Anti-Semitism extends beyond Labour – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: John Heawood, Eastward Avenue, York.

ANDREW Vine’s moving 
account, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, of his visit to Auschwitz (The Yorkshire Post, January 26) stirred my own memories.

I remembered seeing, as a 12-year-old, the newspaper pictures and cinema newsreels as the concentration camps were liberated and their horrors revealed. I remembered Lydia and Irma, German Jewish refugees who lived with our family and helped with my upbringing during the war years.

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Then I read on, and was saddened to find Mr Vine singling out Labour under Jeremy Corbyn as his sole exemplar of British anti-Semitism. He cites the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s 2020 report. Has he read its 128 pages? On page four, it states this: “While this investigation considered discrimination and harassment in one political party, such matters are by no means an issue for the Labour Party alone.”

Liesel Carter, 85, lights a candle at her window for Holocaust Memorial Day. She fled Nazi Germany when was 4 in 1939, pictured in Leeds.Liesel Carter, 85, lights a candle at her window for Holocaust Memorial Day. She fled Nazi Germany when was 4 in 1939, pictured in Leeds.
Liesel Carter, 85, lights a candle at her window for Holocaust Memorial Day. She fled Nazi Germany when was 4 in 1939, pictured in Leeds.

That warning echoes a 2016 report by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee stating that “there exists no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a higher prevalence of anti-Semitic attitudes within the Labour Party than any other political party”.

A 2015 report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research estimated that four to five per cent of people in Britain “can be characterised as clearly anti-Semitic”. By contrast, the best supported estimate for Labour is around one per cent.

From: Gerald Hodgson, Spennithorne, Leyburn.

ANDREW Vine’s article on the Holocaust prompts me to write about anti-Semitism.

The Millennium Bridge in Newcastle is bathed in purple light to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.The Millennium Bridge in Newcastle is bathed in purple light to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.
The Millennium Bridge in Newcastle is bathed in purple light to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.
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I lived in or near Bradford from 1965 to 1977. During that time I made a number of Jewish friends. They have proved to be among the best and most loyal friends of my life. When I was in business, my Jewish customers were exemplary, supportive of the product and prompt payers.

The Jewish community in Britain has made a huge contribution to British life in business, politics and the arts, far beyond its small numbers. I suggest that the success of Leeds is in no small measure a result of having a large Jewish community.

Why then is anti-Semitism, a syndrome which persists through the centuries? I think it is simply jealousy. The Jews are clever people and their culture of enterprise and mutual support within the community means they are disproportionately successful in whatever they do.

The rest of us could do well to emulate them.

Roses are placed on the Holocaust Memorial on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2021 in Berlin.Roses are placed on the Holocaust Memorial on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2021 in Berlin.
Roses are placed on the Holocaust Memorial on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2021 in Berlin.

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