Jewish by race, if not religion. I'm also a Labour supporter. That's because I believe that Labour's policies are the best for the country as a whole (and I'm not just talking 'Brexit' here). My take on Labour's so-called anti-Semitism is as follows:

Parties are made of people, and they sometimes get things wrong!

There are some Labour MPs and members who have said unfortunate things about Jewish people. That is wrong and they are being investigated about this. No large political party will be totally clear of prejudices, and it would be unrealistic to expect it. What you need are clear, robust and transparent processes for dealing with prejudice when it arises. Labour aren't perfect in this sense, but they are trying to be better. See my section about the Tories, below.

Anti-Semitism versus anti-Zionism

Current Labour views on political Zionism are more left-wing than previous ones (e.g. under Blair): basically this means they are more openly critical of Israel's political Zionist policies than in previous times (and much more so than the Tories). Political Zionism isn't the same as Judaism - the former is a political stance about the sovereignty and geographical extent of the nation Israel [1], and it gets confused with Judaism all the time! You can be anti-Zionist without being anti-Semitic! It's worth noting that the pro-Zionist lobbies in the US and UK are very powerful, and are possibly behind the smear campaign because they fear what a Labour government would mean in terms of continued support for Israel's Zionist policies.

For example Richard Burgon is under fire, but his comments were about Zionism, not Jews; quote "The enemy of the Palestinian people is not the Jewish people, the enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people. We need to be loud, we need to be proud in support of a free Palestine." [2]

That is a valid political view, it has nothing to do with religion or race! One may not support that view, just as one may or may not have supported the Falklands War, but if you didn't support the Falklands Ware that didn't mean you were anti-British!

Tory prejudices

By the way, it's not just Labour. Does anyone recall Boris Johnson's comments about women who choose to wear the burqa? quote: "absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter-boxes" [3] - offensive stuff if you ask me! And how about this statement, again from Johnson: "It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies" [4]? Both of these were things he wrote, not just off-the-cuff remarks. He later apologised for both these remarks and said the latter was satirical and not meant to offend - but no one is dragging the Tories through the mud for their prejudices!

References:

[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/a-definition-of-zionism
[2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/richard-burgon-zionism-shadow-minister-jeremy-corbyn-comments-a8872896.html
[3] https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/boris-johnson-says-burqa-clad-women-look-like-bank-robbers-letterboxes-won-t-apologise-for-his-comment/266176
[4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3571742/If-Blairs-so-good-at-running-the-Congo-let-him-stay-there.html