Conservative British Jewish organisations are trawling Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn through the mud of ‘anti-Semitism’ for a Facebook response in 2012 to a London street mural portraying oppressive bankers. The campaign is about one thing: preventing criticism of Israel inside a major British political party.

At a British Labour Party gathering, Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest applause came when he said the oppression of Palestinians must end. No wonder he snubbed an invitation from the Jewish Leadership Council to commemorate the Balfour Declaration at 100. And no wonder a UK diplomat says Balfour’s promise to non-Jewish communities has gone unfulfilled. Balfour anniversary is dividing British opinion on Israel.

The witch-hunt against ostensible ‘anti-semites’ in the British Labour has intensified into ‘thought crime’ persecution. A Jewish professor was expelled from Labour because of what Jews “feel and know” about his argument that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.

Pro-Israel activists in the UK Labour Party say there has been a surge of anti-semitism in the party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader two years ago. Moshe Machover, an anti-Zionist philosophy professor born and raised in Israel, appears to be among the first Labour members to be netted by a rule change on anti-semitism for an article he wrote, paradoxically titled “Anti-Zionism does not equal anti-Semitism”. As Jonathan Cook shows the pro-Israel activists’ concerns are much less about anti-semitism than about Corbyn and the trend he represents, including the possibility that Palestinians will be put at the heart of a Labour government’s foreign policy.

British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at last week’s annual party conference included an unequivocal declaration of solidarity with the Palestinians. The speech came as sections of his party’s establishment demonstrated once again that they are determined to subvert his leadership, using charges of antisemitism to curtail progressive reforms. However, there is a new movement of Jews inside Labour, including anti-Zionists and those who support BDS, that may challenge some long-held party positions and give Corbyn the support he needs to buck the neoliberal status quo.