A TOXIC CESSPIT
Laid bare, litany of Labour members’ utterly appalling taunts appalling taunts
HERE, Policy Editor Daniel Martin details some of the most shocking examples of Labour anti- Semitism t hat were detailed in the EHRC report – as well as those that weren’t
DAMNED IN THE REPORT...
■ Pam Bromley, councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire, denied anti-Semitism was an issue in Labour and used tropes such as calling Jews a ‘fifth column’. She wrote: ‘Had Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party pulled up the drawbridge and nipped the bogus anti-Semitism accusations in the bud in the first place, we would not be where we are now and the fifth column in the Labour Party would not have managed to get such a foothold... the Lobby has miscalculated... the witchhunt has created brand new fightback networks... the Lobby will then melt back into its own cesspit.’ She was eventualy expelled.
■ A raft of examples of antiSemitic conduct by party members included diminishing the scale or significance of the Holocaust, comparing Israelis to Hitler or the Nazis, and using ‘Zio’ as an anti-Semitic term
■ It emerged that Jeremy Corbyn had, as a backbencher, praised an anti-Semitic mural in East London on Facebook. He supported the artist Mear One who had painted the image of hook-nosed bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the world’s poor. But the Labour leader’s staff intervened to say ‘the complaint itself seems to fall well below the threshold required for investigation and if so surely the decision to dismiss it can be taken now’.
■ Christine Shawcroft, head of Labour’s National Exective Committee’s disputes panel which investigated complaints of anti-Semitism, intervened to reinstate a member suspended for anti- Semitic social media posts so he could stand in local elections. Alan Bull had posted a link on Facebook to a fake news article titled: ‘International Red Cross Report Confirms the Holocaust of Six Million Jews is a Hoax.’ It was accompanied with a picture of the gates of Auschwitz, with the phrase ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ replaced with ‘ Muh Holocaust’. Following the Daily Mail’s disclosure of the intervention, she resigned.
■ A member tweeted: ‘How can we not have empathy with the Palestinians when they are up against these murdering, Zionest [sic] bastards. Their NAZI masters taught them well.’ He was let off with a warning
■ In 2016 a Labour councillor shared an image of Jewish banker Jacob Rothschild on their Facebook page along with a caption claiming that the Rothschild family and other institutions, including the City of London and the Vatican, ‘own our news, our media, our oil and even our governments’. It does not appear that this was investigated at all.
■ Chris Williamson MP made public comments about antiSemitism smears, supported members expelled f or antiSemitism, and shared social media posts relating to others accused of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism. The disciplinary panel concluded he had ‘engaged in conduct online and offline that, due to its reckless and needlessly provocative nature, was grossly detrimental to the party’ and ‘ may reasonably be seen to involve anti-Semitic sentiments, stereotypes and actions’. Despite this, he was initially given only a formal warning.
...AND THE ONES THAT WEREN’T
■ Activist Kayla Bibby shared a picture of an alien bearing the Star of David choking the Statue of Liberty, but escaped suspension from the party because the image was not ‘anti-Jewish’.
■ Jeremy Corbyn visited the cemetery where terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre are buried. The Mail obtained a photograph of Mr Corbyn holding a wreath just feet away from the graves of leaders linked to the 1972 killings of Israeli athletes. He later said ‘a wreath was indeed laid’ for ‘some of those who were killed in Paris in 1992’ and added: ‘I was present at that wreath-laying, I don’t think I was actually involved in it.’
■ A Labour member shared a post accusing Jewish people of ‘eating the organs of their enemies’ and accused Jews of inventing modern terrorism by saying: ‘IRA murderers who took their cue from Jews.’ But the party sought to delay his suspension until it was found
■ A member was not suspended even though he was reported for saying Jewish MPs ‘can’t rein in your killers in the Middle East’, referred to the ‘Jewish brigade’ and said ‘Jews desire the Labour Party to comply with their demands’
whether his disability had left him vulnerable.
The party let off a branch secretary for using offensive word ‘zio’ despite it being a second offence – and instead sought to r e pr i mand t he person who complained.
A Labour activist reported last April for writing on former Labour MP Luciana Berger’s Facebook page that ‘There are
Zionist infiltrators in the Labour Party stirring trouble that doesn’t exist’ was let off without reprimand and was able to stand in local elections.
A member of Momentum’s steering committee shared a message accusing Saudi Arabia of being i n thrall to ‘ Zionist paymasters’. Apsana Begum – now an MP – later apologised for her comment.