ANTISEMITISM IN THE LABOUR PARTY

Complaint-letter-to-Keir-Starmer-and-David-Evans

Letter submitted but never acted upon, concerning

Diane Abbott MP,Tahir Ali MP, Mike Amesbury MP, Alana Bates, Apsana Begum MP, Richard Burgon MP, Ronnie Campbell, Maria Carroll, Pamela Fitzpatrick, Lisa Forbes, Barry Gardiner MP, Ruth George, Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt, Dan Greef, Adrian Heald, Kate Hollern MP, Rebecca Jenkins, Afzal Khan MP, Kate Linnegar, Rebecca Long Bailey MP, Mark McDonald, Ali Milani, Ed Murphy, Jann Oliver, Baroness Osamor, Jenny Rathbone WAM, Angela Rayner MP, Steve Reed MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP, Barry Sheerman MP, Jim Sheridan, Zarah Sultana MP

APPENDIX A: COMPLAINT AGAINST JEREMY CORBYN

Incidents

1. On January 28th 2009, an article by Jeremy Corbyn was published in the Morning Star, in which

he wrote that a decision by the BBC not to broadcast an appeal to send money to Gaza

demonstrated the “unbelievably high levels of inﬂuence that Israel’s government appears to have

in the upper echelons of parts of the media.” He continued: “How far an Obama administration is

prepared to stand up to Israel and limit its control of US foreign policy is unclear.”

2. On 3rd March 2009, at a Stop the War Coalition public meeting, Mr Corbyn made a speech in

which, having begun by saying that it would be his “honour and pleasure” to host “our friends”

from Hamas and Hezbollah in Parliament, he stated: “we are opposed to Zionism”, and went on to

say: “What we’re in favour of is a Palestine where everyone can live; they can’t live if you’ve got

Zionism…dominating it all.”

3. On Holocaust Memorial Day, 27th January 2010, Mr Corbyn reportedly hosted, chaired and

gave the introductory speech at an event at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate called

“Never Again for Anyone–Auschwitz to Gaza”. The event was organised by the Scottish Palestine

Solidarity Campaign (an organisation with a heavily evidenced problem with antisemitism) in

conjunction with the so-called International Jewish anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), of which the lead

speaker at the event, Hajo Meyer, was a member. The event was part of a tou r, which had

apparently included three dates in Scotland, including one in Glasgow several days earlier, and

one at Goldsmiths, University of London, the day before. Mr Meyer’s theme was summarised thus

by the Glasgow Herald: “Auschwitz survivor: ‘Israel acts like Nazis’”. Meyer’s presentation included

the claim that “Judaism has been replaced by Holocaust religion”, whose “high priest” he claimed

was the Nobel laureate, Holocaust survivor and author, Elie Wiesel. The speaker also claimed that

Zionists were dehumanising Palestinians in the same way as the Nazis dehumanised Jews; for

example, through the infamous Nuremberg laws. It was conﬁrmed that antisemitic tropes were

openly on display in presentations during the event. The Portcullis House event which Mr Corbyn

hosted was also addressed by phone from Gaza by a Palestinian activist, Mr Haidar Eid, who

stated: “The world was absolutely wrong to think that Nazism was defeated in 1945. Nazism has

won because it has ﬁnally managed to Nazify the consciousness of its own victims.” On account of

the antisemitic content of the toured event, a Jewish activist sent Mr Corbyn e-mails in advance,

warning him. This correspondence has been made available to Campaign Against Antisemitism by

the activist in question. In the exchange, the activist asked Mr Corbyn: “Why are you hosting a

meeting on Wednesday in the Boothroyd Room (Portcullis House), which will be a farrago of lies

about Israel, will demonise Israel and may well contain elements of antisemitism?” Then, pointing

out the deliberate offence that would certainly be caused by staging the event on Holocaust

Memorial Day itself, the activist continued: “You are hosting a meeting in Parliament on Holocaust

Memorial Day which will contain antisemitic references. What a disgrace.” Despite the event’s

having already been on tour, making the case for a direct comparison between Israel’s behaviour

and that of Nazi Germany, and despite being familiar with Mr Meyer’s work, Mr Corbyn replied:

“How on earth do you know what will be said at a meeting yet to be held?” It is clear that Mr

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Corbyn, as Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, and as someone who knew Mr Meyer

already, will have understood the nature of the event in advance.It was also reported that Mr

Corbyn, as chair of the event, told activists (including a Holocaust survivor), to be silent and listen

to the antisemitic abuse, asking a police ofﬁcer to remove those who protested at the meeting.

4. On Holocaust Memorial Day, 27th January 2011, John McDonnell and Mr Corbyn respectively

proposed and seconded an Early Day Motion to the House of Commons calling for the word

“Holocaust” in the name of Holocaust Memorial Day to be replaced with “Genocide”, thus

removing its particular signiﬁcance for Jews. The motion cites IJAN’s “Never Again for Anyone”

initiative EDM#1360. The IJAN website reportedly claimed that their initiative is intended to

challenge the “Zionist exploitation” of the Holocaust for “political purposes,” and stated: “The

Zionist exploitation of this genocide to justify colonization, [sic] displacement and apartheid in

Palestine is a dishonor [sic] to those who survived and those who did not.” It should be noted that

Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates both the Holocaust and subsequent genocides in

Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

5. On an unknown date in 2011, Mr Corbyn wrote the foreword to a reissue of J.A. Hobson’s 1902

work, Imperialism: A Study, in which, in a chapter entitled “Economic Parasites of Imperialism”, the

author described “international capitalism” as “controlled…by men of a single and peculiar race,

who have behind them many centuries of ﬁnancial experience”, before asking rhetorically: “Does

anyone seriously suppose that a great war could be undertaken by any European state, or a great

state loan subscribed, if the house of Rothschild and its connections set their face against it?” The

author continues: “There is not a war, a revolution, an anarchist assassination, or any other public

shock, which is not gainful to these men; they are harpies who suck their gains from every new

forced expenditure and every sudden disturbance of public credit,” before describing how the

direct inﬂuence supposedly exercised by these ﬁnancial houses “is supported by the control which

they exercise over the body of public opinion through the press”. In Mr Corbyn’s foreword, having

already described the book as a “great tome” that was “brilliant, and very controversial at the

time”, directly referencing Hobson’s discussion of what Mr Corbyn calls “the commercial interests

that fuel the role of the popular press with tales of imperial might”, he goes on to call the analysis

“correct and prescient.”

6. On an unknown date in May 2011, Mr Corbyn gave an interview on Press TV, the Iranian

government’s principal English-language propaganda channel, which regularly promulgates

antisemitic conspiracy theories. He said: “There is pressure on the BBC from probably Mark

Thompson [then the Director-General of the BBC], who seems to me to have an agenda in this

respect. There seems to be a great deal of pressure on the BBC from the Israeli government and

the Israeli embassy, and they are very assertive towards all journalists and to the BBC itself — they

challenge every single thing on reporting the whole time. I think there is a bias towards saying that

Israel is a democracy in the Middle East, that Israel has a right to exist, that Israel has its security

concerns.” It should be noted that, during the period of Mark Thompson’s directorship of the BBC,

it was alleged by antisemitic conspiracy theorists that he and the BBC were involved in a pro-Israel

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conspiracy, and his impartiality was apparently questioned, by virtue of his having a Jewish wife,

by readers of the Morning Star.

7. On 1st July 2011, an article apparently written by Mr Corbyn was reportedly published in the

Morning Star, defending the controversial cleric Raed Salah, who had been arrested for having

entered Britain in spite of a travel ban. The article described British media coverage of the ban as

“hysteria”, and continued: “It’s time that Western governments stood up to the Zionist lobby which

seems to conﬂate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.” Raed Salah is the head of the northern

branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, a group outlawed by the Israeli government in 2015 for

its alleged links to the terrorist group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. He was convicted of

raising money and organising for Hamas. In 2007, he reportedly gave a speech in which he

accused Jews of using the blood of non-Jewish children to bake bread. He was charged with

inciting violence and racism, and was initially acquitted, but later convicted on appeal in 2016. He

also wrote shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that Jews had been absent from the World Trade

Centre on that day, invoking a conspiracy theory that Israel, rather than Al-Qaeda, had been

responsible for the atrocity. He also published a poem describing Jews as “the germs in all time.”

On 25th November 2019, it was reported that he had been convicted of incitement to violence.

8. On 5th April 2012, Mr Corbyn wrote to the then Bishop of Guildford in support of the Reverend

Stephen Sizer, who had recently been accused of antisemitism in light of having promoted an

article (which included an image by controversial Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff, suggesting that

the Holocaust was being exploited for political purposes) on social media from the virulently

antisemitic site The Ugly Truth (whose tagline currently reads: “intelligent ‘anti-semitism’ [sic] for

thinking gentiles”). Mr Corbyn wrote: “Reverend Stephen Sizer seems to have come under attack

by certain individuals intent on discrediting the excellent work that Stephen does in highlighting the

injustices of the Palestinian Israeli situation… Might I suggest that such criticism is part of a wider

pattern of demonising those who dare to stand up and speak out against Zionism…” He continued

by asserting his certainty that the Bishop would be aware of “how much distance exists between

anti Semitism [sic], anti Zionism [sic], and anti Israeli government actions for that matter,” adding

that “Overzealous critics ﬁnd it convenient to conﬂate them all. Active and well informed individuals

such as Reverend Stephen Sizer, withstand a considerable amount of inappropriate criticism.

Indeed many MPs and Peers are also attacked.” It should be noted that this was not the ﬁrst time

Revd Sizer had promoted material from antisemitic sites (nor, indeed, the ﬁrst time he had publicly

been accused of antisemitism), but rather represented part of a longstanding pattern of behaviour,

as the result of which a Jewish community charity would later that year lodge a formal complaint

against him. In 2015, Revd Sizer was investigated by the Church of England following his posting

of an article which blamed Israel for the 9/11 attacks, and for which he was banned by the church

from using social media. Mr Sizer breached this ban in November 2016 — posting about an event

he had attended in the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Tonge and organised by the

Palestinian Return Centre, at which a questioner in the audience appeared to blame Jews for the

Holocaust — and was issued with a ﬁnal warning. Having breached his agreement again in early

2017, he was made to retire early from his parish. He has continued to promote antisemitic

conspiracy theories, including the so-called ‘Khazar Myth’, and has appeared on Press TV, lending

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credence to the proposition put forward by the programme’s host that Labour’s antisemitism crisis

was “all cooked up, manufactured by the Israeli lobby in the UK, in conjunction with the Israeli

embassy.”

9. On 12th August 2012, Jeremy Corbyn appeared in an interview on Press TV. Asked about an

Islamist attack in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, in which a number of Egyptian soldiers had been killed,

he stated: [a] “I’m very concerned about it [the violence], and you have to look at the big picture.

In whose interests is it to destabilise the new government in Egypt; in whose interests is it to kill

Egyptians other than Israel, concerned at the growing relationship between Palestine and the new

Egyptian government.” Prompted by the interviewer to comment on the idea that jihadists might

attack fellow Muslims during Ramadan, he replied: “It seems a bit unlikely that that would happen

during Ramadan — to put it mildly — and I suspect the hand of Israel in this whole process of

destabilisation.”Later in the same programme, an interview was conducted via satellite link with

Abdulaziz Amr, who received seven life sentences for helping to organise a Hamas suicide

bombing in Jerusalem in 2003 which killed seven people, including Dr David Applebaum, head of

the emergency room at a Jerusalem hospital, and his daughter Nava, who was due to be married

the next day. However, Mr Amr was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange, in which over 1,000

Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for an Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, who had been

held hostage by Hamas for 5 years. Questioned about the experiences of prisoners, as claimed by

Abdulaziz Amr, Mr Corbyn said: [b] “You have to ask the question why they are in prison in the ﬁrst

place…I met many of the brothers including the brother who’s been speaking here [Mr Amr] when

they came out of prison, when I was in Doha earlier this year…if there was a serious case against

the individual prisoners that Israel claims there would be then they wouldn’t win an appeal [sic],

they wouldn’t get out, they wouldn’t be released…Corporal Shalit apparently equals the lives of a

very, very large number of Palestinian people. Well, I’m glad that those who were released were

released, I hope they’re now in safe places.” It should be noted that this interview took place over

six months after Press TV had been banned from broadcasting in the UK, following repeated

infractions of the broadcasting code. The most serious of these was its airing of an interview with a

journalist which had been conducted under duress. We note further that Mr Corbyn was reportedly

paid around £20,000 for appearances on Press TV between 2009 and 2012, according to the

House of Commons register of interests. Press TV is widely considered to be a propaganda

channel for the theocratic Iranian regime, which is profoundly antisemitic and which has promoted

Holocaust denial.

10. On 2nd October 2012, in response to learning from the artist Mear One that his mural near

Brick Lane would be removed, Mr Corbyn wrote on Facebook: “Why? You are in good company.

Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Viera’s [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.” The

mural portrayed a number of businessmen — some of whom represented speciﬁc Jewish

individuals and whose stereotypical portrayal evoked the antisemitic caricatures of Nazi-era

Germany — playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor. Diego Rivera had been commissioned by

Nelson Rockefeller to create a mural, but the latter had halted work and ultimately destroyed it on

account of the inclusion of the ﬁgure of Vladimir Lenin, the Communist leader of Russia. Patrick

Viera was a footballer at Arsenal FC, Mr Corbyn’s favoured club.

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11. On an unknown date in 2013, Mr Corbyn addressed a meeting convened by the Palestinian

Return Centre. Referring to a previous speech given by Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian

Authority’s representative in Britain, Mr Corbyn suggested that “the progressive Jewish element” in

Britain at the time of the Balfour agreement had been against it, and that these same Jewish

progressives had been the leaders of the London trade unions and the Labour Party at the time.

He continued: “It was Zionism that rose up and Zionism that drove them [Jewish progressive

Trades Union and Labour Party leaders] into this sort of ludicrous position they have at the present

time.” He gave as an example of this supposedly “ludicrous position” the meeting in Parliament, at

which, he said, the Palestinian envoy’s words had been “dutifully recorded by the thankfully silent

Zionists who were in the audience on that occasion and then came up and berated him afterwards

for what he’d said. So clearly two problems. One is that they don’t want to study history and

secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t

understand English irony either. Manuel does understand English irony and uses it very, very

effectively so I think they need two lessons which we can help them with.”Mr Corbyn’s comments

above were reportedly immediately followed by a speech given by the Revd Stephen Sizer (see

[9]).

12. On 3rd April 2016, Merseyside MP Louise Ellman reportedly said: “The leader [Mr Corbyn, who

had been elected on 12th September 2015] has spoken out clearly that he is against antisemitism,

but it is not just about words, there has got to be some action, and we haven’t seen enough of

that.” Ms Ellman had witnessed and experienced antisemitic abuse in her constituency Labour

Party, which led, ultimately, to her resigning her membership of the Party, citing the rise of

antisemitism under Mr Corbyn’s leadership. Her 2016 comments prompted Mr Corbyn’s brother

Piers — who has a history of antisemitic social media posts — to tweet: “Absurd! JC and all

#Corbyns are committed #AntiNazi. #Zionists cant cope with anyone supporting rights for

#Palestine.” When prompted by a reporter to clarify his interpretation of his brother’s comments, Mr

Corbyn is reported to have said on 5th April 2016: “No, my brother isn’t wrong”. He went on to say:

“My brother has his point of view, I have mine and we actually fundamentally agree.”

13. On 18th March 2016, the senior Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland, who is Jewish,

published an article attempting to explain the phenomenon of antisemitism in the Labour Party. The

language he used was not polemic, nor the argument partisan. However, at that time Jeremy

Corbyn was being ﬁlmed as part of a documentary, and, on camera, was shown describing Mr

Freedland’s writing as “Utterly disgusting subliminal nastiness,” adding “he’s not a good guy.”

14. On 19th September 2016, a video was posted on Mr Corbyn’s Facebook and Twitter accounts,

in which pairs of activists were shown discussing questions his supporters were “tired of hearing”

in relation to the Labour leader. The ﬁnal responses to the question “Do you promote antisemitism?”

characterised the Jewish community’s complaints as coming from people who were “losing the

political argument and [had] nothing to ﬁght back with other than these accusations,” before ﬁnally

dismissing the written question as rubbish, which the presenters of the video screwed into a ball

and tossed onto the ﬂoor.

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15. On 4th September 2018, it was reported that the Labour Party’s ruling body, the National

Executive Committee (NEC) had adopted the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism in full, but that

an accompanying clariﬁcation proposed by Mr Corbyn immediately beforehand had not been

accepted. One passage of this statement asserted: “It cannot be considered racist to treat Israel

like any other state or assess its conduct against the standards of international law. Nor should it

be regarded as antisemitic to describe Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its

foundation as racist because of their discriminatory impact, or to support another settlement of the

Israel-Palestine conﬂict.”

16. On 2nd May 2019, responding to a letter from the head of a Jewish charity prompted by the

revelation of the incident detailed in [6], Mr Corbyn wrote: “I am deeply saddened that the

mischievous representation of my foreword to the book will have caused real stress within the

Jewish community.” He continued: “This accusation is the latest in a series of equally ill-founded

accusations of anti-Jewish racism that Labour’s political opponents have made against me. I note

that the Hobson story was written by a Conservative Party peer in a newspaper whose editorial

policy, and owner, have long been hostile to Labour. At a time when Jewish communities in the UK,

and indeed throughout Europe, feel under attack, it is a matter of great regret that the issue of

antisemitism is often politicised in this way.”

17. From 30th June 2016 to 27th February 2019, Mr Corbyn lent explicit support to, and in some

cases reportedly interfered or intervened in the Party’s disciplinary processes regarding some of

the most prominent and controversial individuals suspended and expelled from the Labour Party

for actions and statements subsequently determined by the Labour Party to have brought the Party

into disrepute as a result of their antisemitic content. These include Jackie Walker (expelled); Marc

Wadsworth (expelled); Chris Williamson (suspended three times and resigned); Glyn Secker

(suspended and reinstated) and Moshé Machover (a Labour Party member).

[a] On 30th June 2016, it was reported that the Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth had left the launch of the

Chakrabarti report on antisemitism in tears after having been accused by Labour activist Marc

Wadsworth of colluding with right-wing media. It was reported that Ms Smeeth had called for Mr

Corbyn to resign after he stood by while the accusations against Ms Smeeth were made and failed

to intervene. Mr Corbyn was also reported as having appeared to compare the Israeli government

with terrorist groups such as ISIS, having said: “Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the

actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-

styled Islamic states or organisations.” On 1st July 2016, it was reported that video footage had

emerged of Mr Corbyn laughing and joking with Mr Wadsworth following the heckling of Ms

Smeeth. Mr Corbyn can be seen, having become separated from Mr Wadsworth, making efforts to

push through the crowd to rejoin their clearly convivial conversation. Mr Wadsworth is heard saying

to Mr Corbyn: “I outed her [Ms Smeeth], bloody talking to the Torygraph [a reference to the pro-

Conservative leanings of the Telegraph] this morning.” As a consequence of his actions and

statements above, Mr Wadsworth was subsequently expelled from the Party.

[b] On 12th March 2019, it was reported that, in October 2017, Mr Corbyn had intervened in the

expulsion from Labour of Moshé Machover, reportedly complaining to the Party’s then General

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Secretary Iain McNicol. Mr Machover, who is currently Political Ofﬁcer of Hampstead and Kilburn

Constituency Labour Party, and was listed alongside Mr Corbyn as one of the speakers for the

1984 Labour Movement Conference on Palestine, which Mr Corbyn reportedly chaired and

sponsored, had written an article which was widely distributed to activists at the 2017 Labour Party

Conference in Brighton, arguing that in Labour, a “campaign of equating opposition to Zionism with

antisemitism has, in fact, been carefully orchestrated with the help of the Israeli government”. The

essay, “Anti-Zionism does not equal antisemitism”, quoted Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the

Final Solution, to support the notion that the Nazis supported Zionists before the Holocaust. The

article appeared in a magazine produced by the Labour Party Marxists group, which is closely

linked to the Communist Party of Great Britain. At the time, then Labour MP John Mann and

Holocaust Educational Trust Chief Executive Karen Pollock had both attacked the publication of the

article and called for those linked to the group to be expelled from the Party. Indeed, it appears

that Mr Machover’s expulsion was, in fact, as a result of Labour’s policy of auto-exclusion, on the

grounds of his membership of another political party; namely, both Labour Party Marxists and the

Communist Party of Great Britain. At the 2019 Labour Party conference, an article by Mr Machover

was distributed to members in which Israel was compared to Nazi Germany.

[c] On 10th March 2019, it was reported that, in March 2018, Mr Corbyn’s Director of Strategy and

Communications, Seumas Milne, had told Party ofﬁcials to lift the suspension of Glyn Secker

(following the discovery of his membership of the Palestine Live Facebook group), overruling their

recommendation to expel him, after Andrew Murray, another aide to Mr Corbyn (and the Unite

union’s chief of staff), stated that Mr Corbyn himself was “interested in this one.”

Mr Corbyn has shown support for Mr Secker in the past. For example, on 26th July 2014, during a

pro-Palestine march in London, Mr Corbyn spoke in praise of Mr Secker, saying: “…we’ve just

heard a brilliant speech from Glyn Secker from Jews for Justice for Palestinians, who read out a

letter from Dr Mads Gilbert, working in the Shifa hospital in Gaza. That’s the Jewish tradition that

I’m interested in; that’s the Jewish tradition I understand.”

Mr Secker is now Secretary of two organisations with a record of antisemitism denial, Jewish Voice

for Labour (JVL) and Free Speech on Israel. Mr Secker was brieﬂy suspended from the Labour

Party in March 2018 when it was discovered that he was a member of the Palestine Live Facebook

Group. On 11th May 2019, Mr Secker was recorded saying in a speech that “Jews” are “in the

gutter” and “part of the problem,” apparently in relation to Jewish organisations and their leaders;

he has nevertheless been chosen by the Labour Party to provide training on antisemitism.

[d] On 31st January 2019, it was reported by Derbyshire Live that Mr Corbyn had said of then

Labour MP for Derby North, Chris Williamson: “Chris Williamson is a very good, very effective

Labour MP. He’s a very strong anti-racist campaigner. He is not antisemitic in any way.” Mr

Williamson had repeatedly been accused of extreme insensitivity towards the Jewish community

because of his support for high-proﬁle members suspended or expelled for antisemitism, and just

the previous month had been the subject of a statement issued by 30 University Labour Clubs, in

which he was condemned for his “complete lack of respect for the Jewish community,” and in

which the Party was urged to withdraw the whip “until he listens to the concerns of the Jewish

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community and properly educates himself about antisemitism.” Mr Williamson was suspended from

the Party on 27th February 2019.

On 27th February 2019, it was reported that Mr Corbyn’s ofﬁce had seemingly intervened to

prevent Mr Williamson’s suspension.

On 28th February 2019, it was reported in The Telegraph that Mr Corbyn had let it be known that

he did not want Mr Williamson suspended; it was reportedly only when it became clear that this

was a “PR disaster” that the whip was removed from the MP.

On 6th November 2019, Mr Williamson resigned from the Labour Party and wrote a resignation

letter described as “a manifesto against Jews.”

[e] On 4th July 2016, Mr Corbyn gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on

antisemitism, and was questioned about Jackie Walker, who was, at the time, the Vice-Chair of

Momentum, the campaign group set up to support Mr Corbyn in his leadership bid the previous

year, and has been described as a “key ally” of Mr Corbyn. Ms Walker had been readmitted to the

Party a few months previously, following her suspension for stating that “many Jews” were amongst

the “the chief ﬁnanciers” of the transatlantic slave trade, in spite of having refused to apologise for

her comments. Asked to comment on why Ms Walker had been reinstated, whilst Ken Livingstone

remained suspended, Mr Corbyn replied: “Jackie Walker is a woman of black Jamaican heritage

and European Jewish heritage, and as I understand it, she became involved in an online

discussion about the history of the slave trade and the ﬁnancing of the slave trade, and

unfortunately she then became involved in a discussion about the gradations of horror that go with

that. She was indeed suspended. She made strong representations to the Compliance Unit of the

Party — I wasn’t a party to any of that — and she was subsequently reinstated on this. I think she is

somebody that does have a deep understanding of issues of racism that have affected her and her

family in her life…”

Further pressed to say whether he was “happy to have someone in the Party who [had] made

those comments,” Mr Corbyn responded: “…I am content that she has now been reinstated in the

Party and that she will make a positive contribution to our Party and not in any way indulge in any

activities that would be damaging to the Party.”

Mr Corbyn was later asked to comment on Ken Livingstone’s submission to the enquiry on the

matter of Ms Walker’s statements. Chuka Umunna MP said : “I am just asking whether you think, as

Ken Livingstone said to us, that to state that Jewish people were important in ﬁnancing the slave

trade is antisemitic because, as he said, it was not true. Do you think that what she said is

antisemitic?” Mr Corbyn responded: “True or not, it is the wrong comparison to draw” and, pressed

further, stated: “I think if you condemn people for their faith and funding of something, yes, that

does become antisemitic, because what you are doing then — as I think you would probably agree

— is calling them out because of their faith or their ethnicity, rather than the fact of what they were

doing, which was apparently funding the slave trade.”

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On 6th September 2016, Mr Corbyn was reported as having been criticised for having shared a

platform with Jackie Walker, having been photographed smiling and standing alongside her at a

Momentum event in Kent.

On 30th September 2016, it was reported that Ms Walker had been suspended for a second time

for saying that Holocaust Memorial Day should be “open to all peoples who’ve experienced

Holocaust” and questioning the need for the Jewish community to have extra security for its

buildings.

On 27th March 2019, it was reported that Ms Walker had been expelled from the Labour Party for

“prejudicial and grossly detrimental behaviour against the party.”

On 10th July 2019, it was reported that a key ally of Mr Corbyn, Labour’s General Secretary Jennie

Formby, had been accused of attempting to inﬂuence the selection of the disciplinary panel which

would hear Jackie Walker’s case. It was reported that an e-mail from her, stating “The National

Constitutional Committee cannot be allowed to continue in the way that they are at the moment and

I will also be challenging the panel for the Jackie Walker case” had been sent by her to Mr

Corbyn’s personal e-mail address, as well as to Mr Corbyn’s chief advisors.

On 19th July 2019, it was reported that Sky News had obtained e-mails showing that Mr Corbyn

had been party to the correspondence between Jennie Formby and his Chief of Staff, Karie

Murphy, in which Ms Walker’s case was discussed. Ms Formby apparently expressed the desire to

ensure that Ms Walker’s panel did not include members who had been involved in the cases of

Tony Greenstein and Marc Wadsworth, both of whom had been expelled.

18. On 29th October 2020, following the release of the EHRC’s report on antisemitism in the Labour

Party, Mr Corbyn wrote: “Anyone claiming there is no antisemitism in the Labour Party is wrong. Of

course there is, as there is throughout society, and sometimes it is voiced by people who think of

themselves as on the left. Jewish members of our party and the wider community were right to

expect us to deal with it, and I regret that it took longer to deliver that change than it should. One

antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for

political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.

That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Corbyn’s actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By suggesting that British Jews (characterised as “Zionists”) were incapable of understanding

“English irony” despite “having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their

lives” (thereby promoting the stereotypical notion of Jewish ‘foreignness’) [11]; by wholeheartedly

endorsing a book which promotes an early incarnation of contemporary conspiracy theories about

the Rothschild family and alleges Jewish control over the press, without drawing attention to the

antisemitic nature of its analysis [5]; by defending the continued existence of a mural which

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promoted antisemitic tropes (after having analysed and absorbed its contents sufﬁciently to have

drawn a sophisticated comparison to the fate of a mural by Diego Rivera) [10]; and by suggesting

that his foreword to J.A. Hobson’s book had been mischievously misrepresented by a Jewish

journalist for partisan political reasons, thereby presenting the journalist as deceitful and

untrustworthy [16], he was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical

allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not

exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy,

government or other societal institutions.”

Zionism is an expression of national self-determination for Jews, and, since the establishment of

the State of Israel, of support for the maintenance of that state. However, the allegation that

Zionism is an inherently far-right and racist ideology was promoted by the Soviet Union in the post-

war era until 1989, as part of a deliberate and explicitly antisemitic campaign to persecute Jewish

citizens who wished to practise their religion and/or leave the Soviet Union — especially to

emigrate to Israel — as well as to demonise and undermine Israel on the foreign stage for global

strategic gain. A singular purpose of this propaganda was to drive a false distinction between

“Jews” and “Zionists”, in which the latter are portrayed as the enemy of the former, and the

embodiment of many older antisemitic tropes, especially those in which Jews are characterised as

disloyal citizens controlling the world’s ﬁnances at the expense of the poor. In this context, “Zionist”

could then be substituted for “Jew” in antisemitic discourse; and Israel, the embodiment of

Zionism, became the “Jew among nations”: a vessel for many older antisemitic ideas,

characterised as a malign presence that mediates its power over foreign countries via the “Zionist”

population they host.

By referring to supposed control of the British media by the “Zionist lobby” [7]; by stating that

British “Zionists” “don’t understand English irony” [9]; by alleging that the British media is

manipulated by Israel [1] [6]; by suggesting that Israel controls US foreign policy [1]; by alleging,

without evidence, that Israel had perpetrated a so-called “false ﬂag” attack in Egypt [9a]; and by

asserting unambiguous opposition to Zionism and seeming to suggest that the existence of

Zionism makes life in Israel/Palestine impossible [2]; he was, therefore “making mendacious,

dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews

as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy

or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” where Israel is

“conceived as a Jewish collectivity.”

We further note that, on 26th November 2019, Mr Corbyn was interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew

Neil, and was questioned as to whether it was antisemitic to use the phrase “Rothschild’s Zionists

run Israel and world governments” (a claim made by the former Labour council candidate Liam

Moore), Mr Corbyn seemed reluctant to admit that it was, and had to be pressed on the matter a

number of times before he appeared to agree.

We also note the words of the Labour Party’s own guidance issued on the use of the term ‘Zionism’,

particularly where it states that: “…for many Jews, Zionism represents national liberation. The

concepts of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem run deeply in Jewish religion, identity and culture, and…are

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symbolic of a homeland, refuge, or place of safety. The sensitivities around these concepts should

be considered before using them.”

By apparently endorsing his brother’s view that accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party, as

highlighted by a Jewish MP, were the work of “Zionists [who] can’t cope with anyone supporting

rights for…Palestine” [12]; by suggesting that accusations of antisemitism levelled against the

Revd Stephen Sizer were simply part of an effort to demonise “those daring to stand up and speak

out against Zionism” [8]; by claiming that a Jewish journalist’s analysis of antisemitism in the

Labour Party was a work of “utterly disgusting subliminal nastiness” [13]; by promoting a video

which characterises those making accusations of antisemitism within the Labour Party as doing so

because they were “losing the political argument” [14]; and by suggesting that, in relation to his

foreword to J.A. Hobson’s book, the issue of antisemitism in general was being

“politicised” (suggesting, moreover, that those making such accusations were responsible for

promoting anxiety within the Jewish community) [16]; and by claiming that the problem of

antisemitism in Labour had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents

inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media” [18], he was deploying the so-

called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying,

conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear evidence that there have

been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. This further constitutes “making

mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the

power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world

Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal

institutions.”

By suggesting that the BBC was biased towards saying “that Israel has a right to exist” (in the

context of an interview given to a propaganda channel for the Islamic Republic of Iran — a country

whose leaders have repeatedly made clear their desire to eliminate the Jewish state — and in

which pro-Israeli bias is understood to be negative), thereby tacitly condoning the view that Israel’s

right to exist is a matter of debate [6]; by asserting unambiguous opposition to Zionism and

seeming to suggest that the existence of Zionism makes life in Israel/Palestine impossible [2]; and

by proposing a clariﬁcation to Labour’s adoption of the IHRA deﬁnition which stated that it could

not be regarded as antisemitic to describe the circumstances around the foundation of Israel as

racist [16], he was “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming

that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour).”

By hosting, chairing and speaking at an event which explicitly drew a direct comparison between

the actions of the Israeli government and those of Nazi Germany, when the evidence demonstrates

that Mr Corbyn must have known that such an argument was to be advanced [3]; Mr Corbyn was

both directly “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” and

enabling the drawing of such comparisons.

By choosing to stage the above event at Parliament on Holocaust Memorial Day itself, when Jews

actively mourn those slain in the Holocaust, having been warned that such timing would be deeply

upsetting to the Jewish community [3]; and, further, by supporting a motion introduced in the

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House of Commons on the following year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, calling for the word

“Holocaust” to be dropped from the title of the commemoration, and citing as its inspiration an

organisation whose reported aim is to challenge the “Zionist exploitation of [this] genocide…” [4],

Mr Corbyn took a deliberate and premeditated course of action in the knowledge that it would

cause deep offence to the Jewish community. As such, this represents a manifestation of

antisemitism expressed as an action.

The assertion that Jews exploit the Holocaust politically and ﬁnancially is an antisemitic trope

based on the perception of negative Jewish character traits; namely notions of dishonesty and

greed. This trope is now so widespread that, in a 2018 CNN survey, one third of Europeans

expressed the opinion that Jews exploit the Holocaust. By hosting, chairing and speaking at an

event in which Jews — particularly, but not exclusively, in Israel — were accused of “misuse of

[the] Holocaust” and of believing that “Because we Jews have a monoploy [sic] on suffering, we

can do what we want to anybody” [3], he was enabling the dissemination of “mendacious,

dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews.”

By hosting an event which promoted the notion of a “Holocaust religion” [3], Mr Corbyn was

attempting to diminish the signiﬁcance of the Holocaust.

By using a television interview to question why a terrorist convicted for the slaughter of innocent

Jewish Israelis should be “in prison in the ﬁrst place”; by calling that terrorist “brother”; and by

expressing pleasure in his release from prison as a result of a prisoner-swap, despite his not

having served his full jail term [9b], Mr Corbyn was signalling his endorsement of Mr Amr’s actions

as an organiser of the terrorist murder of Jewish Israeli civilians. Given that, according to our

records, Mr Corbyn has never apologised or distanced himself from these statements since

becoming leader of the UK Labour Party, his actions and statements have therefore validated and

spread within the Labour Party the view that such profoundly violent actions against Jews are, in

his eyes, legitimate. As such, this represents an expression of hatred of Jews, disseminated by

both speech and action.

By having lent regular and explicit support for, and reportedly interfered or intervened in the Party’s

disciplinary processes regarding, some of the most prominent individuals suspended and expelled

from the Labour Party for actions and statements subsequently determined by the Labour Party to

have been antisemitic and/or to have brought the Party into disrepute as a result of their antisemitic

content [17 a-e], Mr Corbyn consistently and deliberately enabled and supported the

dissemination of antisemitic discourse in the Labour Party. In doing so, he promoted

discrimination against Jews within the Labour Party such as Ruth Smeeth, Luciana Berger,

Margaret Hodge, members of the Jewish Labour Movement and others, who were the speciﬁc

targets of these individuals’ comments, as well as supporting a wider demonisation of Jews

objecting to antisemitism in the Labour Party. As such, he was responsible for “mendacious,

dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews

as a collective.”

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APPENDIX B: NEW COMPLAINTS

Diane Abbott MP

Tahir Ali MP

Mike Amesbury MP

Alana Bates

Apsana Begum MP

Richard Burgon MP

Ronnie Campbell

Maria Carroll

Pamela Fitzpatrick

Lisa Forbes

Barry Gardiner MP

Ruth George

Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt

Dan Greef

Adrian Heald

Kate Hollern MP

Rebecca Jenkins

Afzal Khan MP

Kate Linnegar

Rebecca Long Bailey MP

Mark McDonald

Ali Milani

Ed Murphy

Jann Oliver

Baroness Osamor

Jenny Rathbone WAM

Angela Rayner MP

Steve Reed MP

Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP

Barry Sheerman MP

Jim Sheridan

Zarah Sultana MP

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DIANE ABBOTT, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR HACKNEY NORTH AND
STOKE NEWINGTON

Incidents

1. On 1st May 2016, when interviewed by Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning show, Ms Abbott

said: “It’s a smear to say that Labour has a problem with antisemitism. It is something like a smear

against ordinary party members.”

2. On 6th April 2017, Ms Abbott appeared on BBC’s Question Time. When fellow panellist Gerard

Coyne, a candidate to lead the Unite union, said that Ken Livingstone should have been expelled

because “his comments are an affront to the six million Jews who lost their lives — and their

families — in the Holocaust”, and that Labour has a general problem with antisemitism, Ms Abbott

retorted: “When Gerard says that the Labour Party has an institutional problem with racism, or

institutional antisemitism, because they’re one and the same, when you say that the Labour Party

has a problem with institutional antisemitism and racism, I’m sorry you feel the need to attack your

Party. I’m proud of the Labour Party’s record on ﬁghting racism and antisemitism.” She also refused

to answer directly a question about whether Ken Livingstone should be expelled from the Party for

his comments about Hitler supposedly supporting Zionism.

3. On 26th March 2018, Ms Abbott reportedly “ranted” about what she said was an orchestrated

attack on Jeremy Corbyn, in a meeting of her shadow Home Ofﬁce team.

4. On 27th March 2018, Ms Abbott reportedly promoted a tweet by @Rachael_Swindon (a

prominent pro-Jeremy Corbyn Twitter account whose operator has not only persistently dismissed

claims of antisemitism, but has also promoted antisemitic discourse and conspiracy theories)

which claimed that thousands of people had joined the Labour Party in the wake of the previous

day’s protest against antisemitism because they were “so disgusted by the constant smearing of

Jeremy Corbyn” (a claim which was conﬁrmed to be entirely untrue).

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Abbott’s actions and statements qualify as

antisemitic discourse according to our methodolog y.

By characterising those who allege antisemitism in the Labour Party as politically motivated, by

describing allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party as “smears” and tantamount to an

unfounded “attack” on the Party [1], [2], [4]; and by suggesting that those involved in protesting

against antisemitism were engaged in an orchestrated attack on Jeremy Corbyn [3], Ms Abbott

necessarily includes those Jewish groups and individuals who have publicly and repeatedly done

so. In doing so, she is deploying the so-called Livingstone Formulation, by accusing Jews who cite

evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so when there is

clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. As

such, she was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about

Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the

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myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or

other societal institutions.”

Furthermore, we note that on 26th March 2018, in a published response to complaints of

antisemitism by Jewish community charities, Jeremy Corbyn MP stated: “I recognise that anti-

Semitism [sic] has surfaced within the Labour Party, and has too often been dismissed as simply a

matter of a few bad apples.” On 24th April 2018, in an article published in the Evening Standard,

Mr Corbyn stated: “We must strive to understand why anti-Semitism [sic] has surfaced in our

party…”, and “when members of Jewish communities express genuine anxieties we must

recognise them as we would those of any other community. Their concerns are not ‘smears’.”

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TAHIR ALI, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BIRMINGHAM, HALL GREEN

Incidents

1. On 27th November 2019, at a pre-election constituency hustings meeting, Mr Ali said [circa

12:10]: “There is no place for racism of any kind in any party…earlier this week, the Lib Dem

candidate in Hodge Hill — it was last week — has been suspended because of antisemetic [sic]

remarks. Two Conservative candidates this week have been suspended because of antisemite

[sic] remarks. You will not see them in the national media. And it’s the Labour Party that’s always

been driven by mainstream media, whether it’s the Lehman Brothers, or Murdoch-backed media

institutions…” Responding to an interjection from an audience member in which the questioner

appears to ask “Why is the Labour party being led by a racist?” Mr Ali replied: “If you read the

Daily Mail, that is exactly the sort of things you’re going to see. You need to look at everything in

context. There’ll be a lot of allegations at Jeremy Corbyn because of the kind of person he is,

because the direction of the Party is changed, because of the direction of politics that this country

is changing…We need to be totally clear: the attack on Corbyn is for one and one reason only — to

make sure Boris [Johnson] ends up in Number Ten…”

It should be noted that the suspensions of a Liberal Democrat (Waheed Raﬁq) and Conservative

candidates (Amjad Bashir and Ryan Houghton) over alleged antisemitism, as referred to by Mr Ali,

had been widely reported in the national media. Lehman Brothers was an investment bank,

originally founded and run by a Jewish family from the mid-19th Century until 1969.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Ali’s statements amount to breaches of the

International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our

methodolog y.

By suggesting that accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party and against Jeremy Corbyn

personally [1] are disproportionate and made for political reasons, namely as part of a right-wing

media-driven conspiracy to ensure a Conservative government, his comments necessarily include

the Jewish groups and individuals who have been prominent among those who have claimed there

is antisemitism in the Labour Party. In making this statement, therefore, he was deploying the so-

called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying,

conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear evidence that there have

been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. This constitutes “making

mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews…”

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MIKE AMESBURY, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR WEAVER VALE

Incidents

1. On 18th November 2013, Mike Amesbury shared an image on Facebook (originally from an

account whose output consists principally of conspiracist material) which showed a grinning, hook-

nosed man with curling side-locks rubbing his hands together. The ﬁgure sported a Father

Christmas outﬁt, but where the hat was emblazoned with the symbol known as the ‘Eye of

providence’ which features in numerous conspiracy theories, but is particularly associated with the

so-called ‘Illuminati’. The text accompanying the image urged its viewers to “Remember to support

the banks and corporations this Christmas in their continued efforts to enslave mankind, by

spending money you haven’t got on things you don’t need.” The image originally accompanied an

article from a site called “Illuminati Agenda”.

2. On 4th July 2020, Mr Amesbury retweeted (and shortly afterwards deleted) a tweet originally

posted by fellow MP Steve Reed in which the latter had written: “Is millionaire former porn-baron

Desmond the puppet-master for the entire Tory cabinet?@Robert Jenrick @PritiPatel”. It had been

reported that day that, before becoming Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP had been lobbied by

Richard Desmond, who is Jewish, over the matter of relaxing lottery regulations. It had previously

been reported that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert

Jenrick, had been lobbied by Mr Desmond over a matter of property development.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Amesbury’s actions amount to breaches of the

International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our

methodolog y.

Whilst the term “Illuminati” originally referred to a short-lived Enlightenment-era fraternal

organisation, it has become associated with a variety of conspiracy theories, all of which allege

that the “Illuminati” inﬁltrated the ranks of European Jewish bankers in the nineteenth century.

These theories variously assert that the bankers, Jews and Illuminati were behind the Bolshevik

Revolution and the creation of the Federal Reserve system in the United States, later forming the

inﬂuential American think tank Council on Foreign Relations and subsequently what the far-right

refers to as the New World Order, under whose control institutions such as the United Nations and

the European Union are imagined to be.

By sharing an image which suggested that global banks and corporations were involved in “efforts

to enslave mankind”, linked to the so-called “Illuminati”, and which additionally displayed a

stereoypically antisemitic caricature, in which Jews are depicted as quasi-demonic, with long,

hooked noses [1]; and by retweeting the suggestion that a Jewish businessman was the “puppet-

master” of the Conservative cabinet, thereby employing an antisemitic trope with a long history,

having been, for example, deployed by the Nazis and more recently being frequently evoked to

demonise Jewish ﬁnanciers [2], he was disseminating material which was “making mendacious,

dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews

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as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy

or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

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ALANA BATES, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, ST IVES, CORNWALL

Incidents

1. On 31st March 2018, Alana Bates was reported to have written on Facebook: “Any friends in

London please go along to support this – being in favour of Palestinian rights does not make you

anti-semetic [sic] and we need to stand up for Jeremy against these manipulative smears.” The

context indicates that Ms Bates was referring to an event that took place a few days previously, on

Monday 26th March, when Jewish groups had organised a protest in Parliament Square against

antisemitism in the Labour Party. A counter-demonstration, organised by the antisemitism denial

group, Jewish Voice for Labour, had also taken place.

The account which had highlighted her post a few days later commented: “‘Manipulative smears’

— nice way for a Labour councillor to describe protests about anti-semitism [sic].” In the

discussion thread which followed — in which what was described as her attempt “to link the plight

of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to anti-semitism [sic] in the hard left” was described as

“shameful” — Ms Bates defended her position and suggested that an attempt was being made to

“intimidate” her.

2. On 11th November 2019, it was reported that a video (originally posted in 2015) had been

discovered, showing Ms Bates playing in a band (The Tribunes) which was performing a song

called “From the River to the Sea”. The song included the lyrics: “With no justice, there’s no

peace / troops out of the Middle East / with no justice, there’s no peace / get out of the Middle

East / Justice should not have to wait / Israel’s an apartheid state / Justice should not have to wait /

Israel is a racist state / Justice should not have to wait / Palestine should be one state! / From the

River to the Sea / Palestine will be free.”

The phrase “from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free” has come to

be described as “calling for an end to the State of Israel”, and has been quoted by leaders of the

proscribed terror group Hamas, as well as being included in its stated aims.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Bates’ actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By characterising complaints of antisemitism against the Labour Party — embodied by a protest

organised by mainstream Jewish community groups and largely attended by ordinary British Jews

— as “manipulative smears” which were being politically directed against “Jeremy” Corbyn and

those who wished to “support the rights of Palestinians against brutal occupation” [1], Ms Bates

was deploying the so-called Livingstone Formulation, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of

antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so in cases where there is

clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. In so

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doing, she was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations

about Jews…”

We note that on 24th April 2018, in an article published in the Evening Standard, Mr Corbyn stated:

“We must strive to understand why anti-Semitism [sic] has surfaced in our party…” and “when

members of Jewish communities express genuine anxieties we must recognise them as we would

those of any other community. Their concerns are not ‘smears’.”

By performing a song in which the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” —

generally interpreted as a call for the destruction of Israel — is employed [2], she was “denying the

Jewish people their right to self-determination”.

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APSANA BEGUM, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR POPLAR AND LIMEHOUSE

Incident

1. On 11th June 2017, Apsana Begum shared a post on Facebook which linked to an article

relating to the harassment of Qatari pilgrims in Mecca and which was accompanied by the

comment: “House of Saud are crossing the red line, inspired by their zionist masters !”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Begum’s actions amount to a breach of the

International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our

methodolog y.

By sharing a post in which it was suggested that the House of Saud is somehow subservient to

“Zionist masters” — that is, alleging that they were somehow under the control of Israel or Jews —

she was disseminating material which was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or

stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as,

especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the

media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

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RICHARD BURGON, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR LEEDS EAST

Incidents

1. On an unknown date in 2014, addressing a public meeting discussing the war in Gaza, Richard

Burgon reportedly said: “The enemy of the Palestinian people, is not the Jewish people. The

enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists, and Zionism is the enemy of peace, and the enemy

of the Palestinian people. And we need to be loud, we need to be proud in support of a free

Palestine. I make no apologies. I am proud to say, not only wouldn’t I be a member of Labour

Friends of Israel, I’ve never been a member of Labour Friends of Israel. And I’m all for everyone’s

opinions being out there and everyone having their opinion treated with respect. But, look up on

the internet, because it’s there to see on the Labour Friends of Israel website which MPs are

members of Labour Friends of Israel. Which Labour MPs are ofﬁcers of Labour Friends of Israel.

And ask them, in support of the Palestinian people, in protest of what’s happening in Gaza now, to

resign from Labour Friends of Israel, to show support for all humanity.”

2. On an unknown date in 2016, in another speech, Mr Burgon reportedly said: “False accusations

ﬂy as soon as you support the people of Palestine, and I myself in some small way was attacked,

and I was accused of a false and outrageous slander by a supporter of the Israeli government, by

a very well-connected supporter of the Israeli government.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Burgon’s actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

Zionism is an expression of national self-determination for Jews, and since the establishment of the

State of Israel, of support for the continued existence of that state. However, the allegation that

Zionism is an inherently far-right and racist ideology was promulgated by the Soviet Union in the

post-war era until 1989, as part of a deliberate and explicitly antisemitic campaign to persecute

Jewish citizens who wished to practise their religion and/or leave the Soviet Union — especially to

emigrate to Israel — as well as to demonise and undermine Israel on the foreign stage for global

strategic gain. A singular purpose of this propaganda was to drive a false distinction between

“Jews” and “Zionists”, in which the latter is the enemy of the former, and the embodiment of many

older antisemitic tropes. By stating that “The enemy of the Palestinian people, is not the Jewish

people. The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists, and Zionism is the enemy of peace and

the enemy of the Palestinian people.” [1] Mr Burgon was demonising Zionist Jews, and as such

was “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.”

We note the words of the Labour Party’s own guidance issued on the use of the term ‘Zionism’,

particularly where it states that: “…for many Jews, Zionism represents national liberation. The

concepts of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem run deeply in Jewish religion, identity and culture, and…are

symbolic of a homeland, refuge, or place of safety. The sensitivities around these concepts should

be considered before using them.”

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By stating that “false accusations ﬂy as soon as you support the people of Palestine” [2], which will

necessarily include accusations of antisemitism made by Jewish individuals or groups, Mr Burgon

was deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of

antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear

evidence that there may have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism.

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RONNIE CAMPBELL, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BLYTH
VALLEY

Incidents

1. On 5th April 2018, it was reported that Mr Campbell had issued a statement in which he said: [a]

“Let us be clear – Adolf Hitler was a very bad person, and there is not an anti-Semitic [sic] bone in

Jeremy Corbyn’s body…The latest row over the bizarre allegation that Jeremy is in any way anti-

Jewish has been got up by the Right-wing media. It is getting so bad that you cannot criticise

Israel in its dealings with Palestine without being accused of racism or fascism. They are using it

as a big stick to hit Jeremy with…I do understand that people have to be careful what they say in

any social media, and I will never condone some of the juvenile nonsense put about by social

media on all sides, on Brexit and a host of other issues as well as racial slurs. However, the row is

not as big as the Daily Mail and other Establishment toilet papers making it out to be.[b] Any critic

of Israel who has had dealings with Palestine is seen as anti-Semitic [sic] and that is just plain

wrong.”

2. On 14th April 2019, Mr Campbell was interviewed on BBC Radio 4, and reportedly said: “The

people in the Parliamentary Labour Party are using the Jewish issue, the antisemitic issue, as a big

stick to beat Corbyn and get rid of him. It’s as simple as that as far as I can see. I’ve been in the

Labour Party nearly — more than — 50 years and I’ve never heard anything like this

before…nobody wanted [Jeremy Corbyn] in the ﬁrst place, remember. The Parliamentary Labour

Party put a no conﬁdence vote in. When they didn’t get that, they started to say what issue can we

get them on? Ah the Jewish issue. This is a good one. I feel sorry for the Jewish people…You’re

being used by these people. Just to get rid of Corbyn that is.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Campbell’s statements and actions amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By alleging that accusations of antisemitism (or, as he phrased it, “the Jewish issue”) were being

“got up by the right-wing media” [1a]; that they were automatically being levelled at anyone who

was simply a “critic of Israel” [1b]; that they were being used as a “big stick” to beat Jeremy

Corbyn with [1a], and speciﬁcally in order to “get rid of [him]” [2], his comments necessarily

include the Jewish groups and individuals who have been prominent among those who have made

fully evidenced allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. In making this statement, therefore,

he was deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of

antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear

evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. This

constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about

Jews.”

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MARIA CARROLL, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, CARMARTHEN EAST &
DINEFWR

Incidents

1. On 26th April 2017, Maria Carroll posted in the closed Facebook group ‘Labour Party

Compliance – Expulsions Suspensions Rejections Co-op’, which offered support and advice to

Labour members facing disciplinary charges, including antisemitism, and of which she was

reportedly an administrator. She wrote: [a] “It appears the Campaign Against Antisemitism is

continuing its campaign. It has succeeded in ridding the Lib Dems of a couple of their candidates

today and continues to attack any Labour candidate who has ever dared to support Palestine.

Using the ‘deﬁnition’ it is having major successes. Here is their latest target. [b] They post. Labour

suspends. Lib Dems suspend. Has anyone seen a Tory suspended yet? Odd that.”

She shared an image taken from an article published by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) on

24th April 2017, relating to the case of Mike Sivier, a Labour council candidate suspended from the

Party for disseminating antisemitic discourse, and who was then permanently excluded from the

Labour Party because he refused to take an educational study programme in antisemitism.

2. On 27th April 2017, responding to a comment in the exchange which followed her post, she

wrote: [a] “I posted this to show that Mike is being targeted. The fact that a lib dem has been

targeted too shows imo [in my opinion] that anyone who supports Palestine is now at risk because

of the way that the deﬁnition is being used. This is now wider than just Corbyn supporters being

targeted and smacks of a bigger agenda, a wider network etc.”

The Liberal Democrat candidates to whom Ms Carroll was referring were Councillor David Ward,

who had been suspended on 26th April 2017, and Ashuk Ahmed, who had been suspended on

25th April 2017.

One commenter responded: [b] “CAA as has become their usual practice, bend the truth or just

outright lie, Mike appears to be a genuine, honest, caring prospective MP [sic]”, to which another

replied: “The UK has a problem, free speech is being targeted behind false anti-Semitic claims.

The adopted deﬁnition for anti-Semitism in the UK has to be challenged as it is not ﬁt for purpose.”

Ms Carroll endorsed this, saying: [c] “It is most certainly being used to prevent any form of

criticism in any shape or form of the Israeli government and its actions even when they are

criticised by the United Nations.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Carroll’s actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By alleging that the true motive of CAA, a charity combatting antisemitism, is simply to “attack”

those who “dared to support Palestine”, rather than ﬁghting against anti-Jewish racism [1a] [2a];

by endorsing the assertion that “free speech is being targeted by false anti-Semitic [sic]

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claims” [2b]; and by endorsing the assertion that CAA uses “outright lie(s)” and that their

accusations of antisemitism were being made in order to “prevent any form of criticism in any

shape or form of the Israeli government and its actions” [2c], she was was deploying the so-called

Livingstone Formulation, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring

or having deceitful motives in doing so in cases where there is clear evidence that there have been

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. As such, she was “making mendacious,

dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews

as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy

or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

Moreover, by positing the existence of a conspiracy between the Campaign Against Antisemitism

involving “a bigger agenda, [and] a wider network” [2a], as well as implying that CAA, for hidden

reasons, fails to tackle equivalent allegations of antisemitism in the Conservative Party [1b], she

was further “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about

Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the

myth about…Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

Additionally, by asserting that the aim of Campaign Against Antisemitism is to “attack” those who

“dared to support Palestine” [1a] in order to “prevent any form of criticism in any shape or form of

the Israeli government and its actions” [2c], she was “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal

to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM ) contact@antisemitism.org x +44 (0)330 822 0321 = antisemitism.org

PAMELA FITZPATRICK, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, HARROW EAST

Incident

1. On or around 26th March 2018, Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick retweeted a post from the

@SocialistVoice Twitter account (which is run by Scott Nelson, a pro-Jeremy Corbyn activist who

was suspended and reportedly eventually expelled from the Labour Party following complaints of

disseminating antisemitic discourse and abuse) which included a link to a statement by the so-

called Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), whose purpose is to provide an ostensibly Jewish voice in

support of the most extreme elements on the Labour left, which camouﬂage themselves as ‘anti-

Zionists’.

The statement objected to the organisation of a rally by the Board of Deputies of British Jews in

protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party, claiming: “The Board of Deputies and those

supporting them must be aware that this is an attempt to inﬂuence local elections and has nothing

to do with the real and necessary task of challenging racism and anti-semitism [sic] at all levels of

political life.”

2. On or around 2nd April 2018, Cllr Fitzpatrick retweeted a link to a letter published in The

Guardian entitled: “Stop Jeremy Corbyn’s trial by media over antisemitism.” The letter’s signatories

asserted that media coverage of the antisemitism crisis within the Labour Party had been biased,

reporting it in such a way as to suggest that “antisemitism is a problem mostly to do with Labour

and that Corbyn is personally responsible for failing to deal with it.” They suggested that the

coverage had relied on only “a handful” of sources, including Jewish charities described as “well-

known opponents of Jeremy Corbyn himself.” Having gone on to suggest that the real threat to

Jews in both Britain and Europe came from the right, the signatories concluded: “It is not

‘whataboutery’ to suggest that the debate on antisemitism has been framed in such a way as to

mystify the real sources of anti-Jewish bigotry and instead to weaponise it against a single political

ﬁgure just ahead of important elections.”

3. On or around 4th March 2019, Cllr Fitzpatrick reportedly retweeted a post which stated: “I

resigned this evening. Cannot take incessant [antisemitism] battering, lies, deceit, and sheer

hatred of some Labour MPs towards their own members and good and faithful Labour MPs.

Started to affect my health, Felt like I was in the middle of a witch hunt. I will always support

[Jeremy Corbyn].”

The tweet had originally been posted in response to an appeal for calm amongst Labour members

from Dawn Butler MP, following revelations about alleged interference by senior Labour Party

ofﬁcials in disciplinary cases involving antisemitism.

The account in question — @xpressanny — had, less than a month earlier, been condemned by

Wes Streeting MP, a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism (after the

account had attacked former Labour councillor Emily Benn and Luciana Berger MP over

antisemitism), as having apparently endorsed a notorious antisemitic image and shared numerous

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conspiracy theories involving the Rothschilds. It appears that the account’s owner was expecting

to be disciplined by the Labour Party and resigned before action could be taken against her.

Cllr Fitzpatrick had interacted with the account previously.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Cllr Fitzpatrick’s actions amount to breaches of

the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our

methodolog y.

Given that the comments by @xpressanny necessarily include the Jewish groups and individuals

who have been prominent among those who have complained about antisemitism in the Labour

Party, by retweeting a post in which allegations of antisemitism were characterised as “lies”,

“deceit” and a “witch hunt” [3]; by sharing a statement by JVL in which the Board of Deputies of

British Jews were accused of protesting against antisemitism in order to try to inﬂuence the

outcome of an election [1]; and by sharing a letter which suggested that the debate on

antisemitism was being manipulated in order to “weaponise it against a single political ﬁgure

[Jeremy Corbyn] just ahead of important elections”[2], Cllr Fitzpatrick was endorsing and

disseminating material deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who

cite evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when

there is clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of

Antisemitism. This constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical

allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not

exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy,

government or other societal institutions.”

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM ) contact@antisemitism.org x +44 (0)330 822 0321 = antisemitism.org

LISA FORBES, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PETERBOROUGH

Incidents

1. On 14th September 2014, Lisa Forbes commented on a Facebook post that she had “enjoyed

reading” a thread which claimed that Islamic extremism was created “by the CIA and Mosad [sic]”.

2. On or around 11th August 2018, Ms Forbes signed a letter to the National Executive Committee

of the Labour Party opposing the adoption of all eleven examples of the International Holocaust

Remembrance Alliance deﬁnition of antisemitism into the Labour Party’s code of conduct. The

letter states that “To endorse the BDS movement or to suggest that the State of Israel in its historic

and current form is a racist endeavour are not expressions of antisemitism.”

3. On or around 15th April 2019, Ms Forbes, who was by then Labour’s candidate in the

Peterborough by election, ‘liked’ a Facebook post which stated that Theresa May had a “Zionist

Slave Masters agenda.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms Forbes’ actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By ‘liking’ a Facebook post which stated that Theresa May had a “Zionist Slave Masters

agenda” [3], she was deploying a trope regarding the supposed hidden power of diaspora Jews

or Israel which originated in the antisemitic propaganda of 1970s Soviet Russia. In doing so, she

was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as

such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a

world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal

institutions.”

The claim that ISIS was created or is controlled by Israel has become a common antisemitic trope

on social media. By commenting that she had “enjoyed reading” a post which claimed that Islamic

extremism was created “by the CIA and Mosad [sic]”[1], she was supporting “mendacious…

allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective”, where the State of Israel is

“conceived as a Jewish collectivity”; and which also “[accuses] Jews as a people of being

responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or

even for acts committed by non-Jews.”

By signing a letter which states that “To endorse the BDS movement or to suggest that the State of

Israel in its historic and current form is a racist endeavour are not expressions of antisemitism” [2],

Ms Forbes was effectively “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination…by

claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”.

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BARRY GARDINER, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BRENT NORTH

Incident

1. On 6th December 2019, during an interview on the BBC’s Newsnight, Barry Gardiner was asked

to respond to details revealed in a dossier submitted to the Equality and Human Rights

Commission by the Party’s Jewish afﬁliate, described as “a damning indictment of both the

[Labour] Party and Jeremy Corbyn”, which alleged a number of instances in which Mr Corbyn had

“signalled that antisemitic views were acceptable.” Mr Gardiner responded: “I want to take issue

with that because what Jeremy has always done is he has been critical of the politics of Israel, and

the way in which Israel has dealt with the Palestinian question…but he has not, in my view, and the

Party certainly has not, in my view, been antisemitic, and it is important that we have clarity on that.

Now I wrote to the [Crown] Prosecution Service after the Al Quds [Day] march, in London a year or

so ago, and asked them ‘why didn’t you prosecute these people who were making antisemitic

slogans’…and they said because of this: they complained about ‘Zionism’ they…weren’t

antisemitic…If the Crown Prosecution Service makes a distinction between being anti-Zionist and

being antisemitic, then I think it’s understandable that the Labour Party has in the past made that

distinction as well…”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Gardiner’s actions and statements qualify as

antisemitic discourse according to our methodolog y.

By suggesting that claims of antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn are simply made on the basis of

his criticism of Israel, rather than Mr Corbyn’s clear history of antisemitism; likewise, by stating that

the Labour Party “has not…been antisemitic”, thereby implying that the many experiences of

discrimination within the Party documented in the dossier were fabricated, Mr Gardiner was

deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of

antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear

evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism. This

constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about

Jews…”

The “antisemitic slogans” Mr Gardiner referred to, which were referred to the Crown Prosecution

Service (CPS) by Campaign Against Antisemitism, were those made through a megaphone by the

leader of the so-called ‘Al Quds Day’ march in 2018, who declared: “Some of the biggest

corporations who are supporting the Conservative Party are Zionists. They are responsible for the

murder of the people in Grenfell, in those towers in Grenfell. The Zionist supporters of the Tory

Party.” The decision not to carry forward the prosecution was made by the High Court on the basis

that those comments were not “threatening, either explicitly or implicitly” and were not a judgement

on whether those comments were antisemitic or not. Indeed the Judges, in their conclusion, stated:

“…nothing in this judgment should be taken as condoning anything Mr Ali, or others at the rally

whose words are recorded in the transcript, said. Clearly some things that were said were

intemperate and deeply offensive and distressing to others, and not simply to those in whose

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direction they were aimed.” The CPS’s decision to halt the CAA’s private prosecution in the ﬁrst

instance was similarly based on a legal argument regarding freedom of speech, irrespective of the

offence caused. The comments, claiming a British Jewish charity was responsible for the Grenfell

Tower ﬁre, were clearly antisemitic, and notwithstanding Mr Gardiner’s claims regarding his private

correspondence with the CPS, the contents of which were never made public, or the CPS’s

claimed position, Mr Gardiner was being mendacious in misleading the BBC audience and the

public just before a general election into believing that complaints of genuine antisemitism were

being falsely levelled by British Jews in order to attack the Labour Party. In this comment,

therefore, Mr Gardiner was also deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing

Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so,

when there is clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Deﬁnition of

Antisemitism. This constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical

allegations about Jews…”

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM ) contact@antisemitism.org x +44 (0)330 822 0321 = antisemitism.org

RUTH GEORGE, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, HIGH PEAK

Incidents

1. On 19th February 2019, it was reported that Ruth George MP had been asked on Facebook for

her views on local Labour Councillor Nick Longos having ‘loved’ a comment made on a Facebook

post he had shared, which had been interpreted as calling the new Independent Group of MPs

(Labour MPs who had resigned citing Labour’s failure to deal with antisemitism) “Israelis”. Asked

whether she endorsed this or thought it an appropriate way for a Labour Councillor to behave, Ms

George replied: “I would condemn the calling of anyone as an Israeli when it’s not the case. The

comment appears not to refer to the independent MPs but to their ﬁnancial backers. Support from

the State of Israel, which supports both Conservative and Labour ‘Friends of Israel’ of which

Luciana was chair is possible and I would not condemn those who suggest it, especially when the

group’s ﬁnancial backers are not being revealed. It’s important for democracy to know the ﬁnancial

backers for any political group or policy.”

2. On 8th May 2019, it was reported in the Jewish Chronicle that newly elected High Peak Labour

Councillor Rachel Abbotts had, in 2016, shared an article on Facebook, originally published by the

virulently antisemitic Barnes Review website, entitled: “The Jewish declaration of war on Nazi

Germany.” It was reported that the material had been referred to Ms George in February 2019; in

an e-mail to one complainant, she had insisted that both she and the Constituency Labour Party

(CLP) had been unaware of the post, and of previous complaints about it, and that it had been

passed on to the local and national party for investigation. However, it was further reported that the

Party’s complaints unit claimed to have no record of receiving the material and was investigating

“urgently” after the Jewish Chronicle’s enquiries. It was noted that, notwithstanding the complaint

against her, the CLP had continued to support Cllr Abbotts’ candidacy, having decided that there

was “no evidence of antisemitism on [her] part.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Ms George’s actions and statements amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By lending credence to the notion that the Independent Group of MPs could be secretly ﬁnancially

backed by Israel (making speciﬁc reference to Jewish MP Luciana Berger) and implying that this

would be harmful to British democracy [1], Ms George was “making mendacious, dehumanising,

demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective —

such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews

controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”

By implying that Luciana Berger, as a British MP, indirectly received money in order to serve the

purposes of a foreign power [1], Ms George was also invoking the notion of “dual loyalty” by

“accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews

worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

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By claiming that she had reported evidence of the dissemination of antisemitic discourse by

Rachel Abbotts, a Labour activist, in her local constituency party [2] when she reportedly had not

done so, failing to publicly call out Ms Abbotts’ statements, and, in the absence of any clear

disciplinary process apparently taking place against her, allowing her by default to be promoted to

the position of councillor, Ms George may have been enabling the dissemination of antisemitic

discourse in the Labour Party.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM ) contact@antisemitism.org x +44 (0)330 822 0321 = antisemitism.org

REBECCA GORDON-NESBITT, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, THANET
SOUTH

Incidents

1. On 28th April 2016, responding to the news that Ken Livingstone had been suspended by the

Labour Party over his remarks asserting that Hitler supported Zionism, a Twitter account using the

handle @CambiarCultura, for which Dr Gordon-Nesbitt has taken responsibility, tweeted:

“suspension of [Ken Livingstone] result of a campaign to smear [Jeremy Corbyn] as antisemitic

orchestrated by #Israel lobby.”

2. On 29th April 2019, responding to the Labour List Twitter account (which had shared an article

reporting the demand by a number of Labour MPs that Ken Livingstone be expelled from the

Party), @CambiarCultura tweeted: [a] “Has anyone looked into Hitler’s policy on Zionism? Might not

be mutually exclusive with his later actions. [b] #Scapegoating #Corbyn”

3. On 29th December 2016, in a tweet apparently defending Jeremy Corbyn’s afﬁliations,

suggesting that they were consistent with his “ﬁght for underdogs/against imperialism”,

@CambiarCultura tweeted: “…Are John Bercow’s Zionist sympathies any more justiﬁable within

Parliament?” The former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, is Jewish.

4. On 9th January 2017, responding to a tweet by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (in which it

shared an article relating to former Speaker John Bercow’s ruling that further investigation into the

case of the Israeli diplomat Shai Masot would be unnecessary after the Foreign Ofﬁce had

declared the matter “closed”), @CambiarCultura tweeted: “Would this be the same speaker who

invited the Speaker of Israel’s Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, to visit the Houses of Parliament? Hmmm.”

5. On 24th September 2017, objecting to another Twitter user having shared a tweet which laid out

the reasons for Jackie Walker being accused of antisemitism, @CambiarCultura tweeted: [a]

“Accusations of antisemitism levelled against Jackie Walker are politically motivated.” When

another Twitter user replied that the accusations were, rather, “motivated by the absurd and anti-

semitic [sic] nature of what she says and does,” @CambiarCultura replied: [b] “Anti-semitism [sic]

has been weaponised by those who seek to silence anti-Zionist voices.”

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that the statements by @CambiarCultura amount to

breaches of the International Deﬁnition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse

according to our methodolog y.

By alleging that former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has “Zionist sympathies”

which might be incompatible with his parliamentary role [3], and by implying that he might be

colluding with the Israeli government [4], @CambiarCultura was questioning his loyalty, and

thereby implicitly “accusing [a] Jewish [citizen] of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged

priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

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By suggesting that Adolf Hitler’s “policy on Zionism [might] not be inconsistent with his later

actions” [2a], thereby suggesting that Ken Livingstone’s assertion that “Hitler was supporting

Zionism” might be accurate, @CambiarCultura was supporting a perversion of the historical

account of the Holocaust which had been formulated in order to demonise an identiﬁably Jewish

movement.

By alleging that Ken Livingstone was being unjustly accused of antisemitism, and was the victim of

“scapegoating” [2b], as part of a campaign “orchestrated” by an “Israel Lobby” against Jeremy

Corbyn [1]; by alleging that accusations of antisemitism against Jackie Walker were “politically

motivated” [5a] and that antisemitism had been “weaponised by those who seek to silence anti-

Zionist voices” [5b]; and by implying that the former Speaker John Bercow might be colluding with

the Israeli government in a supposed attempt to quash investigation into the activities of an Israeli

diplomat [4], @CambiarCultura was “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or

stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as,

especially but not exclusively,

ANTISEMITISM IN THE LABOUR PARTY

APPENDIX A: COMPLAINT AGAINST JEREMY CORBYN

Incidents

APPENDIX B: NEW COMPLAINTS

DIANE ABBOTT, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR HACKNEY NORTH AND STOKE NEWINGTON

TAHIR ALI, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BIRMINGHAM, HALL GREEN

MIKE AMESBURY, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR WEAVER VALE

ALANA BATES, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, ST IVES, CORNWALL

APSANA BEGUM, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR POPLAR AND LIMEHOUSE

RICHARD BURGON, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR LEEDS EAST

RONNIE CAMPBELL, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BLYTH VALLEY

MARIA CARROLL, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, CARMARTHEN EAST & DINEFWR

PAMELA FITZPATRICK, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, HARROW EAST

LISA FORBES, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR PETERBOROUGH

BARRY GARDINER, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BRENT NORTH

RUTH GEORGE, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, HIGH PEAK

REBECCA GORDON-NESBITT, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, THANET SOUTH

DIANE ABBOTT, LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR HACKNEY NORTH AND
STOKE NEWINGTON

RONNIE CAMPBELL, FORMER LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR BLYTH
VALLEY

MARIA CARROLL, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, CARMARTHEN EAST &
DINEFWR

REBECCA GORDON-NESBITT, LABOUR PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE, THANET
SOUTH