Israeli Labor Party Also Considering Corbyn As Leader

Corbyn will need more than slogans, and more than simple association with the lowest dregs of British humanity.

Tel Aviv, August 20 – A growing dissatisfaction with the tepid stewarship of party chairman Isaac Herzog has the rank-and-file of Israel’s Labor Party looking for a more robust leader, and are looking to British Labor politician Jeremy Corbyn to potentially fill that role.

Corbyn, 66, is the current front-runner for leadership of Labor in the UK, following the resignation of Ed Milliband after the party’s poorer-than-expected showing in elections earlier this year. His social politics lie farther to the left than most of his Israeli Labor counterparts, but they see him as a charismatic potential leader and the first serious rival to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu since Ehud Barak in 1998. Most tellingly, however, there is even less daylight between Israeli Labor and Corbyn when it comes to Israel’s security.

Herzog met with PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah this week, in what analysts have explained as an attempt to stake a claim to the same credentials as Corbyn, who has called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends, and who has openly associated with antisemites and Holocaust deniers.

“Buji is obviously worried that his British counterpart will muscle in on his territory, so he’s trying to shore up his own image as a fighter for the Palestinian cause,” said veteran political commentator Hanan Crystal, referring to Herzog by his nickname. “The difference between Hamas and the PLO is basically strategy, but they both agree there shouldn’t be a Jewish state in ‘Palestine’ – so consorting with Abu Mazen is a way for Herzog to say to his constituents, ‘Look, I’m just as committed to Palestinians as anyone from Britain, and I’m right here.'”

If Corbyn agrees to run in the next Israeli Labor primary, he does face some important obstacles beyond a language and culture gap. “Israeli Labor voters will want to know that he has a clear strategy for unseating Netanyahu, which hasn’t been as easy as the media have made it look, campaign after campaign,” explained Crystal. “Corbyn will need more than slogans, and more than simple association with the lowest dregs of British humanity.”

Herzog loyalists, and supporters of other Labor hopefuls potentially threatened by a Corbyn candidacy, downplayed the significance of the reports. “We have enough people in and around this country already who sympathize with Hamas and Hezbollah,” said Labor MK Shelly Yechimovich, a former and aspiring leader of the party. “It’s difficult enough to communicate a coherent economic strategy to the electorate in Hebrew. I can’t see how having to translate from English would not hinder.” Fellow MK Eitan Cabel added, “[Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah would actually be a stronger candidate, in terms of charisma, reputation, and depth of conviction.”

Experts had predicted earlier that ousted mayor of Bradford George Galloway might pursue a second political career in Israel, but their analysis proved mistaken after he was unable to convince the Meretz Central Committee that he was anti-Israel enough to join them.