Two
weeks before the elections in Britain, the country’s Chief Rabbi, came out with
a statement that was tantamount to an endorsement of Boris Johnson. He should
not have done that.
I
share the Chief Rabbi’s discomfort and frustration by a Labour party that does
not handle Antisemitism in its midst and by Corbyn, the leader of that party, who
enables this. More than that, I despise
Corbyn for his scandalous dereliction of duty, as the Leader of H.M.
Opposition, to oppose the Tory government on the most important issue that this
country has had since 1945: Brexit. But I do not share the Rabbi’s view that anxiety
as to “What will become of Jews and Judaism in Britain if the
Labour Party forms the next government?“ is justified.
Speaking
out against Corbyn, without at the same time speaking out against Johnson and
his Conservative party’s miserable track record on racism, islamophobia and xenophobia,
was wrong.
As
a moral and theological authority, the Chief Rabbi should have left such a
blatantly political interference to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the
body representing Britain’s Jews.
