‘Backstabber’ is an historical antisemitic insult: Tory campaign turns nasty

Tom Pride here points out that the Tories’ claim that Ed Miliband is backstabber, is the same one that the Nazis applied to the Jews, in order to explain Germany’s defeat during the First World War.

I think this is probably going too far. The fact that the insult’s the same need not necessarily mean that Rothermere is being deliberately anti-Semitic. On the other hand, this is the Rothermere press, which does have a long history of anti-Semitism. This gives some verisimilitude to Tom’s accusation.

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the Tories!)

I hope I’m wrong, but there seems to be an extremely disturbing undercurrent of antisemitism emerging in the Tories’ campaign of personal attacks against Ed Miliband, supported by their backers in the right-wing press:

Unthinkable? Could Lord Rothermere’s vitriolic attacks on Ed Miliband be because he’s Jewish?

And now we have a clear narrative against the Labour leader that he is a ‘backstabber’ who is even prepared to ‘stab the nation in the back‘.

It is inconceivable that Tory leaders are not aware that ‘backstabbing’ is an historical antisemitic insult used extensively by the Nazis to vilify Jews:

In their desperation, the Tory campaign is taking an extremely nasty turn indeed.

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