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Jeremy Corbyn accused of lacking moral clarity on antisemitism Jeremy Corbyn accused of lacking moral clarity on antisemitism
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Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of displaying a “worrying lack of leadership and moral clarity” on antisemitism as angry Labour backbenchers lined up to criticise the leadership for not doing more to tackle it within the party. Jeremy Corbyn’s backbenchers have rounded on the failure of the party to tackle antisemitism in a blistering three hours that ended with Labour MP calling closing remarks by the shadow home secretary Diane Abbott “horrifying.”
The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, urged the Labour leader to “once and for all” clarify his opposition to antisemitism as the Commons took the highly unusual step of debating the issue. The antisemitism debate was called by the government, a move that often blunts opposition anger. Instead, furious speeches from many Labour MPs will threaten the Labour leader’s efforts to show that he is a “militant opponent” of antisemitism.
Labour MP Luciana Berger, who has received antisemitic death threats, warned that the problem was “more commonplace, is more conspicuous and is more corrosive” within the Labour party. Almost every Labour MP who spoke described in powerful terms the depths of the abuse they and Jewish friends and colleagues were experiencing.
Labour has been beleaguered in recent weeks by claims that it has not done enough to deal with antisemitism in its own ranks and has dragged its feet on fully implementing the recommendations of the 2016 internal party review by Shami Chakrabarti. Luciana Berger, who has received antisemitic death threats, warned that while antisemitism was growing everywhere, the problem was worse within the Labour party.
Corbyn is holding talks next week with two leading Jewish organisation, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies, although a proposed roundtable discussion with community leaders is in doubt after mainstream invitees objected to the inclusion of an anti-Israel Jewish group. Labour has been repeatedly blighted by charges that it has failed to tackle antisemitism in the party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015. Supporters of Corbyn, who has a long history of supporting Palestinians in their dispute with Israel, fear the issue is being used to undermine his leadership.
Javid, opening the debate in government time, warned that the “world’s oldest hatred” was on the rise, adding: “This is an issue which has come to a head now and we must deal with now.” Labour launches an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism and bullying after a fractious election of a youth representative to its ruling body.
He said that MPs needed to show the Jewish community that “we do get it” and that they would tackle the “pernicious prejudice” of antisemitism as well as listening to their concerns. Labour expels far-left activist Gerry Downing,  who had spoken of the need to “address the Jewish question”.
His focus, however, was on the Labour leader, sitting on the bench opposite him. “It won’t perhaps be the most comfortable three hours of debate that he has sat in on but his effort is appreciated,” he reflected. Activist Vicki Kirby is suspended by the party for a second time over making alleged antisemitic tweets. She apparently suggested Adolf Hitler might be a “Zionist God” and that Jews had “big noses”.
“There has frankly been a deeply worrying lack of leadership and moral clarity on this issue from him. Being here to listen to what is being said by his concerned colleagues and others is an important step in showing the community that this issue is being taken seriously. I sincerely hope that he takes the opportunity to once and for all clarify his position on antisemitism.” Labour suspends Khadim Hussain, a Labour councillor and former lord mayor of Bradford, after he shared a Facebook post that said “your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the 6 million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". He later quit the party.
With Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, sitting beside her, Berger said: “I make no apology for holding my own party to a higher standard. Anti-racism is one our essential values and there was a time not long ago when the left actively confronted antisemitism. Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, apologises for writing a series of antisemitic posts on Facebook including arguing for Israel’s population to be ‘transported’ out of the Middle East. She also resigns as PPS to John McDonnell and after sustained pressure is suspended from the party a day later.
Labour suspends, but does not expel, former London mayor Ken Livingstone, after making offensive comments about Hitler supporting Zionism while defending Shah.
A two-month inquiry by Shami Chakrabarti, ordered by Corbyn, urges Labour members to avoid abusive language and references to Hitler and Holocaust metaphors. It is criticised as being too soft on the issue and regarded as compromised because Chakrabarti had just accepted a peerage.
Jackie Walker is removed as vice-chair of Momentum after criticising Holocaust Memorial Day but is allowed to remain on its steering committee. She was earlier suspended by the party for questioning why Holocaust Memorial Day did not recognise other genocides.
The home affairs select committee accuses Labour of incompetence in dealing with antisemitism and helping to create a safe space for people with “vile attitudes towards Jewish people”.
Livingstone again avoids expulsion from the party after a disciplinary panel rules he should be suspended for another year over comments about antisemitism, Hitler and Zionism. Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis,  accuses Labour of failing the Jewish community by not expelling Livingstone.
Corbyn backs a party rule change, put forward by the Jewish Labour Movement, that takes tougher line on antisemitic abuse.
With Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, sitting beside her, Berger said: “ Anti-racism is one our essential values and there was a time not long ago when the left actively confronted antisemitism.
“One antisemitic member of the Labour party is one member too many ... It pains me to say this in 2018 that within the Labour party antisemitism is now more commonplace, is more conspicuous and is more corrosive.“One antisemitic member of the Labour party is one member too many ... It pains me to say this in 2018 that within the Labour party antisemitism is now more commonplace, is more conspicuous and is more corrosive.
“I have no words for the people that purport to be both members and supporters of our party, who use that hashtag #JC4PM who attacked me in recent weeks for my comments.” She received a standing ovation for her speech. Labour’s Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, was also cheered when he called on his party’s leadership to expel Ken Livingstone, who claimed Hitler was a Zionist, from the party to show it was taking antisemitism seriously. Livingstone has been suspended from the party for two years.
She received a standing ovation for her speech. Labour’s Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, called on his party’s leadership to expel Ken Livingstone, who claimed Hitler was a Zionist, from the party to show it was taking antisemitism seriously.
“It happened more than two years ago. There’s been plenty of opportunity to deal with it. It’s a disgrace it hasn’t been dealt with. Kick him out immediately,” he said.
Another Labour backbencher, Joan Ryan, said she had just been in Poland to take part in the March of the Living visiting the places “where history’s greatest shame was committed”.Another Labour backbencher, Joan Ryan, said she had just been in Poland to take part in the March of the Living visiting the places “where history’s greatest shame was committed”.
“When I first became an MP 21 years ago, I never imagined that some in my party would suggest that this horror should be a matter for debate. [Would he join me in saying] shame on them, and shame on any who fails to speak out against them.”“When I first became an MP 21 years ago, I never imagined that some in my party would suggest that this horror should be a matter for debate. [Would he join me in saying] shame on them, and shame on any who fails to speak out against them.”
John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw who chairs the all party group on antisemitism, told MPs that as a result of his office his wife has had rape threats and a dead bird was sent to her through the post, his school age son has opened the door to the bomb squad and his daughter has had to inform Special Branch of her whereabouts. Among several MPs cheered and applauded by colleagues for their speeches, Ruth Smeeth, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, criticised the “poison” of antisemitism that was “engulfing” part of her own party and wider political discourse.
He said: “Those who say it is a smear raising this issue need to publicly apologise and publicly understand what they are doing and what they are saying and the dangers It doesn’t end with me and my family. It doesn’t end with Jewish members of parliament.
Where this stuff ends is what happened in Copenhagen, what happened in Brussels, what happened in France repeatedly including four weeks ago … it is because they are Jewish that’s where this ends and we know where history takes us.”
Ruth Smeeth, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, was applauded after a speech in which she criticised the “poison” of anti-semitism that was “engulfing” part of her own party and wider political discourse.
“The last two years I have experienced something genuinely painful, attacks on my identity from my own Labour family. I’ve been the target of a campaign of abuse, attempted bullying and intimidation who would dare to tell me, that people like me have no place in the party that I have been a member of for 20 years,” she said.
The veteran Labour backbencher Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, said antisemitism was everywhere, but in Labour it was despicable.
“When that anti-semitism grows unchallenged from a mainstream political party, a party of government, they feel frightened. But together with feeling frightened, they feel angry too. And they feel anguished,” she said.
“I share that anguish as I meet day by day Jewish members of the Labour party who tell me they can no longer continue in the party they once held dear. The party they now feel has betrayed them.
Dame Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, described how she had seen a battered suitcase with her uncle’s initials on it when she visited Auschwitz and how she had “never felt as nervous and frightened as I do today” about being Jewish.Dame Margaret Hodge, MP for Barking, described how she had seen a battered suitcase with her uncle’s initials on it when she visited Auschwitz and how she had “never felt as nervous and frightened as I do today” about being Jewish.
“It feels that my party has given permission for anti-semitism to go unchallenged. Antisemitism is making me an outsider in my Labour party. Enough is enough.” “It feels that my party has given permission for antisemitism to go unchallenged. Antisemitism is making me an outsider in my Labour party. Enough is enough.”
Javid suggested that antisemitism within Labour ranks had increased since Corbyn had taken over as leader. “While I would much rather that this issue transcended party politics, as other forms of racism have done for a long time, we cannot and we must not ignore the particular concern with elements within the Labour party. John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw – who chairs the all party group on antisemitism, criticised those on the left who claim that calling out antisemitism is a way of attacking Corbyn.
“Nor can we ignore the fact that this increasing concern has correlated with the current leader of the opposition, and the waves of activists that have come with him.” “Those who say it is a smear raising this issue need to publicly apologise and publicly understand what they are doing,” he said.
The shadow communities secretary, Andrew Gwynne, acknowledged the Labour party had to get better at “policing our own borders” and that “much, much more work” needed to be done. “Where this stuff ends is what happened in Copenhagen, what happened in Brussels, what happened in France repeatedly including four weeks ago … it is because they are Jewish that’s where this ends and we know where history takes us.”
He said it was not enough that the party had adopted the Holocaust Education Trust’s definition of antisemitism and written the party’s outright opposition to it into its rule book. The communities secretary Sajid Javid opened the debate accusing Corbyn, who was sitting in the Commons for almost every speech, of displaying a “worrying lack of leadership and moral clarity” on antisemitism.
“Recent events have shown that the Labour party need to be better at policing our own borders. The Labour party was formed to change society, to give a voice to the oppressed: reflecting the existing defects of society can never be enough,” he said. Javid urged the Labour leader to “once and for all” clarify his opposition to antisemitism as the Commons took the highly unusual step of debating the issue.
Late on Friday, Jennie Formby, who started her new role as Labour’s general secretary two weeks ago, set out in an email to Labour MPs the action she has taken. “Jeremy and I are determined to eradicate the stain of anti-semitic attitudes in our party, and this will be a central priority in my role as general secretary,” she said. Corbyn is holding talks next week with two leading Jewish organisation, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies, although a proposed roundtable discussion with community leaders is in doubt after mainstream invitees objected to the inclusion of an anti-Israel Jewish group.
Shami Chakrabarti has been appointed to a new NEC working group on anti-semitism. The outstanding recommendations in her report are being finalised, including the appointment of an in-house team of lawyers to work on outstanding cases. In a move to underline how it has responded in the month since a demonstration by the two organisations outside parliament, the new general secretary Jennie Formby emailed every Labour MP on Tuesday night to set out progress since she began work a fortnight ago.
“Jeremy and I are determined to eradicate the stain of antisemitic attitudes in our party, and this will be a central priority in my role as general secretary,” she said in email.
But her words were almost immediately undermined by the closing remarks of the shadow home secretary Diane Abbott who devoted more than half her speech to addressing the concerns of the Haredi community of ultra-orthodox Jews in her Hackney constituency. She failed to address any of the points made by colleagues, and quote a rabbi who had suggested that antisemitism was part of a wider social discontent.
Louise Ellman, who had made a powerful speech in the debate, said afterwards “I was appalled. It was a grave misjudgement.” Another Labour MP, Wes Streeting, told MPs that he feared the wider Jewish community would be “horrified by the response from our front bench to this debate today.”
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, concluded: “Labour is a noble and honourable party and it is absolutely wrong that this corner of antisemitism has been allowed to flourish. [Corbyn] has an obligation to take action. We expect nothing less.”
JudaismJudaism
Race issuesRace issues
LabourLabour
Jeremy CorbynJeremy Corbyn
Sajid JavidSajid Javid
Luciana BergerLuciana Berger
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