Jeremy Corbyn has been accused by members of his own party, among others, of failing to act decisively enough against what is seen as growing anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
This week he was forced to suspend a Labour MP from the party. He had previously simply accepted her apology for remarks she made before entering Parliament. This is not an isolated case. A day after her suspension Ken Livingstone, a far more senior figure in the party, was also suspended. Does Labour have a problem with anti-Semitism in ranks and, if so, is Jeremy Corbyn dealing with it adequately?
Naz Shah was elected Labour MP for Bradford West last May after a bitter battle with the Respect (and former Labour) MP, George Galloway. Her victory made her a heroine in the Labour Party. But back in 2014 she had been involved with a Facebook post under the heading: ‘Solution for Israel-Palestine Conflict – Relocate Israel into the United States.’ ‘Problem solved’, was the conclusion.
She explained that she had done this during the height of the Gaza conflict ‘when emotions were running high around the Middle East’. But when the story blew up again this month she resigned as a parliamentary aide to the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and issued a series of unreserved apologies. She said in the House of Commons: ‘I wholeheartedly apologise to this house for the words I used before I became a member. I accept and understand that the words I used caused upset and hurt to the Jewish community and I deeply regret that.’
Mr Corbyn initially accepted the apology and decided to take no further action. He said: ‘What Naz Shah did was offensive and unacceptable. … Naz has issued a fulsome apology. She does not hold these views and accepts she was completely wrong to have made these posts. The Labour Party is implacably opposed to anti-Semitism and all forms of racism.’
But at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, David Cameron said he thought it was ‘quite extraordinary’ that Ms Shah had not been suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party. And he was supported by a Labour MP, Lisa Nandy, who said on the BBC: ‘I made clear my view to the leader’s office that we should suspend anybody who makes anti-Semitic remarks, in line with our policy, and investigate.’
Mr Corbyn then belatedly (in the eyes of some of his colleagues) did just that. But even this caused controversy when it was alleged (though also denied) that Ms Shah’s apology had been altered by the party to omit references to other cases of alleged anti-Semitism within Labour’s ranks. The next day Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, defended Naz Shah on his radio programme. He was accused by the Labour MP John Mann - outside the BBC's studios - of being a "Nazi apologist" over comments he made about Hitler. The London Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said he should be suspended. That suspension was confirmed within hours. Mr Livingstone denied being anti-Semitic and warned against "confusing criticism of Israeli government policy with anti-Semitism".
In recent months there have been several such cases. Vicki Kirby, the vice-chair of the Woking Labour Party and a former parliamentary candidate, was suspended from the party after having previously been readmitted to it after posting a tweet saying Jews had ‘big noses’. And Khadim Hussain, a Labour councillor and former lord mayor of Bradford, was suspended pending investigation into his allegedly sharing a Facebook post which said ‘your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the six million Zionists that were killed by Hitler.’
One of the reasons being suggested as to why there should a growing element of anti-Semitism in a party that has long attracted a big Jewish vote, is that Mr Corbyn (whom no one has accused of anti-Semitism himself) is drawing people into the party who may well be anti-Semitic. The Guardian columnist, Jonathan Freedland, wrote recently: ‘Thanks to Corbyn, the Labour Party is expanding, attracting many leftists who would previously have rejected it. Among these are people with hostile views of Jews.’
John Woodcock, a Labour MP and former chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, said: ‘the most important thing is that the Labour leadership properly acknowledges now the scale of the anti-Semitism problem that is growing in the party. This is abhorrent to our values as a party but unless and until it is gripped by everyone from Jeremy downwards it is going to fester and undermine everything we do.’
One way it is affecting the party more broadly is in fund-raising. David Abrahams, a businessman and party donor, has withdrawn his support as a result of the incidents of anti-Semitism in the party.
Some, however, argue that the problem is not as great as it is being painted by people who may have ulterior motives for claiming that Labour is becoming anti-Semitic. They point out that much of the alleged evidence of anti-Semitism is in fact no more than the expression of anti-Israel views and that the two are not the same thing. It is perfectly possible, they argue, to complain about the policies of the Israeli government or even be opposed to the existence of Israel itself without being anti-Semitic. After all, there are groups of Orthodox Jews who are in principle anti-Zionist and reject the whole notion of a Jewish state. Some have even shared platforms with Hamas.
In the view of some of Ms Shah’s supporters, her Facebook remarks, though insensitive and offensive, concern the existence of Israel and are not ant-Semitic in themselves.
But that defence is rejected by prominent Jewish supporters of Labour. Lord Levy, once Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser for the party, said of the Shah case, that ‘one cannot say this was simply anti-Israel’. He said the MP should be permanently excluded from the party, adding: ‘I am hoping there will be zero tolerance of any form of anti-Semitism.’
Do you believe there is a growing problem of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, or not? Do you think the party’s critics are failing to distinguish between anti-Semitism on one hand and opposition to Israel and its polices on the other? Should Naz Shah be permanently excluded from the Labour? And how do you think Jeremy Corbyn should tackle the broader issue?
