Labour anti-semitism code backlash
MORE than 60 British rabbis have accused Labour of “ignoring” the Jewish community as a fresh row broke out last night over the party’s new guidance on anti-semitism.
In a letter savaging Labour’s new code of conduct, several of the country’s most senior Jewish leaders attacked the party over its “insulting and arrogant” decision to amend the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s guidance on anti-semitism.
The 68 rabbis, drawn from Jewish communities across the country, claim that Labour officials have drawn their own interpretations of what constitutes anti-semitism without consulting those who “understand it best”.
It comes just days after a new code of conduct was published by the party’s national executive committee, which saw a number of key examples of antisemitism altered or amended.
But Labour’s decision to tamper with the guidance has provoked a backlash from MPS and Jewish leaders, who have accused party officials of treating anti-semitism differently to other forms of racism and watering down examples of what constitutes it.
In an open rebuttal of Labour policy, the letter, published by The Guardian, states: “It is not the Labour Party’s place to rewrite a definition of anti-semitism... accepted by the vast majority of Jewish people in Britain and globally.
“On behalf of our communities, members and congregants, we urge the Labour Party to listen to the Jewish community, adopt the full and unamended IHRA definition... including its examples.”
Last night the row escalated at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, where an “overwhelming” number of MPS voted for a motion calling on the party to adopt the full definition.
Luciana Berger, chair of Jewish Labour Movement, said the decision to reject the new code showed that MPS would fight “any attempt to tinker, water down, or otherwise amend guidance on anti-semitism.”
The controversy came hours after the Jewish Labour Movement handed Labour officials new legal advice claiming that the new code of conduct could be in breach of the Equality Act. The advice, prepared by Tom Frost, a law lecturer at the University of Sussex, suggests that Labour has ignored guidance laid down by Sir William Macpherson, the retired High Court judge who led the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
Under the so-called “Macpherson principle”, a racist incident is one perceived to be racist by the victim. However, in comments that are likely to fuel a growing split in Labour, Jennie Formby, Labour’s general secretary, last night wrote to MPS warning that an example of anti-semitism contained in the original definition ran the “risk of prohibiting legitimate criticism of Israel”. She added: “It would be entirely wrong, in our determination to eradicate one form of racism from our party, to prohibit the identification of another.”
A Labour spokesman said: “[The code is] the most detailed and comprehensive guidelines on anti-semitism adopted by any political party in this country. There will continue to be discussion and dialogue with Jewish communal organisations, rabbis and synagogues about the Code of Conduct and fighting anti-semitism.”