IN a short letter, it would be impossible to respond adequately to CT Riley's barrage of spurious allegations against Jeremy Corbyn (HAS, Jan 6), so I shall confine myself to just one.
He says that Corbyn wrote a foreword to an allegedly anti-Semitic book. The book in question, Imperialism: A Study, written in 1902 by John Hobson, is an influential study of imperialism, widely used as a text in British universities.
In an article in the Spectator, Geoffrey Alderman, Professor of Politics, University of Buckingham, notes that the text runs to almost 400 pages, with only a dozen or so lines which could be construed as anti-Semitic, and "there was absolutely no need for Corbyn to have drawn attention to them in his foreword".
He goes on to say that "Corbyn has an impressive record of supporting Jewish communal initiatives" in his Islington constituency, in addition to putting his name to numerous Early Day Motions (EDMs) in Parliament in support of Jews and in opposition to anti-Semitism (Corbyn has signed at least 41 such EDMs).
He concludes that "from time to time...Corbyn has acted unwisely. But the grounds for labelling him an anti-Semite simply do not exist".
Prof Alderman is Jewish, and describes himself as "a proud Zionist". I am more inclined to take notice of him, than of CT Riley.
Pete Winstanley, Durham.
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