As a rabbi, I was so disappointed about Len McCluskey's comments about Corbyn and Jews that I resigned

For me, the party has changed from being a home for someone with my instincts for social and economic justice to being a place where I feel like an unwelcome stranger, except among what seems to be a minority away from the locus of power

Others have tried to teach the Unite leader about Judaism. He wasn’t willing to listen (PA)

My recent decision to resign from Unite due to general secretary Len McCluskey’s comments about Jewish people, as well as Jeremy Corbyn’s weak leadership on tackling antisemitism, has forced me to reflect on who I am, my family’s background and how the Labour Party has sadly changed.

McCluskey wrote in a recent article that although we need to eradicate antisemitism, he asked Jewish leaders need to “dial down the rhetoric”. I can assure him that my decision is not one that I have taken lightly, so let me explain.

My father had two escapes from the Nazis, and my mother and her family had to escape during the partitioning of India. I grew up learning about their stories from what they would talk about, as well as what they wouldn’t say. Because of my skin colour, I was challenged as to whether I was Greek or Indian, but ironically very rarely challenged about my Jewishness. It was, in many ways, the least of my concerns, even though my family were actively Jewish – one clue being that my father is also a rabbi.

My relationship with Israel is relatively simple. I have only known a world with it existing as a nation state, but I studied enough history to learn why “Hatikvah” became the anthem (there were other options considered) of the State of Israel. My parents’ generation lived through the lowest point in Jewish history since the Siege of Jerusalem in 70CE – the Holocaust – and also a high point, in May 1948. At no point has my love of Israel prevented me from also wanting a Palestinian state that would live peacefully alongside Israel.

My thoughts about the government of Israel are far more complex. I find myself opposed to some of its actions, particularly those that run contrary to my core values and beliefs as a rabbi and teacher of Judaism who happens to be a progressive Jew.

All these factors, and many more, contribute to my desire to be affiliated to a trade union. Those with less power in terms of their employment need to be able to pool resources through collective bargaining to redress the imbalance and provide legal help to those who ordinarily would not have resources. I would always encourage people to affiliate to a union or professional association or both.

I also see the rapidly increasing gap between the wealthy and everyone else, and I wonder why the redistribution of wealth has become a dirty word. It isn’t, and I don’t mean the heavy-handed socialism of the USSR or earlier decades of China. I do mean the regulation of capitalism, so that the benefits of success are shared more fairly and widely and the consequences of catastrophic failure, such as the 2008 credit crisis, are felt by those who contributed most to causing the catastrophe. Hence, I find myself left-leaning in my politics.

This has all been challenged by the recent changes in the Labour Party. For me, the party has changed from being a home for someone with my instincts for social and economic justice to being a place where I feel like an unwelcome stranger, except among what seems to be a minority away from the locus of power. The sense of “More In Common” that was Jo Cox’s legacy seems to have some particular caveats nowadays that cannot be overcome.

My decision to resign from Unite came because I cannot in all conscience contribute to, or want support from, a union headed by someone who can write and say the things that Len McClusky has. For example, he has accused Jewish leaders of holding “intransigent hostility” towards Corbyn.

I don’t expect to agree with him on everything, or even most things, but I feel I should be able to expect a union leader – my union leader – to support the right of a minority to define the discrimination it experiences.

In my view, something has gone badly wrong in the mindset of those socialists who can castigate Jewish elected or nominated leaders and insist they should change their behaviour, rather than consider the possibility that they themselves have a blind spot that they should re-consider.

As a rabbi, maybe, just maybe, I could teach McCluskey about Judaism and Jewishness and the responsibilities of leadership, and if he were willing to learn, this might not have happened. Others have tried; he wasn’t willing; and so I’ve resigned.

Rabbi Richard Jacobi co-ministers to the East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue and oversees the vocational training of rabbinical students at Leo Baeck College. This article was written in a personal capacity