They told me they wished I'd been killed - not Jo Cox: Jewish Labour MP MARGARET HODGE reveals just one of the many vile insults that were hurled at her... and warns the poison goes far beyond Jeremy Corbyn

 As I sat down yesterday morning to read the first few pages of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of trepidation.

After all, I have spent almost every day of the past five years – ever since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, to be precise – fending off the vile, anti-Jewish hatred of his supporters.

Yet every time I raised the alarm, I was met with stony silence.

Imagine, then, the overwhelming relief that swept over me as I read it confirmed how, under Corbyn, my party had succumbed to a malaise ‘which, at best, did not do enough to prevent anti-Semitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it’.

'I have spent almost every day of the past five years fending off the vile, anti-Jewish hatred of his supporters' writes Margaret Hodge

'I have spent almost every day of the past five years fending off the vile, anti-Jewish hatred of his supporters' writes Margaret Hodge

It was a momentous, almost vindicating occasion.

Ever since Corbyn and his extremist supporters took control of Labour, I’ve tortured myself over whether it was time to leave.

Indeed, it pains me to say it, but despite being a member of the Labour Party for almost 60 years – roughly half its lifetime – the sheer scale of anti-Semitic abuse hurled at me has taken its toll.

Yet I have stood and fought, even after I was threatened with suspension for walking up to Corbyn in a corridor in Parliament and telling him, in no uncertain words, that he was making it very difficult for Jewish people to stay in the Labour Party.

Yesterday’s report confirms that I was right to weather the storm and hold out for justice.

Typically, Corbyn thrust himself into the spotlight story, publishing an obdurate denial and a suggestion that the findings were ‘dramatically overstated’.

His successor Keir Starmer speedily recognised Corbyn’s statement for what it was – a pernicious attempt to downplay anti-Semitism – and he was immediately suspended.

Certainly it is a step in the right direction for a party that once prided itself on its anti-Semitic credentials, and I hope that we can begin to look forward. 

But we must not fall into the trap of thinking that the job is done.

Yes, the EHRC report nailed the most insulting lie of Corbyn’s supporters: namely that we Jewish MPs had ‘weaponised’ claims of anti-Semitism for our own nefarious gains.

But the bitter truth is that anti-Semitism is still heavily entrenched in some corners of the party and the Labour movement.

Margaret Hodge: Typically, Corbyn thrust himself into the spotlight story, publishing an obdurate denial and a suggestion that the findings were ‘dramatically overstated’.

Margaret Hodge: Typically, Corbyn thrust himself into the spotlight story, publishing an obdurate denial and a suggestion that the findings were ‘dramatically overstated’.

No doubt Corbyn’s supporters would deride such a claim as an exaggeration. 

But I know anti-Semitism when I see it.

After all, when I was born in Egypt to Jewish parents, Jews were still being murdered in Hitler’s gas chambers. 

In fact, my maternal grandmother was shot dead by the Nazis outside a Lithuanian concentration camp. 

So understanding Jew-hatred has always been part of my identity.

And while Corbyn is certainly responsible for letting anti-Semitism fester, we must not overlook how countless members lined up to fan its flames.

Corbyn may be suspended, but what about the member who recently sent me a message calling me a ‘racist Zionist c***’? 

Or the one who told me it would have been better if I had been murdered rather than Jo Cox?

In fact, for proof that anti-Semitism still remains in Labour’s ranks, you need only look at the stream of social media messages posted yesterday by Corbynites questioning the EHRC report.

MP Jo Cox, 41,  was murdered in June 2016 after holding a constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire

MP Jo Cox, 41,  was murdered in June 2016 after holding a constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire

Only last week, Len McCluskey, the Corbyn-supporting general secretary of the Unite union, told the BBC that party grandee Peter Mandelson should ‘go away and count his gold’, the oldest anti-Semitic trope in the book.

Meanwhile, we must not forget that yesterday’s report comes too late for many of my colleagues who were forced out of politics by the abuse that has been thrown at them.

So many good Labour women – such as Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman – could not stand it anymore.

There is something astonishing, and thoroughly depressing, about the fact that I am almost the last Jewish Labour female MP still standing. 

What an indictment of a party with such a proud Jewish tradition.

And so my joy at yesterday’s report is tempered by a feeling of political loneliness and anger.

But that is no excuse to give up fighting. Indeed, in recent months I have been inspired by the courage of those non-Jewish MPs and Labour members who have offered their support and risked being targeted themselves.

I was particularly heartened by the support from my local party, who gave me a standing ovation when I faced disciplinary action for calling out anti-Semitism.

Many of my Muslim local members understood better than most how important it was to always challenge racism.

That instinctive generosity of spirit is why I dare to be optimistic that we can defeat this virus of hatred.

Dare I say it, but I believe we can once again make the Labour Party an organisation that my proud immigrant parents would have regarded as a fit political home for their stubborn daughter.

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