Antisemitism in the British Labour Party
In response, Corbyn established the Chakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not "overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism", it found an "occasionally toxic atmosphere" and "clear evidence of ignorant attitudes".
A. Hobson wrote that the gold mines in South Africa were "almost entirely in their [the Jews'] hands",[9] and Labour Party founder Keir Hardie stated that Jewish financial houses were part of a secretive imperialist cabal that promoted war.
[b] Community Security Trust spokesman Mark Gardner responded: "Anybody who understands antisemitism will recognise just how ugly and objectionable these quotes are, with their imagery of Jewish control and money power.
"[51] After a year-long suspension, a hearing in April 2017 by the National Constitution Committee (NCC) determined he was guilty of prejudicial and detrimental conduct and suspended him from standing for office or representing the party for a further year.
[56] Following that year's Party Conference, at which Walker asked in a training session why Holocaust Memorial Day did not include pre-1940 genocides such as the Atlantic slave trade, she was removed from her Momentum position, while remaining on its steering committee, after TSSA union general secretary Manuel Cortes said their funding would be reconsidered otherwise.
[61] Following the suspensions, Corbyn commissioned an inquiry into antisemitism and other forms of racism in April 2016, led by barrister Shami Chakrabarti, former head of the human rights advocacy group Liberty.
[62] In June, the inquiry reported that it had found "no evidence" of systemic antisemitism in Labour, save for an "occasionally toxic atmosphere", and made 20 recommendations, including outlawing offensive terms and improving disciplinary procedures.
[82] In November 2017, Jewish authors Howard Jacobson, Simon Schama, and Simon Sebag Montefiore in a letter to The Times, said "We are alarmed that during the past few years, constructive criticism of Israeli governments has morphed into something closer to antisemitism under the cloak of so-called anti-Zionism", further stating "Although anti-Zionists claim innocence of any antisemitic intent, anti-Zionism frequently borrows the libels of classical Jew-hating," and adding "Accusations of international Jewish conspiracy and control of the media have resurfaced to support false equations of Zionism with colonialism and imperialism, and the promotion of vicious, fictitious parallels with genocide and Nazism".
The artwork depicted what Mear One described as an "elite banker cartel" of the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Morgans and others sitting around a Monopoly-style board game on the backs of men with dark complexions.
[124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131] At the beginning of April, The Sunday Times reported that it had uncovered over 2,000 examples of antisemitic, racist, violent threats and abusive posts in Corbyn-supporting private Facebook groups, including frequent attacks on Jews and Holocaust-denying material.
[141] In March 2018, Christine Shawcroft, the recently appointed[142] head of the Party's disputes panel, resigned after it emerged she had opposed the suspension of Peterborough council candidate Alan Bull, for what she called "a Facebook post taken completely out of context and alleged to show anti-Semitism".
[5] Also in September, the Media Reform Coalition examined over 250 articles and broadcast news segments covering the issue, and found over 90 examples of what it considered to be misleading or inaccurate reporting.
[178][179][180] In February and July 2019, Labour issued information on investigations into complaints of antisemitism against individuals, with around 350 members resigning, being expelled or receiving formal warnings, equating to around 0.06% of the party's membership.
[191] Later in July, Labour issued an online leaflet entitled "No Place For Antisemitism" alongside related documents and videos, as the launch of a programme of educating members on oppression and social liberation, and to help them confront racism and bigotry.
A. Hobson asked, 'is a man free who has not equal opportunity with his fellows of such access to all material and moral means of personal development and work as shall contribute to his own welfare and that of his society?
[202] Later in the month, Lord Falconer accepted an invitation to examine Labour's processes in order to increase transparency although this did not take place due to the announcement of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation.
The worst cases of anti-Semitism in our party have included Holocaust denial, crude Jewish-banker stereotypes, conspiracy theories blaming Israel for 9/11 or every war on the Rothschild family, and even one member who appeared to believe that Hitler had been misunderstood.
[216] Of the complaints rest, Labour decided that 100 lacked sufficient evidence and 163 showed no rule breaches, 90 received formal warnings or reminders of conduct and 97 wer referred to the NCC.
[229][230] In February, seven MPs quit Labour to form The Independent Group (latterly Change UK), citing their dissatisfaction with the party's leftward political direction, its approach to Brexit and to allegations of antisemitism.
"[245] In 2016, Labour MP Harriet Harman had expressed concern about the suitability of its chair, David Isaac, given his principal role as an equity partner at a City law firm that advises the Conservative government, Pinsent Masons.
[262] The UK's Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, made an unprecedented intervention in politics, warning that antisemitism was a "poison sanctioned from the top" of Labour, and saying that British Jews were gripped by anxiety about the prospect of a Corbyn-led government.
[275] In June 2020, Rebecca Long-Bailey was asked to resign as Shadow Secretary of State for Education by Starmer after she shared a link to an Independent interview actor Maxine Peake which contained: "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd's neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services.
The party committee ruled that belonging to these factions was grounds for expulsion; that future complaints would be handled by an independent appeal body; and that all prospective Labour candidates would be trained by JLM.
"[298][299][300] It showed how senior Labour staff displayed "deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes" towards Corbyn and his supporters,[301] and revealed a "hierarchy of racism" in the party that ignored Black and Asian people.
[302] Labour under Starmer suspended parliamentary candidates and MPs, including Graham Jones, Andy McDonald, Azhar Ali and Kate Osamor, for their alleged anti-Semitic comments during the Israel-Hamas war.
[309] He stated that he had never heard antisemitic language at a party meeting, adding "Unfortunately at the time there were lots of people playing games, everybody wanted to create this image that Jeremy Corbyn's leadership had become misogynist, had become racist, had become anti-Semitic and it was wrong.
The signatories included David Epstein, Mike Leigh, Michael Rosen, Avi Shlaim, Gillian Slovo, Annabelle Sreberny, Walter Wolfgang, Peter Buckman, Erica Burman, Keith Burstein, Miriam David, Michael Ellman, Nick Foster, Susan Himmelweit, Selma James, Ann Jungman, Frank Land, Gillian McCall, Helen Pearson and Ian Saville.
– discuss] In May 2016, Israeli historian and Oxford University Professor of International Relations Avi Shlaim argued that "charges of Jew-hatred are being deliberately manipulated to serve a pro-Zionist agenda.
Signatories included Lynne Segal, Annabelle Sreberny, Beverley Skeggs, Gary Hall, Neve Gordon, Margaret Gallagher, Maria Chatzichristodoulou, Jill Daniels and Ruth Catlow.
"[348] For Matt Seaton the controversy over Labour's attitudes to Jews and antisemitism is a proxy fight whose real conflict is one of a battle for the soul of the party waged between social democrats and traditional anti-imperialist socialists.
