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The anti-anti-semitism that actually promotes Jew-hating
When Siobhain McDonagh revealed that she thought all Jews were rich capitalists, she exposed the genuine bigotry at the heart of this crass crusade, writes DAVID ROSENBERG
Siobhan McDonagh

THE right-wing Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh recently castigated the “hard left” for its strident opposition to capitalism.

She told Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys that “anti-capitalist politics are at the root of anti-semitism.” Humphrys is no friend of the left, but was taken aback. He asked her whether she believed that “to be anti-capitalist you have to be anti-semitic.” Astonishingly, she replied: “Yes.”

It was an appalling slur by a Labour politician on everyone who is consciously fighting poverty, austerity, homelessness and zero-hours contracts in capitalist Britain to label them anti-semitic, but it also revealed the ignorant and harmful stereotypes that are actually shared by rightwingers about Jews, even those that think of themselves as pro-Jewish. McDonagh thinks all Jews are rich capitalists.

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