I still can't believe that Labour is more anti-semitic than the Tories. I should add that I have never lived anywhere with very large Jewish populations, to my knowledge.
The majority of the Jewish community were Labour leaning just a few years ago. This is largely related to the left's history of promoting and defending human rights. The right has a much more checkered history on this front and has never really been seen as a champion and defender in the same way. The right in recent years, up until the emboldened far right, has been more restrained in its racism and anti-semitism in order to win the more Liberal quarters of the centre right. That definitely is changing but is centred far more on Islamophobia.
You therefore have two forces at play; the first is a dynamic which suggests you have to pick 'sides' between Israel and Palestine - Jews and Muslims and plays on this traditional religious tension (which some in the Jewish community will be guilty of - but I stress that others will find utterly abhorrent and be completely opposed to) and a second force which comes from simply an utter sense of betrayal of the ideals of the left which has fostered up that much mistrust that the right is almost 'straight forward' in comparison. I don't think this sense of betrayal can be easily underestimated and is the stronger force in more liberal circles.
The former force works well in today's political climate due to political polarisation being the trend, and the two major parties almost picking a side works to their advantage of dehumanising and demonising the other.
I know its been said that the Conservatives are not held to the same standard over Islamophobia as Labour have been over antisemitism. I agree. The racism of Boris Johnson has been undeniable and obvious.
The difference is that the Conservatives have never stood as the champions of political correctness and guardians of rights in the same way as Labour. Labour behaving in this way, therefore represents not just racism but also hypocrisy and a shallowness of conviction of ideals. What do they stand for if they don't stand for the rights of the minority and against the bullying of more marginalised and outside voices?
Given that the basis of much of the traditional Jewish Labour vote has centred on the value and purpose of rights and protections, this questioning is a big deal. Its broken this bond of loyalty between labour party and the Jewish community.
I don't think the Jewish vote is more right leaning at all. I think the betrayal and open hostility just means that staying in the Labour Party has become impossible. It's harder to justify the abuse of your own to your own community when it's personal. If it's directed at you, it affects you psychologically and grinds you down. At some point something will give. People will just move to anywhere which might, if acting collectively, give them even a chance of having voice heard at all.
The Labour Party also isn't free of charges of Islamophobia either. The Northern Leave vote certainly contains shades of it and the Labour party leadership have pandered to the 'RedKip' vote every bit as much as the Tories have pandered to 'BlueKip'
I personally see Islamophobia and antisemitism as two sides of the same coin. Both parties are chronically institutionally racist from the top down. It suits both parties at present not to do much to tackle it.
David Lammy can shout about it all day, with good reason, real passion and conviction. But with Corbyn as party leader who likes using grievance as a recruitment tool for some communities, it doesn't suit him to actually do anything genuinely useful on a cross party basis unless it's the right PR opportunity. Likewise for May.
That's the whole thing of current politics. May and Corbyn's common interest in enabling the others awful behaviour helps give them power in their own cultural bubble at the expense of moderate voices who can see the unjustifiable being justified 'because you wouldn't want the other side to be on charge'.
This is the culture war in which wedges are driven into society to force them to pick a side and ignore nuance and stops them from condemning 'othering'.
Nick Cohen has written extensively on the betrayal by the values of the liberal left and I find his arguments compelling (though at times challenging and deeply uncomfortable to confront).
I think the promotion of 'righteousness' and political 'purity' is one of the worst things going on in politics at the moment. Humans are by nature hypocritical and make mistakes. What makes us better is to recognise this and admit it when it becomes obvious as a problem and to take responsibility for that. The absence of that and this blind defence of the Indefensible actions 'your own' is just pure corruption.
I think most of the public do see it or sense it, even if they can't verbalise it explicitly. Almost every single person I've spoken to about politics in the last three years, whether they be a friend or a stranger, seem to express this frustration in some form or other.