Both the Corbyn supporters and Corbyn detractors need to learn something from this antisemitism row

For me, one of the most painful aspects is the response to claims of antisemitism within Labour

Today’s news brought another wearying escalation in Labour’s never-ending antisemitism row. Margaret Hodge did a Sky interview in which she compared Labour to Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Unite leader Len McCluskey joined calls made by other union leaders that Labour should adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, amendments to which have caused this latest row – but he managed to accuse Jewish leaders of “truculent hostility” in the process.

Many in the Labour movement are watching all this with mounting unease and despair. We have seen that the party does have a genuine problem with antisemitism, handled badly by the leadership and causing fear and mistrust amid Britain’s Jewish population. We’ve also seen the issue dominate our news cycle in a way that accusations of Tory Islamophobia don’t – creating an asymmetry and feeding resentment. And we’ve seen this issue igniting fights, provoking anger, mistrust and hurt on all sides.

For me, one of the most painful aspects is the response to claims of antisemitism within Labour. Take a look online at the sort of comments lobbed at those who do suggest it’s a problem: accusations that the antisemitism is made up, exaggerated, a smear, an Israeli plot, or a Labour-right weapon with which to destroy Corbyn. There are repeated clamours for evidence and resentment that the issue is so dominant, as though British Jews are anything other than worried and worn out by this current focus, and as though there has not already been a glut of evidence.

Of course, online isn’t real life, Twitter isn’t the Labour Party and it would be both ridiculous and unfair to tarnish an entire party membership on the basis of toxic comments across social media. But what gets missed in all this is that the denial and accusations and anger against those raising the antisemitism issue is itself fuelling the problem, sometimes inadvertently repeating tropes (for example, telling British Jews that they are motivated by support for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu) and making it less likely for us ever to reach a resolution.

Their reluctance to absorb that many Jewish progressives really do feel there is a problem, and are without additional motivation, is itself indicative of a blind spot. As is so often the case with race-hate issues, people take as personal insult an appraisal of a problem that is not about individuals but a culture; one that is not remotely dominant, but definitely there.

It’s not surprising if some Corbyn supporters, used to defending the Labour leader against hammed up hostilities in the media, are treating the antisemitism row as one in a long line of such stories (Corbyn the Czech spy, anyone?) It’s also worth noting that most of Labour’s new members were inspired by the party’s radical politics of redistributive economics – ending austerity, renationalising energy, funding the NHS – and aren’t forensically absorbed by the precise manner in which they might call Israel racist under adopted IHRA examples.

By the same token, the type and tone of comments made against Corbyn for his failure to properly tackle antisemitism are also not helping. When Margaret Hodge says, as she did yesterday, that “there is a very fine line between being pro-Palestinian and being antisemitic” this instantly reinflames mistrust and undermines all efforts to ensure that Palestinian rights and the fight against antisemitism are not pitted against each other. Equally, when people raise concerns about how the IHRA definitions might curtail free speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, these are sincere and cannot be dismissed.

None of this is intractable, but solving it won’t be easy and does require massive doses of trust, goodwill, listening and the capacity to be intersectional in solidarity. In the midst of a media-fuelled row, it might feel like pushing rocks uphill – but this is now a rift that can’t be ignored, and healing it will only make the left a stronger force.