Thursday, October 31, 2019
Anti-Semitism controversy hits Labour election campaign
The controversy over Labour's failure to tackle anti-Semitism has hit home this morning with the news that their official Jewish affiliate will not support them in the upcoming general election campaign because of Jeremy Corbyn's "failure of leadership" on the issue.
The Independent reports that the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) said it believed Mr Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister and claimed that "a culture of antisemitism has been allowed to emerge and fester in the party at all levels":
The organisation, which has been affiliated to Labour for 100 years, said it would only campaign for "exceptional candidates" who had been staunch allies in the fight against antisemitism, such as its own parliamentary chair.
The announcement will come as a blow to Mr Corbyn just a day into the six-week election campaign ahead of the 12 December poll.
During the 2017 election campaign, JLM organised more than 50 campaign events to promote Labour candidates and its members travelled across the country to knock on doors and deliver leaflets.
The group has been highly critical of Mr Corbyn response to antisemitism. At its Annual General Meeting in April, it held a vote on whether to disaffiliate from Labour but members vowed to "stay and fight", despite declaring that they believed Mr Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister.
Labour is currently being investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission following complaints that it is institutionally antisemitic. While the watchdog is not due to report until January, Mr Corbyn's handling of the crisis is likely to be brought up frequently by his opponents during the election campaign.
While JLM said it would not campaign for candidates standing against Labour, it is expected to draw attention to Labour MPs who it believes have a poor record of tackling antisemitism.
In a statement, the group said there was "damning evidence of the party's moral slide" under Mr Corbyn's leadership and said that "a culture of antisemitism has been allowed to emerge and fester in the party at all levels".
It said: "This crisis of antisemitism in the Labour Party stems from a failure of leadership from Jeremy Corbyn. When the answer has been to take swift, decisive action, the reality has been equivocation and token gestures. Time and time again, the party has not engaged in good faith to try to implement the actions that we believe are necessary to tackle anti-Jewish racism.
Yes another indication of the uphill battle facing Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
The Independent reports that the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) said it believed Mr Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister and claimed that "a culture of antisemitism has been allowed to emerge and fester in the party at all levels":
The organisation, which has been affiliated to Labour for 100 years, said it would only campaign for "exceptional candidates" who had been staunch allies in the fight against antisemitism, such as its own parliamentary chair.
The announcement will come as a blow to Mr Corbyn just a day into the six-week election campaign ahead of the 12 December poll.
During the 2017 election campaign, JLM organised more than 50 campaign events to promote Labour candidates and its members travelled across the country to knock on doors and deliver leaflets.
The group has been highly critical of Mr Corbyn response to antisemitism. At its Annual General Meeting in April, it held a vote on whether to disaffiliate from Labour but members vowed to "stay and fight", despite declaring that they believed Mr Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister.
Labour is currently being investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission following complaints that it is institutionally antisemitic. While the watchdog is not due to report until January, Mr Corbyn's handling of the crisis is likely to be brought up frequently by his opponents during the election campaign.
While JLM said it would not campaign for candidates standing against Labour, it is expected to draw attention to Labour MPs who it believes have a poor record of tackling antisemitism.
In a statement, the group said there was "damning evidence of the party's moral slide" under Mr Corbyn's leadership and said that "a culture of antisemitism has been allowed to emerge and fester in the party at all levels".
It said: "This crisis of antisemitism in the Labour Party stems from a failure of leadership from Jeremy Corbyn. When the answer has been to take swift, decisive action, the reality has been equivocation and token gestures. Time and time again, the party has not engaged in good faith to try to implement the actions that we believe are necessary to tackle anti-Jewish racism.
Yes another indication of the uphill battle facing Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
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All this publicity about Labour's systemic anti-Semitism may actually help the party in areas where there is a high proportion of Muslim voters, especially as the Jewish community in Britain has been shrinking. It would be more sensible to concentrate on Labour's unworkable proposals for the economy and its illusory EU policy.
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