Jews Don’t Count

David Baddiel's powerful book "Jews don't count." argues that many people who would describe themselves as progressive anti racists pay significantly less attention to what has been historically one of the worst and most murderous forms of racism than to almost all others.Baddiel makes a convincing argument that on all sides of the political spectrum there is an extraordinary capacity even of people who are generally strongly and genuinely opposed to racism to fail to consider Jewish people, or to forget about, fail to notice, or downplay racism against Jews in a way that they would never do about almost any other form of racism.In some ways it is more alarming that this blind spot applies not just to downright Anti-Semites but to people who had no intention of being racist. Individuals who will instantly apologise and make an effort to adjust their behavior if anyone calls them on it - which strongly suggests that nobody ever has.He quotes the Guardian's Hadley Freeman: "Would addressing bigotry against any other minority be seen by the self-described anti-racist left as an unfortunate distraction, or is it just Anti-Semitism?"Baddiel is a football fan and writes about the experiences he and his brother had of racism on the terraces. Not all that long ago racist chanting and abuse was completely endemic throughout football. The problem hasn't been completely stamped out but enormous efforts to reduce it have been made.Except, he argues, for Anti-Semitic abuse. I do not claim to know a lot about football, and I do not know first hand how widespread is Baddiel's experience that officials and fans tolerate abusive comments against Jews which they would never tolerate against any other minority, But I know enough to take David Baddiel's points seriously, because I do know there is at least some truth in what he writes about the club which a member of my immediate family supports - Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.)Spurs is based in a part of North London which has a significant Jewish population and has come to be seen by rival fans as a "Jewish" club, even though it isn't. That includes some people referring to the club and it's supporters by a word beginning with "Y" which is an insulting name for Jewish people - and which I am not going to write here, any more than I would write the equivalent insulting word for a black person beginning with "N."Baddiel argues that there has been more tolerance of this - and indeed failure on the part of people who would not deliberately support any kind of racism to spot the problem - than there would be for other forms of racism. It may be an education issue; it may be that, because the word does not provoke the level of response that most other such words do; not everyone even knows that it is a racial slur.The club itself is sufficiently bothered by this that quite recently - to be precise, in December 2020 which is between the date Baddiel submitted the last parts of the book to his publishers and the date it was published - Spurs adopted the IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism to reinforce its commitment that "The Club has a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism as well as any other form of discrimination."It is quite extraordinary that prejudice against the race who were the main victims of the worst act of genocide in history should be the very same prejudice that many people apparently forget to consider when talking about racism. Yet this book makes a strong case that this is exactly what happens.The title of David Baddiel's book was perfectly illustrated by a barrage of tweets the very weekend I was writing this review from Labour MPs and activists about their new Scottish leader.The day before I posted this Anas Sarwar was elected as the new leader of the Scottish Labour party.Perfectly OK for Labour supporters or anyone else to welcome his election. But extraordinary, and just plain wrong, for Labour MPs and activists from the party's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner down to describe him as"the first ever ethnic minority leader of a political party anywhere in the UK."Nonsense.The first ever ethnic minority leader of a political party anywhere in the UK took office a hundred and fifty three years before when Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister and leader of his party.Some people argued that he doesn't count as a Jew or as a member of an ethnic minority because he converted to the Church of England. That is silly. Disraeli didn't stop being the target of Anti-Semitism, didn't stop being proud of his Jewish heritage and didn't stop describing himself and being described by others as a Jew when he joined the Anglican church.Once he was on the receiving end of an insult in the House of Commons from the leader of the Irish nationalists which included mention of his Jewish ancestry, and he replied"Yes, I am a Jew,"and added that his ancestors "were priests in the temple of Solomon."I can think of at least three other people from ethnic minorities who became leaders of UK political parties. The second leader of a political party from an Ethnic minority was Herbert Samuel, ninety years ago. A third was Michael Howard.Anas Sarwar isn't even the first national leader of the Labour party for the UK or one of the four nations who was a member of an ethnic minority - Ed Miliband beat him to that distinction in 2010.Disraeli, Samuel, Howard, Miliband, all ignored by Angela Rayner and others. Now what do the four leaders these people were leaving out today have in common?You guessed it: they were all Jewish. It's as if the people tweeting this weekend were using the title of David Baddiel's book: "Jews don't count" as an axiom where being a member of an ethnic minority is concerned.Perhaps the saddest part of the book is the very last page. He refers to the fact that as a young person growing up, Baddiel greatly enjoyed the "Citizen Smith" comedy TV show about a young would-be revolutionary, "Wolfie Smith" played by Robert Lindsay. Wolfie Smith was, for him, a hero.The day after the Equalities and human rights commission - an official body set up and operating under laws which the last Labour government itself had put onto the statue book, published a damning report into the failure of the Labour party to deal with Anti-Semitism, Robert Lindsey tweeted in defence of the party leader on whose watch that failure had occurred.Baddiel concludes his book as follows:"So obviously I know that was an actor playing a part. I know that was fifty years ago. But still, on realising that for Wolfie Smith, Jews don't count, a tiny part of me died."

Highly recommend.

I appreciate this book for how it gave me real food for thought about my unconscious biases and helped me understand some of nuances of the debate around antisemitism within left-wing political circles (of which I am in). It offered insights into political, media and celebrety standpoints that I had readily accepted and likely scoffed at the idea that they were antisemitic in nature. Yet, Baddiel's explanations hit home on several counts and certainly gave me a new perspective to consider in others.About half to 2/3rds of the way in, I started finding some of the arguments being made for underlying antisemitism more challenging as they seemed to rely more and more on linguistic gymnastics and making assumptions about the silences. The silences, obviously, are a key theme to "Jews don't count" so I understood why those examples were included, but I found the ones in the first half of the text much more compelling.The greatest challenge with the book is also part of its very nature. It is an exploration of a certain moment in time and history. It's trying to highlight perspectives that were not, and likely still aren't, being properly listened to. It's not offering solutions, just the insights. Which leaves the read feeling better informed and hopefully able to better recognise when a particular trope is employed, but no wiser on how to try and change the narrative. This is a frustration to sit with.

Most interesting book and well written , whether you are Jewish, a philosemite or just interested in his biographical experiences . Eye opening .

David Baddiel makes a thoroughly convincing argument that modern, progressive identity politics - or, at least, many practitioners of it - has failed to treat anti-Semitism on an equal footing with other racisms. More than this, he proves successfully that anti-Semitism should be treated on an equal footing with other racisms. If anyone finds themselves objecting to this idea, scratch beneath the surface and you'll find the same disturbing justifications like 'because Jews are privileged' or 'because Jews are rich'. Not only are these prejudices demonstrably false, but they tap into the same logic that has seen Jewish people - including Baddiel's grandparents, who owned a brick factory in East Prussia - stripped of their wealth and forced to flee from their homes at various points in history. In other words, wealth is never, has never been, a protection against racism, and to suggest that wealth (and, as I say, the connection between Jewish people and wealth is a false trope) is a mitigating factor in racism is, well, racist.Baddiel is uncannily good at anticipating the reader's challenges, too: if you find yourself wondering whether Jews are indeed a 'race', he makes the point that he, like many other Jewish people, is atheist, and that the actual practice (or absence of practice) of the Jewish faith generally makes little difference to whether Jews suffer anti-Semitism or not. And that's not even mentioning the unique tradition of anti-Semitism based on the supposed physical features of Jewish people.The journalist Stephen Bush noted a flaw in the argument: namely, that Baddiel's language is couched in the very identity politics that he is criticising. Bush believed the book might have been more effective if it had tackled identity politics and its privilege-based understanding of prejudice head-on. This is a fair point but, by Baddiel's own admission, the book is not a critique of identity politics as a whole. Baddiel is merely showing that Jews have in particular been failed by identity politics, even by the very standards of its champions. Bush is right to suggest, though, that this failure may speak to deeper issues within identity politics. Maybe this will be the subject of a book in future.I cannot recommend this book enough. The writing is tight, the pace exhilarating. Baddiel's tone is both journalistic and subtle, informal and eloquent. You can get through it in a single sitting if you have the time. My only hope is that those at whom this book is aimed end up reading it. I would, therefore, additionally recommend the book to those who are instinctively put off by its central premise.

Baddiel does a superb job of capturing antisemitism from the left and right, from past examples to present day ones. At times it cuts deeply enough to require a moment to calm down. It goes a long way to describe the construct that no matter the consequences, Jews don't count, nor are they victims, and by the way, they're wrong... all at the same time. Great book, very self effacing as well.

I found this book challenging my assumptions quite frequently and insight into the UK political dialogues very very interesting. And while it is clear the author has strong views I never felt like he was s forcing them on the tea

Intelligemment écrit, pertinent et important.

Very good summary of how things are biased against Jews

Baddiel infuses just the right amount of humor to prevent the need to put the book down and walk away to recompose oneself. To be sure, #JewsDontCount documents scores of (largely UK-centric) issues of how progressives view racism and antisemitism differently; but his sardonic humor is a sufficient counterbalance to help the reader persist. Thank you for writing such an important book.