Corbyn rejected by prominent historian of Nazi Germany
Evans's decision to withdraw his support for Labour won accolades from academics and journalists who write about Jew-hatred.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALBritain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during general election campaign event in Swindon, Britain November 2, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS)Sir Richard Evans, one of the world’s leading historians of Nazi Germany, on Friday reversed his decision to support the British Labour Party in the December 12 election.“Back from a visit to Germany to find Anthony Julius’s persuasive open letter to me in the New Statesman,” Evans wrote on Twitter. “As much as [Labour leader Jeremy] Corbyn’s lamentable failure to apologize in his TV interview, or the intervention of the chief rabbi, this has persuaded me to change my mind and not vote Labour.”Julius, a solicitor advocate who holds the chair in Law and Arts in the Faculty of Laws at University College London, wrote to Evans: “Let me remind you, on the subject of the Jews, the party has become cruel, malicious, stupid and dishonest. The cruelty has been persistent and extreme – death threats, shouted abuse at branch meetings, online trolling. The malice has been patent, incontinent and pervasive.”Evans had tweeted last Sunday that “I’m voting Labour. Great manifesto, pity about the leader, shame about Labour’s support for Brexit, though at least they promise another referendum. The failure to deal with antisemitism in the party makes me very angry. But in my constituency only Labour can beat the Tory.”Evans’ message electrified the Twitterverse because of his standing as a prominent historian.Julius responded in his letter: “But recall Corbyn’s disparagement of ‘Zionists who, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t understand English irony.’ My friend David Hirsh got it right: Corbyn was enjoying the old, sneery English view of Jews, and he was doing it to humiliate the Jews he was talking about. They live among us but they’re not really one of us.“This wasn’t Corbyn’s usual political antisemitism. It was a spillover into ordinary old-fashioned English antisemitism. It was as if the political requirement to humiliate the ‘Zionists’ found its words in the antisemitic subconscious of an English middle-class man. This, from the ‘lifelong campaigner against antisemitism,’ as a Labour spokesperson described him.”Julius said, “Antisemitism is stupid. It makes people stupid. It is not a coincidence that the least accomplished leader of the Labour Party is also its only antisemitic one… This is not a party that cares about the concerns of the Jewish community, save insofar as those concerns might have a damaging impact on its electoral fortunes.”He continued: “Within the party itself, compelling evidence exists of extensive spoken and online abuse of Jewish party members; exclusion of Jewish members from participating in party activity; signaling by the party leader that antisemitic views are acceptable; the failure to implement processes to protect Jewish members from antisemitism; hostile responses to those calling out antisemitism; and appointment of antisemites to positions of power... This antisemitism taints the passive enablers in the party – to start with, the whole front bench. This is how the Corbyn period will be remembered. This is his legacy to the party.”Julius concluded his letter stating: “To purge the party of antisemitism will be the work of a generation. The evidence that the political will exists to undertake this task is not compelling: members are not yet ashamed enough of their party’s antisemitism. The driving out of leading Jewish (and non-Jewish) politicians from the party, who cited its antisemitism, did not have a substantial impact on party morale, still less commit its officials and elected members to decisive action. We cannot leave the work to the party itself. Supporters have to lend a hand. Depriving the party of a vote is a start.”
Julius and Evans both defended historian Deborah Lipstadt in a libel trial brought by Holocaust denier David Irving. Evans’ decision to withdraw his support for Labour won accolades from academics and journalists who write about Jew-hatred. The distinguished historian Richard Landes wrote: “definition of an intellectual: one who can change his mind when presented with good evidence. (from Dreyfus affair) congratulations.”Seth Mandel, editor-in-chief of The Washington Examiner magazine, wrote: “Sincerely, thank you.” Yisrael Medad, a commentary writer for The Jerusalem Post, wrote: “Appreciated that you have the courage to alter course if a good enough reason & reasoning is presented. Thank you.”Evans, a retired Cambridge University history professor, wrote the seminal work, The Third Reich Trilogy.
