Jeremy Corbyn has shown he doesn't take anti-Semitism row seriously

He didn’t put it like that, of course. He said the exact opposite — that he was “absolutely committed to rooting out anti-Semitism from our party and our ­society.”

But you should never judge a politician by their words. Always look at their actions.

That was when his meeting with ­representatives of the Jewish community broke up — a meeting Mr Corbyn had called after 2,000 Jews gathered in ­Parliament Square last month to say “enough is enough”.

They had finally had enough of Labour’s refusal to deal with its anti-Semites.

That demonstration turned the issue from a minor annoyance that has dogged Mr Corbyn’s time as leader into a serious political issue his allies had to deal with or risk real damage to his image.

But the results of Tuesday’s meeting — absolutely nothing — show that it was only ever meant to neutralise a political problem.

Mr Corbyn’s action — or, more ­accurately, inaction — shows he neither takes anti-Semitism seriously nor wants to do anything worthwhile to deal with it.

Of course, he doesn’t. Anti-Semitism is in the DNA of the hard Left, in which he has spent his entire political career.

Some people are surprised when they hear about left-wing anti-Semitism, as if it is solely the preserve of Nazi types and Islamists. But there is a long and foul history of hard-Left anti-Semitism. Stalin in Russia, for example.

Mr Corbyn and those around him define themselves by their supposed anti-racism.

One of the arguments often used to ­dismiss the left-wing anti-Semitism that is so rampant in the Corbyn Labour Party is that it can’t be real because the Left is built on fighting racism, not ­promoting it.

But in the mindset of the extreme Left, anti-Semitism — or, to be blunt, hatred of Jews — is not real racism. Real racism is discrimination against black people and oppressed minorities, such as gypsies.

Jews are regarded as something very different. Far from being oppressed, Jews are seen as part of the powerful elite.

That’s certainly the view of Ken ­Livingstone — suspended from the Labour Party over his suggestion that Jews worked with Hitler. The former London mayor said in 2012 that Jews wouldn’t vote for him because they are too rich.

Opinions like these are why anti-Semitism is a unique form of racism. Most racists regard the object of their hatred with contempt as a lesser human being — as, for example, with the Ku Klux Klan in the US or the National Party in apartheid South Africa.

But anti-Semites hate Jews because they see them as clever, sly and wily. They think Jews secretly run the world.
Hence the constant references to the supposed Rothschild control of the world’s banks, Jewish control of the media and wars fought to further Jewish interests.

This is where left and right-wing anti-Semitism meets. The hard Left regards the world as being run by a Western elite and powerful interest groups, which need to be broken up by revolution.

See how the anti-Semitic idea of the Jews fits into this?

It also explains part of the visceral hatred of Israel on the hard Left. As a Westernised capitalist democracy they regard it as another arm of oppression to be smashed. This is the milieu in which Jeremy ­Corbyn has existed for decades.

He may not hold these views himself but he still doesn’t see anti-Semitism as a real form of racism.

That is why the idea that Mr Corbyn could ever act as a “militant ally against anti-Semitism”, as he put it recently, is so much hot air.

Take his reaction to the suggestion that he stop Labour MPs sharing platforms with anyone suspended from the Labour Party for alleged anti-Semitism.

If he was serious about tackling anti-Semitism, this would be an easy first step.

It’s setting a pretty low bar for him to say “don’t speak in ­support of alleged anti-Semites”. But he won’t even do that.

Next week, one of Corbyn’s closest allies, Chris Williamson MP, is due to speak at a meeting alongside Jackie Walker, who is currently suspended from the Labour Party for alleged anti-Semitism.

Mr Corbyn said he couldn’t do anything because the rule book didn’t give him the power. This is just drivel. All he need do is say to Chris ­Williamson: “If you go, I will denounce you.”

When that was put to him at the ­meeting on Tuesday, Mr Corbyn shrugged.

As the man who suggested it, Jonathan Goldstein of the Jewish Leadership ­Council, said afterwards: “When you ask him to do something he has this habit of staring and just shrugging.”

Mr Corbyn can write any number of articles saying how keen he is to stamp out anti-Semitism. They are all meaningless. All that matters is how he acts.

And the inescapable conclusion from his actions is that he doesn’t give a damn about anti-Semitism.

And why would he? Some of his best friends hate Jews.

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