Leaked Labour anti-Semitism dossier leads to three arrests

British police arrested three former Labour party members earlier this month for alleged anti-Semitic crimes.

The arrests were made after an internal Labour Party investigation into anti-Semitism amongst its members was leaked to the London-based talk radio station LBC last year and contained alleged social media posts by Labour activists.

LBC Radio showed the document to a former senior police officer, who found 17 of the cases should have been reported to police as potential hate crimes. And it is highly concerning that Labour did not take the evidence to police before it was leaked to LBC.

Two men in their 50s were arrested in Birmingham and Tunbridge Wells on March 7 and March 14, respectively. A woman in her 70s was arrested on related charges on March 21. They were held briefly in connection with material “likely to stir up racial hatred” and released pending further inquiries, a police spokesman told Sky.

The three were expelled from the party, or left following disciplinary action, according to the report.

Allegations include the long-term anti-Semitic bullying of a child by a Labour councillor. Some of the messages recorded in the report were extreme and violent in nature, and included claims such as “We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all [sic]” and “Zionist extremist MP who hates civilised people about to get a good kicking”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews called the arrests “highly significant.” The Campaign Against Antisemitism group called on police to make additional arrests.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also criticised the anti-Semitism crisis within Labour, speaking this week to label their handling of the issue a “national disgrace”.