Just another week in the Labour Party
● Liverpool council candidate’s Rothschild-Zionist conspiracy ● MP Kate Osamor’s aide in hate-tweet scandal ● Labour group refuses to condemn Pittsburgh shooting
FRESH REVELATIONS about antisemitism in the Labour Party erupted this week, from London to Sheffield and beyond.
In Liverpool, a Labour candidate for a safe council seat was shown to have a history of making antisemitic statements.
Liam Moore, an evangelical vicar, was selected last week by the Labour Party in Liverpool as its candidate for the seat in the city’s Norris Green ward.
On Monday, the Sun reported Mr Moore had a record of extreme statements. In August, he tweeted: “We are seeing a very English right wing Zionist coup mate and sadly the Labour party is infiltrated by sellouts who would sacrifice a Labour government for their 30 pieces of silver.”
In 2014, he tweeted that “[sic] people understand Rothschilds Zionist run Israel and world governments, don’t give a toss about ordinary Jew, Jesus is coming back his people”.
The party has now launched an investigation, with a number of Labour MPs having responded with anger when the news broke.
Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, tweeted: “How was this person ever selected?”
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously, which are looked into and any appropriate disciplinary action taken in line with party rules and procedures.”
Meanwhile, Labour frontbencher Kate Osamor has continued to employ an aide in her Commons office who was “immediately suspended” for endorsing antisemitic social media posts two years ago.
Elizabeth Dudley had ‘liked’ social media posts that mentioned Zionist conspiracy theories and made comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.
When asked about the activities of her Commons researcher, Ms Osamor, the shadow International Development Secretary, said in June 2016: “Having been made aware of these posts, the member of staff has been suspended with immediate effect.”
But the Mail on Sunday reported last weekend that, after returning to her job with the Labour MP, Ms Dudley has shared controversial messages, including one in which anti-Zionist activist Miko Peled was defending labelling Israeli forces as Nazis.
Mr Peled caused a storm at Labour’s 2017 conference when he said “free speech” meant Labour members should be able to ask: “Holocaust: yes or no”.
Last month, Ms Dudley shared a Facebook video by Mr Peled, in which the latter said: “So they get offended when they are compared to Nazis and other oppressive and genocidal regimes. Well, if you’re offended by it, don’t do it.”
The JC has contacted Ms Osamor for comment but received no reply.
Ms Osamor is facing mounting pressure after continuing to employ her son, Ishmael, as her “senior communications officer” after he admitted two weeks ago to taking cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis into a music festival last year.
He resigned as a councillor in Haringey, after admitting at Bournemouth Crown Court three charges of possessing drugs with intent to supply and a fourth charge of possession.
Ms Osamor sparked anger last year after tweeting a link to a campaign calling for the ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ against Israel — contradicting official Labour policy.
Elsewhere, a Labour Party branch last Thursday rejected a motion condemning the Pittsburgh synagogue attack.
Steve Cooke, secretary of Norton West branch in the Stockton North constituency, proposed the motion expressing solidarity with the Jewish community and pledging that antisemitism should be “confronted and eradicated”, with Labour leading the way.
Only one other member backed the motion and Mr Cooke said the leader of Stockton-on-Tees Council, Robert Cook, was among those who opposed it.
Writing on Facebook, Mr Cooke said he was “aghast” at the decision, having assumed the motion “would be approved without controversy… However, it was soon apparent that there would be resistance to the whole idea.”
According to Mr Cooke, opponents of the motion had argued that there was too much focus on “antisemitism this, antisemitism that” suggesting that the text should not refer to antisemitism specifically, but racism in general. “I pointed out that the motion clearly expressed concern about racist hate crime more generally.”
Mr Cooke also claimed Stockton North Labour Party had previously voted down his attempts to set up antisemitism awareness training for local members.
In Peterborough on Monday, two Labour councillors resigned saying they had been “worrying for the safety of our families” after calling out antisemitism in their party.
Richard Ferris and Matthew Mahabadi claimed they had “faced pressure, bullying and alienation by a powerful minority of ‘militant’ elements... to shut up, pipe down, keep schtum about the problem.”
The pair said they had taken “no pleasure in blowing a whistle on the infamous decision made by certain members of the party officialdom this year to select a Labour Party candidate who questioned the historical basis of the Holocaust.”
They were referring to Alan Bull, a Labour candidate in Petersborough, who posted an article on Facebook headlined: “International Red Cross report confirms the Holocaust of six million Jews is a hoax.” He was subsequently suspended from the party. Mr Ferris and Mr Mahabadi added: “Even when we have tried to change things for the better, tried to open dialogue and challenge the prejudices that sadly exist in our party, we have been blocked from doing so. This is shameful.
“We don’t believe that the actions of this powerful minority represent the true face of the Labour Party.
“Yet we question why these people are so powerful, why they remain in power, and why they believe they act on behalf of the membership when they make such disgraceful decisions.”
Meanwhile, a Labour activist has condemned the party’s youth wing’s “reactionary” response to his Jerusalem meeting with Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, whom they branded a “war criminal”.
Matt Pound, national organiser for the moderate Labour First, had been on a delegation that had met Ms Livni, as well as representatives from the West Bank and Gaza.
After Ms Livni tweeted a picture of her meeting “representatives of Young Labour”, Young Labour tweeted: “As Israel’s foreign minister during the Gaza War, Tzipi Livni oversaw the massacre of 1,391 Palestinians… The individuals meeting this war criminal are in no way representative of Young Labour.”
Mr Pound said: “Whilst Jeremy Corbyn claims to be ‘talking to both sides to achieve peace’, the reality is that in a few days we have done more to engage with both sides of the conflict than he has in 35 years as a Labour MP.
“Young Labour have used their status and influence to attack other Labour members who are prepared to engage in dialogue with a centre-left politician in Israel says more about them than it does about us,” he added.
Elsewhere, Labour members at Sheffield University decided to “indefinitely postpone” an event hosting controversial MP Chris Williamson until the Metropolitan Police has finished its investigation into alleged antisemitism by individuals in the party.