Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, who is Jewish, received over 20,000 pieces of abuse (many of them anti-Semitic) in just 12 hours following the release of Shami Chakrabarti’s report into anti-Semitism in July.
During the launch event of the report, Ms Smeeth was heckled by Marc Wadsworth, an activist who accused her of colluding with the right-wing press, an allegation which left her in tears and caused her to leave the room.
It was after this incident when the video was released by media outlets that the abuse started, and within 12 hours she had received 20,000 hate messages, many of them anti-Semitic.
Now the counter terrorism police have launched an investigation into at least one of the messages, which was a death calling for her to be hanged from the gallows.
The abuser finishes his message by saying, “Ruth Smeeth is British and from my perspective since treason is still a capital offence in Britain, the gallows would be a fine and fitting place for this Dyke piece of Yid **** to swing from”.
Ruth Smeeth has called for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whom she holds responsible, to condemn those who express anti-Semitic views.
A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn responded by saying; “Jeremy has consistently spoken out against all forms of anti-semitism and has contacted Ruth Smeeth to express his outrage at the abuse and threats directed against her. Jeremy condemns all abuse, and no one responsible for it is a genuine supporter of Jeremy’s. He has repeatedly called for a kinder, gentler politics. This is why he launched “Respect and Unity”, a code of conduct calling on all Labour members and supporters to conduct themselves with a high standard of behaviour. Evidence of threats and abuse should be reported to the party and police so that action may be taken against those responsible.”
The number of hate messages has now risen to over 25,000 and since the mainstream media have now published this information (covered by the BBC, Sky News and more) it is likely that number will increase over the next few days.
Please pray for Ruth Smeeth’s safety and that she will have courage in the face of this hate.
