LABOUR’S RACI
In 50 searing pages, party’s own Jewish wing lays bare full anti-Semitism horror
‘The truth is there for all to see’
THE full extent of vicious anti- Jewish racism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party was laid bare in a bombshell document last night.
A leaked 50-page submission to Britain’s equalities watchdog detailed the extraordinary litany of vile abuse faced by Jewish members at Labour Party meetings.
Shockingly, the dossier – from the Jewish Labour Movement and based on sworn statements by 70 serving and former Labour officials – also accused Mr Corbyn’s office of interfering in antiSemitism cases, with complaints dismissed if they were made against those close to the leadership.
It concluded that the Labour Party was ‘no longer a safe space for Jewish people or for those who stand up against anti-Semitism’.
The devastating dossier is the JLM’s submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is conducting an inquiry into whether Labour is institutionally anti- Semitic. It marked a new low for Mr Corbyn and the scandal that has engulfed the party since he became leader. Its shocking revelations included:
One Jewish Labour member was told he was a ‘Tory Jew’ and a ‘child killer’ – and that ‘Hitler was right’;
Senior members of Mr Corbyn’s team described calls for Ken Livingstone to be expelled for antiSemitism as a ‘Jewish conspiracy’;
Mr Corbyn had personally ‘engaged in’ anti-Semitism, with nine separate incidents detailed.
Chancellor Sajid Javid tweeted last night: ‘Devastating evidence... on the “institutional anti-Semitism” that has taken hold of Labour under Corbyn. When will anti-racist Labour supporters come forward and put an end to this?’
Jewish former Labour MP Luciana Berger, who was forced out of the party and joined the Lib Dems, added: ‘Now the truth is there for all to see. We have to fight racism wherever it festers.’
The bombshell document lifted the lid on the vile abuse faced by Jewish members at Labour Party meetings, where anti-Semitism is now a ‘common experience’.
The membership secretary of one branch allegedly refused to allow orthodox Jews to join unless they had been personally vetted in house visits. Labour branch meetings were also held on Friday nights and Saturdays to stop observant Jews from attending.
And, according to one former Labour official, senior members of Mr Corbyn’s team described calls for Mr Livingstone to be expelled for anti-Semitism as part of a ‘Jewish conspiracy’. The Holocaust Education Trust said last night this was redolent of ‘Nazi-era language’.
The JLM said Mr Corbyn had made Labour a ‘welcoming refuge’ and it could no longer recommend that he should be prime minister.
And it urged politicians to examine their consciences before propping up the Labour leader in a hung parliament to allow him to get into No 10.
Sam Matthews, a former Labour staffer who has spoken out over the anti-Semitism problem, said Mr Corbyn’s claim that he had ‘dealt with’ the scandal was ‘ part of a campaign of lies and misinformation that the Labour Party has put out for a number of years now’.
The dossier’s foreword states: ‘The Labour Party is no longer a safe space for Jewish people or for those who stand up against antiSemitism. Since Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, he has made the party a welcoming refuge for anti-Semites.’
The JLM also said senior members of the Labour leadership had interfered in anti-Semitism cases.
It said: ‘Personal requests were made by [Corbyn aides] Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray to revoke the suspension of a member suspended for anti-Semitic posts. When the... team attempted to push back, they were told they must lift the suspension on account of “J C [being] interested in this one”.’
Mr Corbyn said yesterday: ‘When I became leader of the party there were no processes in place to deal with anti-Semitism.
‘We introduced an appeals procedure to deal with it and we introduced an education process, so that party members understood the hurt that can be caused by anti-Semitic remarks or antiSemitic behaviour.’
Former Labour MP Joan Ryan yesterday described Mr Corbyn as an ‘ extremist who consorts with terrorists’, adding: ‘ Corbyn has allowed anti-Semitism to infect the Labour Party.’
Lord Falconer, a former Labour justice secretary, said: ‘I have the gravest, gravest concerns in the light of the anti-Semitism problems. I believe it to be utterly damning of the Labour Party.’
A Labour spokesman said the report was ‘littered with inaccuracies’. He added: ‘Anti-Semitism is an evil and we are committed to rooting it out of our party and society. We are fully co-operating with the EHRC.’