Ocasio-Cortez should have looked into Corbyn’s past before their phone call – now she is stuck with the damage

The congresswoman should know that things could not be more serious: there are Jews who no longer feel safe in Britain. Imagine that in America

Sean O'Grady
Monday 04 February 2019 14:31 GMT
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It’s difficult to know who got the least out of the “lovely” phone conversation between Jeremy Corbyn, 69, and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29.

True, as a kind of long-distance political blind date it seemed to have got off to a promising start. As is the modern way – and no one can accuse our veteran leader of the opposition of being wedded to outdated ideas or sticking stubbornly to antique beliefs he took at dictation speed from Tony Benn in about 1975 – they both tweeted the happy news about their first, telephonic summit.

JC went first, and was gallant: “Great to speak to @AOC on the phone this evening and hear first hand how she’s challenging the status quo. Let’s build a movement across borders to take on the billionaires, polluters and migrant baiters, and support a happier, freer and cleaner planet.”

So, a lot in common, there, then. She responded generously, a couple of hours later: ”It was an honor to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, @jeremycorbyn! Also honored to share a great hope in the peace, prosperity and justice that everyday people can create when we uplift one another across class, race, and identity both at home and abroad.”

But like in an episode of Friends or Cold Feet, some of their wider circle – and, to be fair, that comprises most leftish voters in the UK and the United States – have been less enthusiastic. I doubt the AOC-JC alliance will flourish.

In particular, Ocasio-Cortez has been warned via social media that Jeremy’s views on Israel aren’t acceptable to all, and she has responded in typical, warm and inclusive style: “Thank you for bringing this to me. We cannot and will not move forward without deep fellowship and leadership with the Jewish community. I’ll have my team reach out.”

Isn’t that lovely expression? “Reach out.” I have an image of her reaching an elegant limb across the Atlantic, her politically super-sensitive fingers ready to grasp the hand of Britain’s woke progressives. She may not realise that, as she does so, she may find herself bitten by some of the nastiest antisemitic attack dogs in Britain today.

I suggest, respectfully, to help AOC and her team better understand the context over here, that some of the apparently cuddly anti-racist British socialists aren’t quite what they seem. Some are, at best, naive, or simple-minded rather than self-consciously antisemitic, but their views on Israel are disturbing.

Many of the people who go on social media to attack Corbyn’s enemies, and who attend pointless Momentum meetings, don’t even understand what they’re doing – the kind of people who have allowed their legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy and defence forces to morph into questioning Israel’s right to exist, and thence to slide into some of the weirder – and dangerous – antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories, which sane people such as AOC never seem to be able to dispel.

Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters would be appalled if they examined some of the many cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party that have emerged in recent times, and, more to the point, the party leadership’s failure to do much effective about them. They could do worse than to check out the Chakrabarti report, for example, an outstandingly weak internal party inquiry into antisemitism.

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She might also want to have her team “reach out” to some in the UK Jewish community, who would be forced to have a less “lovely” conversation with her about Jeremy – people like Margaret Hodge, John Mann, Luciana Berger and Stephen Pollard.

AOC should know that things could not be more serious: there are Jews who no longer feel safe in Britain. Imagine that in America.

Most American voters, I suspect, have never heard of Jeremy Corbyn, and won’t be particularly impressed that Ocasio-Cortez has picked up the endorsement of a man whose entire political career has been based on knee-jerk hostility to America, stands accused of complacency in the face of antisemitism, and whose party resisted for an absurdly long time adopting the internationally agreed definition of antisemitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

For his part, I suspect that his confused, if not cynical, views on Brexit, his plans to raise taxes, and his policy of restoring trade union power will be of more interest to British voters at home than this infatuation with AOC.

I will leave the last word to one of Corbyn’s supporters, @Saituchiha (“#FreePalestine, #FreeSyria, Anti-Imperialism/Colonialism, F*** Fascism, Eat the Rich, Resistance”), who tweeted: “Hopefully one day we don’t have to pick! If both become leaders of their respective countries the world would be about 25% better.”

Only a quarter? I just hope that her team do a little more research on the old boy before their next phone call, and that she calls him out on some of his less savoury opinions. It won’t be “lovely”. After that Jeremy will replace the receiver, mouth the words “stupid woman”, mutter about some people having no understanding of English irony, and that, I’m afraid, will be that.

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