Amid ire, U.K.’s Labour Party alters anti-Semitism definition

LONDON — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party on Tuesday adopted an internationally recognized definition of anti-Semitism, an about-face aimed at defusing a crisis that has alarmed U.K. Jews and divided party ranks.

After a meeting lasting several hours, Labour’s National Executive Committee backed a definition approved by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Earlier this year, the party adopted a more limited definition, omitting some of the alliance’s language around criticism of Israel. The alliance’s definition, for example, says it is anti-Semitic to compare contemporary Israeli policies to the policies of the Nazis. The original Labour definition left that out, but it has now been included.

Labour’s reluctance to adopt the entire definition renewed claims that the left-of-centre party has become hostile to Jews under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime supporter of the Palestinians.

Corbyn has insisted that antiSemitism has no place in the Labour Party, but some members accuse him of failing to stamp out anti-Jewish prejudice. Last week, veteran lawmaker Frank Field quit Labour’s grouping in Parliament, saying the party had become a “force for anti-Semitism.”

The European Jewish Council “cautiously” welcomed Labour’s change of policy but said it was “deeply regrettable” it had taken so long