This just isn’t good enough Jewish group tells Corbyn
JEWISH leaders last night denounced Jeremy Corbyn for ‘falling short’ as he refused to agree to any of their demands to tackle anti-Semitism in Labour.
A meeting between the party leader and Jewish community groups was branded a ‘disappointing missed opportunity’, despite Mr Corbyn’s claims to have an ‘absolute determination’ to root out anti-Semitism.
After their showdown in Westminster, Jonathan Goldstein, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, and Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies, warned that ‘words will never be enough’.
The Labour leader refused to agree to demands that included setting a timetable to deal with anti-Semitism cases, speeding up disciplinary action against former London mayor Mr Livingstone which has dragged on for two years, and banning MPs from appearing with members under investigation by the party.
In a joint statement, Mr Goldstein and Mr Arkush said: ‘Our meeting with Jeremy Corbyn was a disappointing missed opportunity regarding the problem of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. He failed to agree to any of the concrete actions we asked for. It is action by which the Jewish community will judge him and the Labour Party.
‘Our sole objective from this meeting was to build trust with Mr Corbyn, but this will not be possible unless he and the party turn their many strong words against anti-Semitism into equally strong actions.’
Mr Goldstein added: ‘ We are extremely disappointed that after we issued a very sensible series of proposals, not one of them has been given to the Jewish community.’
Mr Corbyn however, claimed it had been a ‘positive and constructive meeting’, but committed only to ‘laying out the further steps we are taking in the coming weeks’.
Ahead of the meeting yesterday, the Labour leader had apologised for the pain caused by the party’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism.
‘We have not done enough to get to grips with the problem, and for that the Jewish community and our own Jewish members deserve an apology,’ he wrote in an article for the Evening Standard. ‘My party and I are sorry for the hurt and distress caused.’
He acknowledged party processes to tackle incidents of anti-Semitism had ‘been simply not fully fit for purpose’ and ‘we did not look closely enough at ourselves’.
He also admitted a particular problem among the Palestinian movement, of which he has been a key member for decades.
Mr Corbyn wrote: ‘Individuals on the fringes of the movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people can stray into anti-Semitic views.
‘The struggle for justice for the Palestinian people and an end to their dispossession is a noble one.
‘But when criticism of or opposition to the Israeli government uses anti-Semitic ideas – attributing its injustices to Jewish identity, demanding that Jews in Britain or elsewhere answer for its conduct, or comparing Israel to the Nazis – then a line must be drawn.
‘But there are also a very few who are drawn to the Palestinian question precisely because it affords an opportunity to express hostility to Jewish people in a “respectable” setting. Our movement must not be a home for such individuals.’
Susan Pollack, a Hungarian-born Auschwitz survivor whose parents were murdered by the Nazis, yesterday urged Mr Corbyn to ‘act’ and rid the party of ‘vile’ and ‘evil’ antiSemite members.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: ‘Apologies accomplish nothing. You’ve got to act as a leader.’
A Labour source last night denied Mr Corbyn had refused to speed up the disciplinary action against Mr Livingstone, claiming he had committed to resolving it by the end of July.
‘Deserve an apology’