The World Jewish Congress' affiliate the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have agreed to meet Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn to discuss the ongoing issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party. Board of Deputies President Jonathan Arkush, who is also a WJC vice president, and JLC Chair Jonathan Goldstein relayed the decision in a letter to the Labour Leader on Wednesday, which can be read here in full.
In a letter to the BoD received earlier this week, Corbyn agreed to discuss the issues put to him previously including change coming from the very top, beefed up and better scrutinised disciplinary processes, punishing MPs and peers who share platforms with members suspended for antisemitism and engaging with the Jewish community via its main representative bodies.
Arkush and Goldstein both insisted that while the meeting should take place, the emphasis would be on actions, not words.
Last week, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder expressed its solidarity with the British Jewish community in saying ‘Enough is Enough’ and demanding that Corbyn call once and for all for an unequivocal end to anti-Semitism within the party. Jewish leaders have accused the Labour leader of ‘siding with anti-Semites rather than Jews’.
The BoD delivered a letter on the matter last Monday together with the Jewish Leadership Council to the Parliamentary Labour Party, and called for a demonstration outside Parliament. The letter emphasized that ‘there is a repeated institutional failure to properly address Jewish concerns and to tackle anti-Semitism, with the Chakrabarti Report being the most glaring example of this’. The letter continues, ‘When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, Jews expressed sincere and profound fears as to how such politics would impact upon their wellbeing. Our concerns were never taken seriously. Three years on, the Party and British Jews are reaping the consequences’.
WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said: “We are appalled by the failure of Labour’s leadership to get a grip on the issue of anti-Semitism within the party. In a country where the Jewish community has long been so well integrated into public life, including in Labour Party politics, it is deeply disconcerting to see examples of rabid anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism time and time again, with seemingly little consequence for the prepatrators. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our British colleagues as they call for a zero-tolerance approach which is matched by actions and not just words. We simply ask Jeremy Corbyn to end his support of anti-Semites.”
Board of Deputies President and WJC Vice President Arkush said: “We are deeply troubled by the recurring cases of anti-Semitism coming from within sections of the Labour Party. Again and again, Jeremy Corbyn has sided with anti-Semites rather than Jews. At best, this derives from the far left’s obsessive hatred of Zionism, Zionists and Israel. At worst, it suggests a conspiratorial worldview in which mainstream Jewish communities are believed to be a hostile entity, a class enemy. When, finally, is Corbyn going to confront and deal with anti-Semitism and not just talk about it?"