“A Frum Jew’s Quixotic Campaign to Unseat Jeremy Corbyn”

Originally a candidate in a heavily Jewish Hendon, David opted to fight the Islington seat (a left-wing stronghold) after Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party stood down all candidates in ridings the Conservatives had won in 2017, so as not to split the pro-Brexit vote.

A social worker by day, David sees his quixotic campaign to unseat Corbyn as a visible rebuke to left-wing anti-Semitism as well as to the kind of political machinations that have delayed Brexit for more than three years.

An Orthodox Jew challenging Corbyn on his home turf, where you can see the Palestinian flag flying, is certainly attention-grabbing. What has been the response there — have you experienced anti-Semitism?

When I first went there with my campaign manager, I was wearing a kippah and no one looked at me twice. But I am only just beginning the ground campaign. The response on Twitter — where many people have said that I’m running somehow because of Israel — proves how important it is to respond. The conflation of anti-Semitism with Israel is wrong.

Corbyn got a majority of 60% in 2017. What’s the point of running against odds like this?

It’s not necessarily about winning. I’ve challenged Jeremy Corbyn to a debate, and I would love to unseat him, but it’s the principle of a frum Jew running, and how I’m treated on the [stump], that makes a strong statement on anti-Semitism and bigotry in general.