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Labour frontbencher urges party to adopt full antisemitism code Jeremy Corbyn faces growing calls to solve Labour's antisemitism crisis
(about 7 hours later)
A senior shadow cabinet member has called on Labour to fully adopt an internationally accepted definition of antisemitism after a joint editorial in three prominent Jewish newspapers said a government led by Jeremy Corbyn would be an “existential threat” to Jewish life in the UK. Jeremy Corbyn is facing mounting pressure to tackle the party’s crisis over antisemitism after three Jewish newspapers jointly condemned the party, with two shadow cabinet members among a series of senior figures calling on the Labour leader to change course.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said he was “very depressed” by the front-page editorials on Thursday in the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph condemning the decision over Labour’s code of conduct, and said the party needed to rebuild trust with the Jewish community. Two shadow cabinet members openly called for the party to reverse its opposition to fully adopting an internationally-recognised definition of antisemitism, while other figures privately expressed anger at the situation.
“This is really serious for us as a party, because if we’ve got the Jewish community feeling upset and feeling that we no longer stand for them, even though on many other issues we probably share the same values, then clearly as a party that aspires to govern the country on behalf of everybody, then we need to respond to that,” Ashworth told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. A day after the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph printed unprecedented joint front-page editorials calling a Corbyn-led government an “existential threat” to Jewish life in the UK, there was no official response beyond a brief party statement defending the current policy.
The joint editorial said Labour was until recently the natural home for the Jewish community, but that Labour had “seen its values and integrity eroded by Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel” and now faced being seen as institutionally racist. Months of disquiet over claims Labour has failed to properly clamp down on antisemitism has culminated in anger over the decision to not adopt into the party code of conduct the full text on antisemitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the most widely recognised accepted definition.
The papers said: “The stain and shame of antisemitism has coursed through Her Majesty’s opposition since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015.” They produced the joint editorial “because of the existential threat to Jewish life in this country that would be posed by a Jeremy Corbyn-led government”. While Labour accepts the definition, its national executive committee (NEC) decided this week to not adopt all 11 examples given by the IHRA, arguing that, under one of them, legitimate criticism of Israel could be deemed antisemitic.
It added: “With the government in Brexit disarray, there is a clear and present danger that a man with a default blindness to the Jewish community’s fears, a man who has a problem seeing that hateful rhetoric aimed at Israel can easily step into antisemitism, could be our next prime minister.” The joint editorial said the NEC’s decision showed Corbyn had “a default blindness to the Jewish community’s fears” and that Labour risked being seen as institutionally racist.
Concern has mounted amid the refusal of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to accept the full text of the working definition of antisemitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The document provides a definition and 11 examples. The former is accepted by Labour, but not all of the latter. Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said he was “very depressed” by the editorials and called for the NEC to reverse its decision.
Ashworth said the NEC should “reflect carefully on what these newspapers are telling us, and reflect carefully on what the Jewish community is telling us”. “This international definition, which our democratically-elected members don’t feel is strong enough or appropriate, I think they need to reconsider that,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “It seems obvious to me that we do need to rebuild trust with the Jewish community, and the place to start is by accepting a definition which is broadly accepted internationally.”
He said: “This international definition, which our democratically-elected members don’t feel is strong enough or appropriate, I think they need to reconsider that. It seems obvious to me that we do need to rebuild trust with the Jewish community, and the place to start is by accepting a definition which is broadly accepted internationally.” The shadow international trade minister, Barry Gardiner, told Jewish News that he believed it “would have been better for the party to adopt the IHRA definition in full with all the examples”.
It was, Ashworth said, “a deeply saddening day that those newspapers feel they have had to come out and speak in such strong terms”. He added: “I am very depressed by what I have seen.” Other senior figures in Labour declined to go on the record, but expressed frustration at what several said was a decision on the IHRA definition led by a small group of people around Corbyn.
Ashworth’s comments place more pressure on Corbyn and his team. Amid rising anger, a showdown on the issue was averted on Monday when a vote by Labour MPs on whether to adopt the full IHRA definition was put off until September. “The overwhelming majority of MPs want us just to accept the IHRA definition and be done with it,” one senior source said. “There is a view that some people close to Jeremy could be end up falling foul of that and that’s the reason it hasn’t yet happened. It’s only the leadership standing in the way of this.”
However, the Labour leader has shown no signs of seeking to revisit the NEC decision. Asked about the code if conduct on Tuesday, Corbyn said the party was “continuing to consult and discuss with the Jewish community and Jewish organisations to ensure it operates in the best way possible”. A senior Labour MP said there was “absolute anger” at the situation: “I suspect that a lot of people on the front bench will just be thinking, ‘What have we got into? Why are in this position?’”
Responding to the joint editorials on Wednesday evening, a Labour spokesperson said such a government posed “no threat of any kind whatsoever to Jewish people”, and that their security was a priority. Another Labour insider said it was accepted that some opponents of Corbyn were capitalising on the row to undermine him “but even if that is the case, the bulk of the concern is absolutely genuine. The front pages mark a real low-point for us”.
“We understand the strong concerns raised in the Jewish community and are seeking to engage with communal organisations to build trust and confidence in our party. We know there is a huge amount of work to do,” they said. An immediate party showdown on the issue was averted on Monday when a vote by Labour MPs on whether to adopt the full IHRA definition was put off until September, while the NEC has agreed to re-open discussions on the code.
Labour said its code of conduct “expands on and contextualises its examples to produce robust, legally sound guidelines that a political party can apply to disciplinary cases”. However, there were fears the row could become fiercer still if MPs then called for the full definition, only for it to be rejected by the NEC. Elections for the body began on Thursday and were expected to again return a majority supportive of whichever stance Corbyn supports.
Labour’s NEC objects to the example that defines “claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour” as antisemitism. The party said it was concerned about creating a code that could be “used to deny Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel and their supporters, their rights and freedoms to describe the discrimination and injustices they face in the language they deem appropriate”. Ivor Caplin, the former MP who chairs the Jewish Labour Movement, the most prominent body representing Jewish party members, warned that the perception of antisemitism risked harming Labour the polls.
There was support for the three newspapers’ view within the Labour party on Wednesday evening. He said he had been talking to Jewish representative councils in Manchester. “They all said the same thing: it isn’t just us,” he said. “This is also our non-Jewish friends, Muslims, Sikhs. It is now a matter of concern for the public generally. The damage will be electoral. Trying to just put your head in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening is frankly not a strategy that will lead us into government.
The Labour MP Ian Austin tweeted that the move by the newspapers was unprecedented and that every member of the party should be ashamed. “In the 90s, the Labour party had to prove to the British public that we were to be trusted with the economy. We did that and we won power. I think that today the proof we have to give to the British public is that we are capable and able to deal with antisemitism within our own ranks.”
Simon Johnson, the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “This is quite something. First, a letter from 68 rabbis from all shades of observance. Now the three mainstream community papers unite.”
LabourLabour
AntisemitismAntisemitism
Jonathan AshworthJonathan Ashworth
Jeremy CorbynJeremy Corbyn
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