British Labour Party branch votes down motion condemning Pittsburgh synagogue attack

JTA

(JTA) — A draft motion condemning the murder of 11 Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was voted down in a branch of Britain’s Labour Party in a small constituency in the country’s north.

Steve Cook, the secretary of the Norton West branch in the Stockton North constituency of about 67,000 people near Scotland submitted the motion for a vote following the Oct. 27 shooting attack.

When put to a vote, only two members backed the motion and it was voted down last week, The Independent reported Saturday.

Cooke wrote on Facebook that he was “aghast” that the motion was voted down and that members claimed there was too much focus on “anti-Semitism this, anti-Semitism that.”

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His draft motion said that the murders “demonstrate the dangers posed by the growth in anti-Semitic sentiments and hate speech internationally.” It spoke of a need to “stand in solidarity with the Jewish community around the world and send our condolences to all those affected by the tragic events in Pittsburgh.”

Critics of the text at the Labour branch said the text on the synagogue attack should condemn all racism instead of naming anti-Semitism, Cook said.

Labour is facing a criminal investigation initiated last week by police in the London area over alleged anti-Semitic hate speech by members online.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has long maintained that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, a far-left politician who has called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends and who has said that Zionists who were born in Britain have trouble understanding British irony, has an anti-Semitism problem that the party is not doing enough to address.

Corbyn has vowed to punish anyone from Labour caught making anti-Semitic statements and has called anti-Semitism unacceptable many times publicly.

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