Monitoring discussions in far-right chat groups at the time of the riots, there was one thing they tended to agree on: that Jews or “Zionists” and Israel were behind it all. This collective itch they gleefully kept scratching wasn’t reported in the press, but that was understandable given all the other horrors that were happening, such as publishing lists of immigration centres to target, calls to attack Muslims and committing acts of violence.
Comments ranged from political conspiracy fantasy more typical of the left, such as Israel being "puppet masters” engineering racial conflict, to more predictable racist material about “people with big noses” controlling Muslims, who were depicted as not having any agency and doing the bidding of sinister Jews.
This conspiracy fantasy is rooted in the white supremacist "Great Replacement Theory”, which imagines that Jews are replacing white Christians through immigration and “ruining the west”, as a user helpfully explained. Or as another user put it, “Islam is the Jews’ broom” — a remarkable claim, but antisemitism is rarely rational. Rather, it is a way of understanding the world that places Jews behind important events.
When Labour MP Clive Lewis posted a report on an Israeli strike in Gaza and linked it with Islamophobia in Britain, he was effectively holding Jews thousands of miles away responsible for the actions of the British far right.
Not only is there is no evidence for his claim but, even worse, his accusation aligned with many far-right comments such as “Stop the race wars. I blame Israel for this”.
Clive Lewis is not a commenter on a far-right channel — he is the Labour MP for Norwich South, previously a candidate for the party leadership and a former member of the Shadow Cabinet. He is a frequent guest on shows like Question Time, Politics Live and Any Questions and has over 135,000 followers on Twitter/X.
Social media and a weakened press have already led to an epidemic of confusion. When people can’t tell the difference between reality and fiction, they start being unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Senior officials in public office should not be legitimising dangerous fantasies, particularly at a time when sectarian violence has broken out across the country. Many of Lewis’s own parliamentary colleagues have voiced fears about their safety.
Recent Community Security Trust figures of antisemitic incidents over the last 6 months show a 105% rise in antisemitism, including synagogues being targeted 76 times and 121 assaults. They show that the pretext of “Palestine” is frequently used. It is highly concerning that a Labour MP thought it was acceptable to add fuel to the fire.
It was with this in mind that Labour Against Antisemitism reported Mr Lewis to the Labour Party. Remembering Keir Starmer’s own commitment to zero tolerance of antisemitism, we called for a suspension pending investigation into his comments. Disappointingly, Labour have decided not to take any action.
There are a few reasons why the party may be reluctant to suspend Lewis. He followed the whip over the two-child benefit cap and is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG), a hard-left faction within the Parliamentary Labour Party. It’s a long time until the next election and the party may be concerned over the internal divisions his suspension might cause.
A number of Campaign Group MPs were recently quickly suspended for voting on an SNP amendment on childcare benefit, but Keir Starmer will not suspend the whip for an MP who has appeared to incite hate. If the party chose not to take action, they could at least have said his case didn’t meet the threshold but that Clive Lewis would be reminded of his responsibilities. Although unsatisfactory, it would at least be more logical than saying nothing, which makes Labour’s disciplinary system look politicised when it is supposed to be objective and independent.
Many of the far-right channels organising and inciting the riots were under the brand of David Clews, a keynote speaker for Britain’s largest neo-Nazi group, Patriotic Alternative. This didn’t stop left-wing figures announcing appearances with David Clews, such as Iran State TV’s resident academic David Miller, disgraced ex-Labour MP Chris Williamson and ex-MP George Galloway. They have also blamed Israel or “Zionists” for Islamophobia in Britain along with some counter-demonstrators and Islamists, such as the Hezbollah-supporting Chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Massoud Shadjareh, “hate preacher” Asrar Rashid and activist Anas Altikriti. Labour councillor Ricky Jones was arrested after calling for far-right protesters’ throats to be cut before segueing into shouting “Free Palestine”.
Constructing a concept of Jews which aligns with the far right is not anti-racism. We shouldn’t accept Corbyn’s Labour as a benchmark for what is considered normal and acceptable. Being “better than Corbyn” is a low bar. Post-EHRC, Labour should be exemplary — and on this issue they have failed.
