Following a series anti-Semitic incidents in the Labour Party, the Jewish community held a demonstration outside Parliament today to demand action. MP for Finchley and Golders Green Mike Freer, who represents a large number of Jewish residents, joined the protest. Hundreds of people turned out, protesting peacefully and holding signs saying ‘No to antisemitism’ and ‘Enough is enough’.
Commenting at the event, Mike said, “It is an amazing turnout by the Jewish Community saying to Jeremy Corbyn that enough is enough. Tolerating and creating a safe space for racism in the form of anti-Semitism is unacceptable.”
Labour’s anti-Semitic incidents have occurred at all levels of the party and have included the Labour Leader joining several Facebook groups which share anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, as well as posting a supportive comment about a clearly anti-Semitic mural in Tower Hamlets. One Labour MP, Naz Shah, even admitted her words were anti-Semitic after making a series of online posts suggesting Israel should be moved to the United States. The former Labour London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, maintains that Adolf Hitler was a supporter of Zionism and while Mr Livingstone has been suspended from the Labour party, he has not been expelled. Labour’s record was marred further when the launch of an report into the party’s problem with anti-Semitism saw a Jewish Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, harassed by a Momentum activist and Corbyn supporter; the Labour leader, who was present, failed to intervene. Ms Smeeth subsequently described anti-Semitism in the party as now “normal”.
Earlier this week, the Theresa May criticised Mr Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Questions over his party’s forcing out of Labour Council leaders who had been working to tackle anti-Semitism. She said, “…I wonder whether he supports these councils: Haringey, where the Labour leader was forced out; Brighton, where the Labour leader was forced out; and Cornwall, where the Labour group leader was forced out. What had these people done? They had supported…tackling anti-Semitism in the Labour party. The message is clear: if you …want to tackle anti-Semitism, there is no place for you in the Labour party.”