Britain’s Labour Party defers vote on motion to accept international definition of anti-Semitism

JTA
Published July 24, 2018

(JTA) — Britain’s Labour Party has deferred a vote on a motion that would call for the party to accept the internationally recognized definition of anti-Semitism, instead of the softened version it recently approved.

Lawmakers were told Monday evening at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting that the vote would not be held until September, after Parliament returns from summer recess.

The emergency motion – proposed by Jewish lawmaker Dame Louise Ellman and seconded by Ruth Smeeth, who is also Jewish – called for the for the party to include in its permanent code of conduct, known as standing orders, the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA, definition and all its examples.

The vote is scheduled for September 5, a week after the lawmakers return from recess.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn did not attend Monday night’s meeting, though it is traditional for the party leader to speak to lawmakers at the party’s final meeting before the summer break, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

The Labour party’s ruling body and Labour leadership earlier this month endorsed a code of conduct where several of the IHRA examples have been excluded.

Labour omits at least four points featured in the IHRA definition, including accusing Jews of “being more loyal to Israel” than their own country; claiming that Israel’s existence is a “racist endeavor”; applying a “double standard” on Israel; and comparing “contemporary Israeli policy” to that of the Nazis.

Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, a hard-left politician who has called Hezbollah and Hamas his “friends” and who is fighting accusations of harboring anti-Semitic sentiments, has come under intense scrutiny in the media over anti-Semitic rhetoric by its members. In 2016, an interparliamentary committee accused Labour of creating a “safe space for those with vile attitudes towards Jewish people.”

Corbyn has maintained that Labour will not tolerate racist rhetoric by its members. Dozens were kicked out over anti-Semitic statements. However, the party has kept on many Labour members whom Jewish community leaders said engaged in anti-Semitic hate speech. In recent months, Corbyn for the first time has encountered protests over his party’s anti-Semitism problem during work visits abroad.

“I feel very emotional, deeply depressed and almost tearful,” Labour lawmaker Margaret Hodge said after the meeting, according to Sky News. “This is the party I have been in for 50 years. Labour was the natural home for Jews.”

Hodge confronted Corbyn after the decision to adopt the softened definition of anti-Semitism, calling him a “f***ing anti-Semite and a racist” and urging him to quit the party. Corbyn has said that action will be taken against her for her comments.

“It’s very gloomy, it’s a gloomy day for Labour,” Hodge also said. “I don’t understand why we cannot just adopt the IHRA definition. If they don’t think there is enough in the definition that allows people to criticize the Israeli government they can add those clauses.”

Meanwhile, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid backtracked after suggesting that Corbyn is a Holocaust denier. Javid on Thursday night responded to Twitter user @Muhammad_S_85, whose page is now closed, by tweeting: “How can you even question the Holocaust. Please think carefully about what you are saying. Don’t be misled by Corbyn.”

Late on Friday, Javid responded to criticism of his comment tweeting: “Corbyn is not a Holocaust denier. I am happy to make that clear.”

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