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Sure.
Imo you can levy plenty of legitimate criticism at Israel's policies. This can be done without being antisemitic.
You can also take a view on how the state was formed and take issue with the concept of a state designed for one "race". That too can be done without being antisemitic.
You can be someone who takes a stand against all sorts of forms of questionable state actions.
However, there comes a point where when someone continues to bang on about Israel and Israelis in a pejorative fashion and to a greater extent than other area that you can't help but query whether there is an underlying prejudice. When they have no connection to the region and start using themes common antisemitism you become increasingly sceptical.
In a lot of cases its down to the hot political topic of the day. It's such a complex basket of issues that it also makes for many great discussion points.
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Hefty
hugo7
Without enough knowledge about the form and content of actual meeting its hard to comment. My comments are based on Ken Lochs interview as quoted.
My thoughts would be;
1) given the PR issues with Labour and anti-Semitism why the fuck would you discuss it during the Conference - fringe event or not.
2) if the interviewer framed a discussion of the extent of free speech on sensitive issues as a "discussion [on] the Holocaust, did it happen or didn’t it…" surely the first response is to correct them.
3) the limits of a discussion are hugely dictated by who you're discussing things with. I know that with my friends one of us can put forward arguments/counterpoints, from say the extreme right, during a discussion without qualification because we know each other. Stick that same person in a room full of strangers and you would think about the general sensitivities.
On a more general point it is hard not to question the underlying reason for Israel being such an important and reoccurring issue for people who have no connection to the region. In the same way that when people in the Conservative Party bring up legitimate discussion points on immigration its hard not to question their motivation.