Marie van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies, said:
“Even by Labour’s low standards, the last few days since the unprecedented joint banner headline by our community’s leading newspapers have been utterly shameful.
“Shadow Cabinet members are lining up to oppose the leadership’s position on the IHRA antisemitism definition; one Labour councillor has been suspended for saying that Jews drink blood; another has blamed Mossad for Jeremy Corbyn’s self-inflicted poll woes; and a video has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn himself indulging in conspiracy theories about Israel being behind terrorism in Egypt on the Iranian regime’s propaganda station Press TV. Meanwhile, disciplinary action is being taken against two MPs who have expressed frustration about the Party’s approach to antisemitism, while the party machine cannot seem to stir itself to take any action on egregious longstanding complaints of racism.
“Jeremy Corbyn is leading the Labour Party into a dark place of ugly conspiracy theories and it has become a home for overt antisemites and antisemitism. In 2018, Labour is not only a Party with extravagant levels of tolerance for antisemitism but one which deliberately obstructs measures to counter hatred and punishes those who speak out against it. Jeremy Corbyn needs to lead Labour out of this deep abyss and urgently demonstrate to the world Labour can return to being an anti-racist Party.”
