What Is Jewdas, The Radical Group That Hosted Jeremy Corbyn For Seder?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Aiden Pink April 4, 2018
The radical Jewish group Jewdas has been thrust into the spotlight after it was revealed that British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been harshly criticized by the organized Jewish community for what they see as his inadequate responses to anti-Semitism, attended their Passover Seder.
The group, which represents what they describe as “radical voices for the alternative diaspora,” has frequently been a thorn in the side of more established, pro-Israel Jewish organizations. Founded in 2004, Jewdas has harshly criticized the state of Israel and Britain’s Jewish establishment in a series of public events both satirical and meaningful.
“Everything about it is heretic,” the group describes itself on Facebook. “Nothing that the rabbis would allow.”
The group’s website claims that its name comes from “The book of Jewdas,” which had been written by Jewish radicals thousands of years ago and was found under rubble behind a London kebab shop.
Jewdas sponsors numerous community events, including education on how to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic, and has been a part of many left-wing demonstrations against the right-wing British government’s policies on economic austerity and immigration curbs. It also hosts organized Jewish events, such as the Seder and a Yom Kippur “fascism-smashing” ball.
It has also harshly criticized both Israel and the broader community’s support for it, sometimes in ways that others found displeasing. Four members were arrested on anti-Semitism charges in 2006 for distributing flyers for a party in a historically-Jewish neighborhood called “Protocols of the Elders of Hackney.” They fooled the Jewish community in 2009 by sending out emails claiming that a scheduled rally organized by a leading Jewish organization had been called off. And they have been present at several anti-Israel events in recent years. A tweet from their account last year called the Jewish state a “steaming pile of sewage.”
The group has also sponsored an annual “Birthwrong” trip to Jewish historical sites in Europe – a take on the free Birthright Israel trips.
Corbyn’s presence at the Seder came after an unprecedented protest against anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Critics, including some fellow Labour politicians, say that Corbyn has not done enough to fight anti-Semitism within the party. Corbyn’s supporters say that he is not anti-Semitic and that claims of anti-Semitism are being manipulated to score political points.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
