After October 7th, is there a future for Jews and the Left? Rafael Behr, Margaret Hodge, Dave Rich and Jonathan Freedland discuss.

In the wake of the attacks by Hamas of October 7th, many progressive Jews, particularly in Britain and the US, were deeply disappointed that so many who they had thought of as their ideological allies did not express sympathy for the Jewish victims. Instead, they cast Israel as solely responsible for the ensuing events. Is there a future for Jews and the Left?

Jonathan Freedland is joined by fellow Guardian columnist and Politics: A Survivor’s Guide author Rafael Behr, CST head of policy Dave Rich, and Dame Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking and Dagenham since 1994.

Buy a copy of Politics: A Survivor’s Guide by Raphael Behr

The event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval.

About the Speakers:

Rafael Behr is a political journalist and broadcaster. He writes a political column for the Guardian. His work has also been published in the Times, the Sunday Times, the New York Times, the Irish Times and Prospect magazine. He is regularly a commentator on the BBC, Sky News and Times Radio. He also hosts the Politics on the Couch podcast. Rafael was formerly Political Editor for the New Statesman, chief leader writer for the Observer, a business writer for BBC News online and a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Russia and the Baltic region.

Margaret Hodge became the Labour Member of Parliament for Barking in June 1994. She has served in government, holding portfolios across education, work and pensions, business and culture. In 2010, Margaret also became the first elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and was also its first female Chair. Today, Margaret is the Chair of the APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax. She is also the Chair of Theatre Royal Stratford East as well as Royal Holloway, University of London.

Dr Dave Rich is author of Everyday Hate: How antisemitism is built into our world and how you can change it, and The Left’s Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Antisemitism. He is Director of Policy at the Community Security Trust, a research fellow at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Jonathan Freedland is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian and is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series The Long View as well as the co-host (with the Israeli journalist Yonit Levi) of Unholy, a weekly podcast. He has written twelve books, the latest of which is The Escape Artist: the Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World.