British Jews Take Their Stand

The unprecedented nature of the moment cannot be overstated. For the first time in several hundred years, a British chief rabbi publicly pleaded with his countrymen not to vote for one of the nation’s two major political parties. In an op-ed in the Times of London, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis publicly catalogued the malfeasance and misdeeds of the leader of the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn had lavished love on terrorists and the enemies of world Jewry, had acted in so unapologetically anti-Semitic a manner that he invalidated himself as a potential prime minister. “How complicit in prejudice,” Mirvis asked, “would a leader of Her Majesty’s opposition have to be to be considered unfit for office? Would associations with those who have incited hatred against Jews be enough? Would describing as ‘friends’ those who endorse the murder of Jews be enough? It seems not.”

The rot, Mirvis stressed, was not limited to Corbyn; anti-Semitism had permeated the entire membership of the party. Labourites had refused to refrain from comparing Israeli soldiers to Nazis while supporters of the Labour leadership had hounded “parliamentarians, members and even staff out of the party for speaking out against anti-Semitism.” One of the most historic political associations in Britain had itself become an anti-Semitic movement: “A new poison—sanctioned from the top—has taken root in the Labour party.” In closing, the chief rabbi emphasized that the question facing British voters affected more than the future of Anglo Jewry, for they would decide, in the election, what sort of people they would be:

It is not my place to tell any person how they should vote. I regret being in this situation at all. I simply pose the question: What will the result of this election say about the moral compass of our country? When December 12 arrives, I ask every person to vote with their conscience. Be in no doubt, the very soul of our nation is at stake.