What are some examples of antisemitism in the Labour Party?

Question

The Labour Party of the United Kingdom has recently come under fire for its new code of conduct, with people accusing them of not acting against antisemitism in the party, but quickly against those who criticise the code of conduct.

I find it unlikely that such a large political party could have a problem as prevalent as the media suggests, but I’d like evidence of that so, what are some examples of antisemitism in the Labour Party, if any?

Answer 1

The Wikipedia article on Anisemitism in Labour has a good overview (the following list is not complete):

• Corbyn was the chair of an organization that participated in the antisemitic Quds Day.
• Corbyn has called the antisemitic terrorist organization Hamas "friends" (which he now regrets).
• Corbyn was a member of multiple antisemitic facebook groups (according to him, he didn't know about this).
• Corbyn defended an antisemitic mural (he says this was a mistake).
• The vice-chair of Momentum claimed that Jews were the financiers of the slave trade and was only briefly suspended. She also questioned if there are workable antisemitism definitions and why Jewish schools need security.
• Naz Shah approved of an image that can be interpreted as questioning Israels right to exist (criticism of Israel is not necessarily antisemitic; applying double standards, demonization, or delegitimization of Israel is; see eg 3d test of antisemitism). She also likened Israel to Nazi Germany and said that "the Jews are rallying", and shared pro-Hamas tweets. Shah was suspended, but later reinstated. She now regrets these incidents and agrees that they were antisemitic.
• Ken Livingstone. He eg said that Jews will not vote for Labour because they are rich, said that Hitler supported Zionism, etc. Labour did not see the antisemitism. He was suspended, but not expelled.
• Labour provided a platform to Miko Peled, who thinks that "the Holocaust should be open to debate". At the same event, delegates proposed to expel Jews who are not for the destruction of Israel from the party.
• While Labour adopted the IHRA definition on antisemitism, they removed examples. They also say that accusations of dual loyalty - a classic antisemitic canard - is not antisemitic.
• The head of Labour's dispute panel defended a Holocaust denier.
• local council candidates urged others to "question the Holocaust" and "Rothschilds Jewish mafia", and posted other Rothschild conspiracy theories.

Of course, this list is incomplete. Other sources name a number of other examples. Here is a small sample:

• Corbyn praised Sheikh Raed Salah, who has previously engaged in blood libel. A member who discussed the "Jewish Question" was expelled, then re-admitted, and only then finally expelled. Another member talked about Jews having "big noses". Oxford's Labour club members shouted "filthy Zionist" at a Jewish student. Corbyn backed a group of a Holocaust denier.
• A Labour candidate denied the Holocaust.
• A council member shared an antisemitic video. No action was taken against him.
• Corbyn linked a massacre to Israel without any evidence.
• A Labour councillor called Hitler "the greatest man in history".
• Labour still has 200 open cases of alleged antisemitic conduct
• The campaign against Antisemitism lists 39 cases of antisemitism from Labour members, including the reaction - or non-reaction - to them from the party. Incidents include among other blaming Jews for false imprisonment, Rothschild conspiracy theories, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, blood libel, praising of Hitler, etc.

It comes down to a number of antisemitic incidents by individual members (members which other parties likely have as well), and an unwillingness on the part of Labour to identify antisemitism and to take the proper steps against it.

Answer 2

According to the 3D Test of Antisemitism as defined by Natan Sharansky and adopted by the U.S. State Department, deligitimisation of Israel is antisemitic:

The term "delegitimization of Israel" refers to the denial of the Jewish people's right to self-determination, for example, by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

From this definition, it follows that Anti-Zionism is antisemitic. Many on the (far) left side in the Labour Party might describe themselves as Anti-Zionist.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance considers that comparing Israeli policy with Nazi policy is antisemitic:

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

It is not hard to find leftist individuals who make comparisons between (for example) the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Nazi occupation of European countries, in particular in the heat of a debate.

Many leftist Jewish organisations disagree with the 3D Test or the IHRA example, and have defined their own rival definitions or examples. A proposed Labour definition does not consider comparing Israeli policy with Nazi policy as antisemitic, for which Labour has been criticised. Examples of lefist Jewish organisations who may be described as antizionist include Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, or Jewdas with its alternative proposed definition, where Jewdas (in their own words) list “Jewish organisations who oppose the Zionist ideology and Israeli occupation and apartheid”. Jewish Voice for Labour in its proposed definition considers that “comparing Israel’s actions to that of the Nazis should not automatically be seen as anti-Semitic”. In this article in Die Welt (in German), a survey on attitudes in members of German political parties distinguishes between classical antisemitism and antisemitism in relation to Israel.

The Campaign against antisemitism has documented 39 cases of what they consider to be antisemitism within the Labour Party. It makes no distinction between “classical” antisemitism and ”antisemitism in relation to Israel”. Most of those incidents involve local councillors. Some involve what many would consider “classical” antisemitic stereotypes such as related to worldwide Jewish conspiracies. Others involve statements that are rather ”antisemitism in relation to Israel”: antisemitic according to the 3D Test or the IHRA example, but not according to the rival definitions such as from Jewdas or Jewish Voice for Labour.

For an example of a somewhat prominent incident that is antisemitic according to the 3D Test but not according to rival definitions, consider the incident where Naz Shah shared an image suggesting that if Israel was located in the middle of the USA, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be solved. Essentially, the gist of the message is that Israel as a Jewish state should not have been founded in the Middle East. This is antisemitic by the 3D Test definition, because it delegitimises Israel, even though many Jews are anti-Zionist as well.

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^{P.S. The problem is prominent in the Labour Party, but not completely absent from other parties. Based on stats from the Campaign against Antisemitism, Labour is the 3rd worst prominent party considering incidents normalised by membership or number of councillors (most incidents involve councillors). Those stats are based on the mainstream definitions and determined by the Campaign against Antisemitism. I don't know how representative this is.}

• ^{Labour Party: 39 incidents, 552,000 members, 6,470 councillors = 7.1 incidents/100k members or 6.0 incidents/1k councillors}
• ^{Conservative Party: 4 incidents, 124,000 members, 9,116 councillors = 3.2 incidents/100k members or 0.4 incidents/1k councillors}
• ^{Liberal-Democrats: 5 incidents, 100,500 members, 1,890 councillors = 5.0 incidents/100k members or 2.6 incidents/1k councillors}
• ^{Green Party of England and Wales: 5 incidents, 41,000 members, 180 councillors = 12.2 incidents/100k members or 27.8 incidents/1k councillors}
• ^{Scottish National Party: 2 incidents, 118,000 members, 423 councillors: 1.7 incidents/100k members or 4.7 incidents/1k councillors}
• ^{UKIP: 5 incidents, 21,000 members, 108 councillors, 23.8 incidents/100k members or 46 incidents/1k councillors councillors.}
• ^{Not documented: Sinn Féin, Plaid Cymru, Democratic Unionist Party}

Answer 3

As Gerrit explains in his answer, the answer depends on the definition of antisemitism. But to do serious research into this issue, one also has to specify the way one is going to select incidents from the set of all possible statements made by members of the party. The problem is that there are a large number of party members, therefore a massive number of statements of which by chance alone something may sound like an antisemitic statement. To get to the bottom of that, one would want to see the entire statement, but since the vast majority of the party members are not prominent people, one may not be able to do that.

If one then restricts attention to the party leader Jeremy Corbyn, then it's clear that the allegations made against him are part of a propaganda campaign. In all cases, the alleged antisemitic statements are taken out of context of the entire argument. It would be a problem is the entire argument were of an antisemitic nature, but there has never been any example of such arguments.

One can play the same game with virtually anyone presenting some argument that in some ways invoke the Holocaust. Take e.g. the statement made by Netanyahu that Hitler Didn't Want to Exterminate the Jews. Then because it is Netanyahu who says this (as part of an argument) and not Corbyn, it won't be used to make an allegation about antisemitism.

Similarly, Donald Trump can get away with making statements about US Neo-Nazi groups, without getting any of the antisemitism criticism that a British Labor party member would when making such statements. In fact, the opposite tends to happen in such cases. We can read here:

The son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed President Trump by suggesting that far-left thugs are just as dangerous as neo-Nazis — or maybe even worse.

Yair Netanyahu was commenting on events Saturday in which a white supremacist rammed his car into counterprotesters of a far-right rally, killing one and injuring some 20 others. Many clashes between activists for the two groups were recorded. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that both sides share the blame for the violence.

Answer 4

Here's an example. Labour leader Corbyn laying wreaths at the graves of the terrorists that castrated the Israel Olympic athletes and then murdered them during the 1972 Olympics.