The renowned Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer, 90, has warned of growing anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party and called the former Labour mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, a "violent antisemite."
The academic adviser to Yad Vashem was referring to Livingstone’s long history of anti-Semitic rhetoric, such as his controversial comment this May that Hitler “was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”
Earlier this month, the Community Security Trust, the anti-Semitism watchdog of the UK Jewish community, reported an increase in anti-Semitic incidents, with 557 cases of malicious acts from January to June 2016, an 11 per cent rise compared with the same period last year.
Asked whether UK Jews had a right to feel concerned, Bauer replied: "Yes. If I were a British Jew, I certainly would be worried by it. I mean, after all, they are being attacked one way or the other." He said that research in Israel had found that threats made verbally or on social media worldwide had fallen, but violent incidents had increased. "There are more violent incidents, therefore if I were a British Jew, the concern would certainly be there, because of that increasing violence," he said.
The 'Daily Telegraph' reported on Saturday that 6,000 Labour members had been reported to the party’s National Executive Committee over allegations of anti-Semitism and abuse and now face possible suspension or expulsion from the party.
An unnamed senior Labour official told the newspaper: “The sad truth is the Labour Party is no longer a safe space for women and Jews. Party members who receive a daily barrage of disgusting abuse deserve better than for Jeremy Corbyn to attempt to downplay it or tell them to simply ignore it.”
