THE WOMEN WHO SHAMED CORBYN
They electrify Commons with their stories of anti-Semitism ... piling pressure on leader
‘The time for action is now’
Hang yourself, you vile, treacherous Tory filth... you are a cancer of humanity MP Ruth Smeeth tells Commons of the shocking messages of hate she has received
They have called me Judas, a Zio-Nazi, an absolute parasite... telling me to get out and go back to Israel MP Luciana Berger
TWO women Labour MPs put Jeremy Corbyn to shame last night as they detailed vile abuse at the hands of his supporters.
On a devastating day for the Labour leader, Jewish MPs Luciana Berger and Ruth Smeeth read out examples of the shocking abuse they have received from activists for highlighting the party’s anti-Semitism crisis.
In an emotionally charged debate on anti-Semtism, which shredded Mr Corbyn’s remaining authority, MPs on all sides broke with convention to give the pair standing ovations in the Commons. Some MPs were reduced to tears by their harrowing stories.
Miss Smeeth said she had received thousands of abusive messages on social media, many of them from people claiming to be supporters of the Labour leader.
One read: ‘The first job for Jeremy Corbyn tomorrow: expel the Zionist b**** Ruth Smeeth from the party.’ Another said: ‘Hang yourself you vile treacherous Zionist Tory filth, you’re a cancer of humanity.’
She said: ‘I’ve been the target of abuse from people who say I have no place in the party I have been in for 20 years.’
Miss Berger also said she had received abuse at the hands of people using the hashtag JC4PM (Jeremy Corbyn for prime minister).
She said: ‘It is anti-Semitism of the worst kind; suggesting that I’m a traitor to our country, they have called me “Judas”, a “ZioNazi”, an “absolute parasite”, telling me to “get out of this country and to go back to Israel”.
‘ My party urgently needs to address this issue publicly and consistently. We have a duty to the next generation. Denial is not an option. …The time for action is now. Enough really is enough.’
In an extraordinary demonstration of the growing schism in Labour, the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson abandoned his seat on the front bench alongside Mr Corbyn to sit in solidarity with Miss Berger and Miss Smeeth.
The three-hour debate saw a string of Labour MPs stand up to condemn Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle a problem Miss Smeeth said was ‘engulfing’ sections of the party. Many called for Mr Corbyn’s ally Ken Livingstone to be ‘booted out’ of the party for claiming Hitler was a Zionist.
John Mann, chairman of the allparty group on anti-Semitism, said Jewish people were ‘scared’ to be in the party and revealed his wife had been sent a dead bird through the post, and that she had been threatened with rape.
‘I didn’t expect when I took on this voluntary cross-party role for my wife to be sent by a Labour Marxist anti-Semite a dead bird through the post,’ he said.
Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge said she had ‘never felt as nervous and frightened as I do today’ about being Jewish. Mr Corbyn has come under extreme pressure to tackle anti-Semitism and will meet representatives of Jewish groups next week. A BMG poll for the Independent last night found 61 per cent of people think Labour has an anti-Semitism problem, with more than half saying Mr Corbyn is handling it ‘badly’.
The Labour leader did not speak during yesterday’s debate. But as Communities Secretary Sajid Javid opened yesterday’s debate he could be seen muttering angrily under his breath. Several Labour MPs directly criticised Mr Corbyn’s handling of the crisis, with Ian Austin saying he needed to ‘take this much more seriously’.
Mr Austin said he was ‘ deeply ashamed’ of the situation. He said Mr Corbyn had a track record of defending anti-Semitic groups like Hamas and had opposed the removal of a ‘grotesque’ anti-Jewish mural. He urged him to eject Mr Livingstone from the party, saying it was ‘a disgrace’ the former London mayor had not yet been ‘booted out’ of the party. Many of the most powerful interventions came from female MPs, some of whom have needed police protection after receiving death threats.
Dame Margaret described how she had seen a battered suitcase with her uncle’s initials on it when she visited Auschwitz as she warned against forgetting the lessons of the past. ‘Anti-Semitism is making me an outsider in my Labour party. Enough is enough.’
Mr Javid said Mr Corbyn had ‘too many accidental associations’ with anti-Semitism to list.
He also warned that there has been a spike in ‘dinner party antiSemites’ – respectable middleclass professionals who secretly harbour a hatred of Jews. ‘We cannot and must not ignore the particular concern with elements within the Labour party,’ he said.
Mr Corbyn leader faced criticism after walking out of the debate, missing the speeches by Miss Smeeth and Mr Mann, although he later returned.