Labour: They still don’t get it
JULY 17
Corbyn ally claims ‘Jewish Trump fanatics’ invented anti-Semitism row
YESTERDAY
He’s re-elected to the party’s ruling body!
LABOUR’S anti-Semitism crisis deepened last night after a long-time friend and ally of Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected to its ruling body weeks after making ‘reprehensible’ comments about Jews.
Peter Willsman claimed one of nine places on the party’s national executive committee, despite being caught on tape describing some members of the Jewish community as ‘Trump fanatics’ who were ‘making up’ problems about anti-Semitism in the party.
His election means he will take part in today’s crunch NEC decision on whether to adopt the internationally recognised definition of anti-Semitism, which has been resisted by the Labour leader.
Labour MP Mike Gapes hinted last week that he could quit the party if the NEC refuses to sign up to the definition without qualification today. Several other moderate MPs have warned privately that failure to adopt the definition could also force them out of the party.
Fellow moderate Rosie Duffield warned: ‘If this definition is not adopted, the majority of Labour MPs won’t take this sitting down. We have talked about walking out – going on strike.
‘It is not for us as a party to reject that definition which so many countries have adopted. It’s just so embarrassing.’
Mr Corbyn has resisted adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism until now. Critics claim he is concerned that his own past comments – including his suggestion that British Zionists ‘don’t understand English irony’ – could fall foul of it.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard was yesterday urged to take a stand at the NEC meeting today. As he sits on the NEC, Mr Leonard will have the opportunity to phone in to the London meeting and vote on the matter.
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Richard Leonard has been oddly quiet on this matter – but this is his biggest chance yet to take a proper
‘This is deeply concerning’
and convincing stand against anti-Semitism.
‘By phoning in and voting to adopt the definition, he may well face the ire of Jeremy Corbyn and his legions of dogmatic supporters. But he’d also be reassuring Scotland’s Jewish community that the Labour party here will not tolerate or ignore anti-Semitism.
‘If Richard Leonard does not back this definition of antiSemitism, he will do irreparable damage to the relationship between his party and Jewish people in Scotland.’
Mr Corbyn looked an increasingly isolated figure last night after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry both backed adoption of the definition.
Labour sources predicted the NEC would finally adopt the international definition of antiSemitism today, but couple it with a ‘clarification’ to underline members’ freedom to criticise Israel. But any move to qualify the standard definition is likely to spark further internal rows.
Mr McDonnell said: ‘I’m hoping what will happen is exactly what people are saying – an acceptance of the IHRA definition, that’s what people are pressing for.
‘But also to ensure... that there’s freedom of speech so people are free to criticise Israel and its policies, free to advocate the rights of the Palestinians, but at the same time make sure it’s done in language that’s acceptable. It has dragged on and I think we should have addressed it much sooner, but we are doing that.’
The election of Mr Willsman will cast fresh doubt on Labour’s willingness to change.
In an angry rant at a meeting of the NEC on July 17, the veteran of the hard-Left was caught on tape questioning whether dozens of rabbis were telling the truth when they complained about allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour. He also appeared to suggest that some of the anti-Semitic remarks Labour members have posted online had been faked.
He added: ‘And some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump – they are Trump fanatics and all the rest of it.
‘So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.’
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson described Mr Willsman as a ‘loud-mouthed bully’.
Amanda Bowman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, last night said Mr Willsman’s election raised further concerns about Labour’s ‘appalling attitude to tackling prejudice’. She added: ‘The election of Peter Willsman following his reprehensible comments about Jews is deeply concerning.’
Mr Willsman thanked Labour members ‘for re-electing me to defend our leader’ from ‘scheming by assorted malcontents’.
He told Channel Four News he would use his position to defend ‘Jerry, my friend of 41 years’.
Former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said at the weekend that Mr Corbyn was as great a danger to community relations as Enoch Powell in the 1960s.