Labour has adopted its own definition of anti-Semitism that allows Labour members to equate Israel’s actions to Nazism, call Israel’s creation “a racist endeavour” and accuse Jews of being more loyal to Israel than Britain. And, according to Labour, their definition of anti-Semitism is superior to the one that was proposed by the Jewish community.
Labour has reworked the widely adopted definition of anti-Semitism and changed it to suit their anti-Israel bias.
The Jewish community has slammed Labour’s new definition with the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies saying it was “impossible to understand” why Labour has rejected the international definition of anti-Semitism in full, which has already been adopted by numerous countries, hundreds of British councils as well as our Government, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Labour adopted just 7 out of 11 IHRA examples of anti-Semitism.
The examples they did NOT adopt were:
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
- Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
LBC exclusive: Labour’s new guidelines on anti-Semitism.
Key paragraphs:
7). Contentious views will not be treated as Antisemitism unless…. evidence of anti-Semitic intent.
9). Labour adopts just seven of the 11 IHRA examples of anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/DKv5lP4LCP
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) July 5, 2018
Just think about this. According to Labour, it is okay to say that Israel has racist policies akin to the Nazis. Israel being the world’s only Jewish state and the Nazis being the ones who killed more Jews than any other people in history. By doing this Labour is allowing people to espouse anti-Semitic attitudes.
On top of this, Labour’s definition of anti-Semitism allows people to attack Zionism and Zionists with impunity. Zionism is a belief held by both Jews and Christians that the land of Israel has been given to the Jews by God and that Jerusalem is its capital.
This is not a racist or political ideology but is a Bible-based religious belief held by hundreds-of-millions of people around the world.
Jonathan Goldstein, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, and Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, issued a joint statement which read:
“It is for Jews to determine for themselves what anti-Semitism is.”
“The UK Jewish community has adopted in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, as have the British Government, Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, 124 local authorities across the country and numerous governments around the world.”
“It is impossible to understand why Labour refuses to align itself with this universal definition. Its actions only dilute the definition and further erode the existing lack of confidence that British Jews have in their sincerity to tackle anti-Semitism within the Labour movement.”
Writing on behalf of the Jewish Labour Movement, which is formally affiliated to Labour, MP Luciana Berger said:
“The Jewish community, and the Jewish Labour Movement, believe that the best working definition of anti-Semitism is the full IHRA definition, including its examples.
“If the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is good enough for the CPS, College of Policing, Jewish community, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, National Union of Students, and Labour Councils across the country, then it should be good enough for the Labour Party.
“It doesn’t need changing, and it’s unclear for whose benefit these changes have been made. We cannot give antisemites a get out of jail free card.”
Shockingly, Labour believes that their definition of anti-Semitism is superior to that of the IHRA definition which is approved of by the Jewish community.
A Labour party source dismissed the claims that the document was a “racists’ charter”, saying:
“That is a ludicrous and entirely false claim which deliberately misrepresents the guidelines.”
“They cover all the same ground as the IHRA examples, but they go further, providing more examples and details so they can actually be applied.”
“That is why they were so positively received by all wings of the Party and unanimously agreed in the meeting.”
Labour’s reworking of this anti-Semitism definition is shameful and their attitude that they know better than the Jews is alarming. However, it is easy to see their reasons for making these changes; because if Labour adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism they would be labelling their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as an anti-Semite.
