In regard to the Chilean elections, all was rife to a struggle between left and right extremes.
The winner’s inauguration brings invitees of similar ideology from abroad.
In this case, focus fell upon the controversial figure of the former Labour Party leader and wannabe Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour, as its counterpart Democrats in the United States, were once known to have overwhelmingly Jewish supporters. Samuels recalled his uncle bringing a Police helmet to every family reunion. He had snatched the helmet from a policeman guarding the Union of British Fascists leader, Oswald Mosley, as they marched through the Jewish Labourite East End of London in the 1930s.
Britain led the resistance to Nazi Germany for the Western Allies until the United States entered the war. But it could have gone the other way. The 330,000 British Jews on the Wannsee Protocol list were marked for extermination. “Thirty kilometers of water – the English Channel – saved us from the Holocaust on the continent,” stated Samuels.
Fast-forward to the last decade, which saw a rise of antisemitism in Britain. Jewish quarters in London have been attacked.
BBC Radio, the voice of “London Calling” to Nazi occupied Europe, was now a field of Jew-hatred, stemming from anti-Israelism, especially among figures of the Labour Party.
The Wiesenthal Centre 2019 annual “Ten Cases of Antisemitism,” was headed by Corbynism. His invitation to Parliament of Hamas figures, despite its being considered a terrorist organization, together with other anti-Zionist hate among party militants, led to the departure of its Jewish MPs.
Labour lost the next elections, much due to its internal cases and image of antisemitism, which has grown pari passim across the UK. Expressions of anti-Zionism had multiplied, transplanting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Arab communities worldwide, as in Chile, with its largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East region.
Such statements can be construed by hatemongers, leading to attacks on Jewish communities.
The invitation of Corbyn as “Guest of Honour” at the inauguration of newly elected Chilean President Gabriel Boric, we hope was an oversight, not a precedent.