How Jewish are the Milibands?

14 August 2010

/article_images/articledir_12402/6201038/1_listing.jpg

For the first time in over a century, we may soon have a Jewish PM, says Venetia Thompson. But will either Ed or David have the courage to embrace their identity?

Younger brother Ed, meanwhile, seems to be positioning himself towards the far left of the spectrum. Clearly worried that his recent statement on Israel following the flotilla furore — ‘We need to be a friend of Israel, but a critical friend’ — wasn’t enough, he has acquired his own anti-Israel activist, Joseph Brown. After all, nothing cements a ‘critical’ friendship with Israel quite like keeping a rampant anti-Zionist on staff, who, in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, uttered the words ‘I loaded the bullets in, aimed, fired and shot down that Zionist’ while pretending to wield a machine gun during a protest. Jewish students, baffled at the sight of LSE’s Anti-Racism Officer (oh, the irony) going Rambo, felt intimidated and complained. Yet Team Ed has decided it was merely ‘silly behaviour’ and is keeping Joseph — or ‘Seph’ as he likes to be known — on the campaign in a ‘Web Ed’ capacity.

Team Ed isn’t just distancing itself from anything vaguely resembling friendship with Israel. One of his advisers (no, not Seph) recently described Ed (off the record, of course) as being ‘less Jewish’ than his big brother. What this means is unclear, but seeing as neither brother was brought up Jewish, and they’ve described themselves as being non-religious, it is unlikely to be referring to something as innocent as how often they attend shul. Could it possibly refer to Ed’s determination to win the anti-Zionist vote while his brother pursues the Jewish vote?

As public opinion towards Israel continues to worsen — even our Prime Minister has jumped on the bandwagon, describing Gaza as a ‘prison camp’ — the number of anti-Semitic incidents keeps rising. According to the Community Security Trust, last year there were 924 anti-Semitic attacks, of which 66 per cent included references to Israel and the Middle East, up from 55 per cent in 2006. As Shimon Peres put it last month, ‘there is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary’. It is perhaps unsurprising that Ed has been marketing himself as ‘less Jewish’, if only to gain the support of the notoriously anti-Israel trade unions. As Robin Shepherd, author of A State Beyond the Pale: Europe’s Problem with Israel, points out, ‘You’re not going to get elected as Labour party leader if you fly the flag for Israel ... Israel is a very unpopular cause, especially on the left.’

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next page

More articles from: Venetia Thompson | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (1)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Anthony Makara

August 15th, 2010 8:39am Report this comment

Does it really matter whether the Millibands are Jewish? The more we continue to refer to this, or to Diana Abbott as being a black and female candidate, the more we take the focus away from the candidates persona and policies.

Is there any such thing as a typically Jewish politician? Are we to suggest that a religious culture or ethnic background creates the political mindset?

Otherwise the suggestion is that one can only enter politics dispassionately if one becomes a lapsed Jew?

Post comment