UK’s Labour Party Dogged By Anti-Semitism Accusations

Britain’s opposition Labour Party is buried in anti-Semitism accusations despite their hopes for social problems to be brought up during the election campaign.

Anti-Semitism in Labour Party

A crisis for the Labour Party as anti-Semitism accusations rise, and many are blaming Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn for the scandal. The UK’s chief rabbi also called the party’s response to the allegations “utterly inadequate.”

The Jewish Labour Movement has also been bringing up the problem of alleged institutional anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, with an outstanding 130 complaints that the JLM is aware of. The group’s chair, Mike Katz, said that many “Jewish people have left the party, that they feel it’s not a safe space,” after deciding in April that Corbyn is not fit for be prime minister.

Corbyn, in a Nov. 19 debate with Boris Johnson, said that “every single case” of anti-Semitism had been investigated. The JLM had provided a list of action points on how to deal with the problem, including updates on the complaints and their number, however, none of their points were addressed.

Previous actions by Corbyn don’t help his reputation either when it comes to how the Jewish community sees him, as he previously questioned the removal of a mural, containing anti-Semitic troops and stereotypes, and his connections to organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, which he called “friends” when he invited representatives from the groups in 2009, despite both being recognized as terrorist groups by the UK.

Some, however, feel that the issue is not that deep at all, and will stick to voting for Labour:

“The problem of anti-Semitism in Labour is not an existential threat, which is how it has been characterized in other media. The Labour Party problem is internal and manageable,” Rivkah Brown, a 27-year-old Labour supporter said.