Look at bigger picture when thinking about Labour Party and anti-semitism

Readers of this newspaper need to look beyond the headlines (“Anti-semitism row puts Labour unity out of reach”, 27 March) and consider why this issue is being raised now. I would suggest two basic propositions. The first is that there is a danger of Labour winning the forthcoming local, and in the not too distant future, hopefully, general election and Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. And secondly Labour policy, which is now to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, and to push on with the two-state solution, a secure Israel and a secure and viable Palestine.

Contrary to the impression being given, while the Leader of the Labour Party has a duty to uphold the Party’s constitution, it is the party’s National Executive Committee which is primarily responsible for discipline. At last year’s conference the party explicitly rewrote its rulebook to outlaw anti-semitism and said that anyone found to be flouting the rules would be dealt with. Jeremy Corbyn has built a career on opposing racism in all its forms, supported by many in the Jewish community. He is quite right to stress his concerns about the continuing dispossession of the Palestinian people. Yes the party needs to be quicker and stricter – party members have been complaining about this for years. But this cannot all be put at Jeremy Corbyn’s door.

In 2016 the House of Commons Home Affairs select committee published a report on anti-semitism. Anyone listening to recent reports about this in the press or on TV would think it was all about Labour, but in reality it said that right wing anti-semitism was more prevalent. It also has to be borne in mind that the committee had a Tory bias, with five Tory MPS and only three Labour, with one from the SNP. Yes anti-semitism is abhorrent, but let’s look beyond the headlines and see what in reality this is all about.

PHIL TATE Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh