In 2016 the UK Labour Party – meeting in annual conference in Liverpool this week – has been mired in controversy about antisemitism in the party. This week’s highlight is an important contribution to that important debate. Simon Gansinger and Marlene Gallner show that the problem of antisemitic anti-Zionism, far from being a ‘cooked up’ smear by one part of the party on another part, has a very long history on the European Left. Gansinger examines the near-destruction of Poland’s Jewish community after a Communist Party ‘anti-Zionist’ campaign in the late 1960s. Gallner brings to light the writings of Holocaust survivor and writer Jean Amery about the danger of a demonising and simplistic left-wing anti-Zionism in post-war Germany. We hope both will inform the debate in the Labour party and wider Left.

Our video of the week is Meghan O’Sullivan, Philip Gordon, Dennis Ross and James Jeffrey, all distinguished former foreign policy officials, sharing their insights from a recently completed tour of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel.

Our image of the week are Greek Orthodox walking with a cross through the Via Dolorosa, in Jerusalem’s Old City, believed to be the same route that Jesus walked through on his way to his crucifixion, 19 September 2016.

Communists Against Jews: the Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland in 1968

by Simon Gansinger