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Labour’s festering anti-Semitism problem was always going to come the fore at some point during the general election campaign. In the end, it’s taken just two days. On Thursday, the latest

edition of the _Jewish Chronicle_ hit the newsstands. It featured a blistering front-page leader. This wasn’t the usual warning aimed at the Jewish community about the risk of a Jeremy

Corbyn premiership. Nor was it another exclusive report on the latest sad instance of antisemitism within the party. It was a message to non-Jewish Brits, imploring them not to vote for an

institutionally anti-Semitic party. “Putting oneself in the shoes of another person, or another group, can be difficult,” the paper said. “But we believe it is important — and urgent — that

you do that.” The powerful leader concluded: “If this man is chosen as our next prime minister, the message will be stark: that our dismay that he could ever be elevated to a prominent role

in British politics, and our fears of where that will lead, are irrelevant. We will have to conclude that those fears and dismay count for nothing. But we think you do care.” It would be all

too easy to spend this column once again angrily laying out what an absolute disgrace it is that a minority community in the UK has been made to feel like this, how shameful it is that it

has been reduced to imploring its fellow citizens to not vote for someone out of genuine fear. I could, again, solemnly note what a sad state of affairs it is that the Labour Party has not

only destroyed its long and proud relationship with the Jewish community, but that it is also under investigation from the Equality and Human’s Right Commission as a result – the first time

that has happened to a political party. Those things should certainly not be forgotten in the run up to polling day. But we really are well beyond that now. And that is why the _Jewish

Chronicle_ decided to make the move it did and publish such a dramatic front page. Editor Stephen Pollard told _TheArticle_ that “it came about out of a combination of frustration and anger

at watching Labour MPs talk about the need for a Labour government and public services and this and that and [not] seeing any reporters mentioning that huge elephant in the room – that the

leader of the Labour party was an anti-Semite and racist.” Pollard said he started forming the leader in his mind over the weekend and “bashed something out on the Monday,” but points to how

critical the billboard-like design, conceived by the paper’s creative director, was in the success of the front page. The paper is not loved by everyone in the Jewish community – getting

Jews to universally approve of anything is a near impossible task – and it is certainly part of the community’s establishment. However, because of that establishment status, it has a

powerful voice, a voice that is able to represent much of mainstream anglo-Jewery. (I should point out that there are other popular and influential newspapers within the Jewish community,

notably the _Jewish News_, and regionally the _Jewish Telegraph_.) The impact the front page had shows the full power community newspapers can still wield. “It does make a difference. It

makes a huge difference,” Pollard believes. The _Jewish Chronicle_ is not the only one. The _Voice_, for instance, is a similarly important feature of black communities in the UK. Its

coverage of the Windrush scandal is every bit as blistering as the Jewish newspapers’ reporting on anti-Semitism. People in these communities broadly trust these outlets as their own, and

politicians get on the wrong side of them at their peril. While the _Jewish Chronicle_ will continue to report assiduously on Labour anti-Semitism throughout the general election, Pollard

says we should not expect too many more front pages like this week’s. “I think there is a limit to the number of stunts, as it were, you can do otherwise, I think readers start to get

annoyed.” However, he felt that as the campaign started, his paper needed to something. “I just thought we can’t have this general election campaign without this huge issue for British Jews,

and what I think should be a huge issue for anybody decent, not being part of the discussion. So I just wanted a way to sort of lob that hand grenade into the debate.” Mission accomplished.