World Jewish Congress stands in solidarity with British Jewish community against Labour Party anti-Semitism

NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress has expressed its solidarity with the British Jewish community on Monday in saying ‘Enough is Enough’ and demanding that UK Labour Party leader Jeremy 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 WJC’s UK affiliate, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, will deliver a letter on the matter Monday together with the Jewish Leadership Council to the Parliamentary Labour Party, and has called for a demonstration outside Parliament. The letter emphasizes 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 Jonathan 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?”