LABOUR MPs have been urged to postpone today’s showdown over anti-Semitism by leader Jeremy Corbyn.
There has been huge criticism of the party after they chose not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, and all its examples of anti-Semitic behaviour at last week’s meeting of the National Executive Committee.
While the code explicitly endorses the IHRA’s working definition, it omits four examples, including claiming that Israel’s existence as a state is a racist endeavour, requiring higher standards of behaviour from Israel than other nations; and comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.
Labour have insisted that while the examples are not reproduced word for word, they are covered in the new code
Speaking at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset, Corbyn said he wanted his MPs to delay that discussion on the decision until after the summer recess when there would be more politicians in the Commons. “I suspect Monday’s meeting will not be fully attended because Parliament is rising on Tuesday,” he said.
Corbyn also defended the position taken by Labour. He said: “[The NEC] wasn’t trying to re-write it, it has accepted almost all of it.
“What it’s done is also put alongside it a code of conduct for members of the party because we will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form whatsoever in the party.”
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said the behaviour of some members combined with the party’s lax response had led to concerns emerging.
Long-Bailey told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We’re starting from a very, very dark place due to the actions of a minority in our party and the failure of us to deal with it quickly.”
She admitted that the party hadn’t “won the faith of the Jewish community”.
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