The sick anti-Semitic slurs that the Labour Party now thinks are OK
LABOUR’S new watered down anti-Semitism code is providing loopholes for abuse to continue in the party - and sticks “two fingers up” at the Jewish community.
MPs and Jewish activists are appalled over the party’s shambolic new rules, which don’t include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition in full.
And yesterday Labour’s deep-rooted anti-Semitism storm reached new levels as a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn said the whole scandal was invented by “Jewish Trump fanatics”.
Peter Willsman’s furious rant was caught on an audio recording - demanding evidence from 68 rabbis who had warned of sick hatred towards Jews within the Labour Party.
Labour has insisted the new rules - which were approved and signed off on two weeks ago - do cover almost all of the internationally recognised definition - but “expands and contextualises” it.
But MPs and members across the party say there are huge holes in it where people making offensive comments might not fall into their fudged definition of anti-Semitism.
Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany
The IRHA rules, which have been adopted by organisations and countries around the world, say it’s anti-Semitic to compare Israel to Nazi Germany, but Labour’s new code doesn’t explicitly say that.
A long line of Labour councillors and other members of the party have been investigated for saying Israel is acting like the Nazis.
Shamed former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, whose case the party put off ruling on for two years, was suspended for bringing the party into disrepute for making comparisons about the two groups.
He said Adolf Hitler had “supported Zionism” when he first came to power in Nazi Germany - “before he went mad and killed six million Jews”. He later claimed Zionists had “collaborated” with Hitler.
He denied his comments were anti-Semitic, and eventually quit the party.
Lifelong mate Mr Corbyn said he was “sad” to see him go, despite his hugely offensive remarks.
But he’s far from the only one trumpeting these views. Just last week Councillor Damien Enticott said: “Hitler would have the solution to the Israeli problem”.
Enticott, who claims he was hacked, is currently under investigation and has been suspended from the party under the new rules.
An Oxford councillor was also forced to resign over a Facebook post comparing Israelis to the Nazis earlier this year too.
Labour's Ben Lloyd-Shogbesan posted two pictures, of Nazi Germany next to Israel, and the caption: “A picture worth a thousand words: on the left: Nazi Germany. On the right: Apartheid Israel."
He later said he regretted the postings and apologised - deleting the posts. Under the new code, however, he would seemingly be protected - although Labour today denied this would be the case.
Miqdad Al-Nuaimi, a Welsh councillor, said that the Israeli regime and army were assuming the “genocidal character” of the Nazis, is another who could hide behind the new code.
Al-Nuaime, who denied being anti-Semitic, was suspended over the comments.
Dorian Bartley, a Labour diversity branch officer in Gipsy Hill was suspended in April posted a picture on Facebook of Hitler next to Israel’s President Netanyahu with the caption "What’s the difference?".
He later apologised and admitted it was “offensive and wrong”.
Nottingham councillor Ilyas Aziz was readmitted to the party after urging Jews to "stop drinking Gaza's blood" and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
Labour claim the Nazi comparison is dealt with in their new code, which says that “such language carries a strong risk of being regarded as prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party.”
But it doesn’t say whether previous cases of comparing Israel to the Nazis would lead to a party investigation in future.
Nasreen Khan, another Labour candidate for Bradford East, once wrote: "What have the Jews done good in this world?."
She went on to add that school were "brainwashing us and our children into thinking the bad guy was Hitler" and added that "Jews have reaped the rewards of playing victims".
Former Shrewsbury Mayor Ioan Jones is currently being investigated after comparing the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler.
The MP for Manchester Gorton Afzal Khan has also compared "Israel to Nazis", but Labour refused to discipline him.
Labour says the Nazi comparison is dealt with in their new code, which says that “such language carries a strong risk of being regarded as prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party.”
But it doesn’t say whether previous cases of comparing Israel to the Nazis would lead to a party investigation in future.
Calling Israel a racist state
The new code omits part of the international guidelines which says that it’s anti-Semitic to say that Israel’s very existence is a racist endeavour.
Scottish Labour councillor Mary Lockhart was suspended this week for saying: “Israel is a racist state” among other abuse.
Seumas Milne, Mr Corbyn’s own Director of Communications, has also claimed this in the past - writing Israel is a “racist state” in a Guardian article.
He wrote in 2009: “The truth is that throughout the Arab, Muslim and wider developing worlds, the idea that Israel is a racist state is largely uncontroversial... This is a state, after all, created by European colonists, built on the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population.”
Activist Miko Peled was applauded by far-left supporters at a Labour fringe event last year, where he said Israel was a “racist settler colonial project”.
Councillor Dipu Ahad was even allowed to compete for his seat at Newcastle Council in May despite previously saying on Facebook that he voted against a planning application for Marks & Spencer "on principal" because the store was “directly killing innocent Palestinian people by directly funding the Zionist regime”.
The party says criticism against Israel is allowed - and the IHRA text could deny free speech to do so, which is why it doesn’t include the phrase “racist endeavour”.
Claiming there is a Jewish 'conspiracy'
Also among typical anti-Semitic slurs is that there is some form of conspiracy controlling political and social outcomes, influenced by prominent Jews.
In 2013 a Labour peer claimed that he was jailed because of a Jewish conspiracy.
Lord Ahmed said that his sentence for texting shortly before his car was involved in a fatal crash came about from Jews who own newspapers and TV channels”.
Simon Attwood, a council candidate for Kingston Upon Thames, has said he believes there is a global Jewish conspiracy ruling the British media. He has also claimed the MP John Mann is an "agent" of Israel.
A senior Renfrewshire councillor was suspended but later reinstated after writing that the "American Jewish lobby is extremely powerful and it has its boot on Obama’s neck".
She later added that the "The King’s Speech" won't win an Oscar as "there is a powerful Jewish lobby campaigning against it".
Dorian Bartley, a UK Labour diversity officer, also shared a member on Facebook which suggested that there was an American-Jewish conspiracy funding ISIS.
And Irfan Javed, a Labour candidate for Woodfield in Stevenage, stated in a rant about "Jew propaganda": "I am just suspicious. This is what Jewish dominated western media usually does."
In the new Labour code, like the IHRA definition, it reads: "making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions".
Accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel than their own countries
Another common anti-Semitic trope used regularly by the far-left is claiming that Jews can’t be trusted as they are more loyal to Israel because they are Jewish.
West Hendon councillor Adam Langleben forced the suspension of a woman in his ward who was running an anti-Semitic Twitter account that had included the comments: “Why are Israeli American citizens allowed to serve in the American government? Who are they loyal to?”
Labour candidate Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt defended Ken Livingstone during his bizarre initial tirade, before claiming that Jewish MPs had "Zionist sympathies".
She had run a think tank, however after her comments sparked controversy its website was deleted.
Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn in Facebook groups spew anti-Semitic hatred like this - making comments like “you cannot serve two masters” and demanding that Labour expel friends of Israel because they “don’t have a shred of Labour values”.
One wrote of Corbyn critics: “This begs the question of their objectivity and motive. All they have to do to refute is to condemn the slaughter in Gaza and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
In the new Labour code it does not specifically state that being more loyal to Israel than their own nations, or that the creation of Israel is racist, is anti-Semitic - instead the code simply says this is “wrong”.
Bogged down in controversy with 250 allegations of anti-Semitism in just one week
The party are currently probing hundreds of allegations of anti-Semitism from all across the party - and an extra 250 just in the last week.
It is understood that the majority of those are not Labour members.
After weeks of uproar from members of the party saying hateful comments could slip through the cracks, Labour finally agreed they would look at the code again. But any decisions won’t be made for months.
Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism told The Sun: "By removing these examples from the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, the Labour Party appear to have made it easier for racist members to stay in the party.
“Now Corbyn and his supporters have removed this clarity it will be harder to define whether a member is anti-semitic.
“That means racists in the party, many of whom are Corbyn supporters, will be allowed to remain in the party spreading their toxic and hateful prejudice.
“We have a backlog of over 1,000 suspected members to report, many of whom have been promoting racist ideas and images redolent of the 1930s. How many of these will now get off with a slap on the wrist? It’s appalling."
Danny Stone, Director of the Anti-Semitism Policy Trust said Labour creating their own code was “very worrying”.
He added: “Whatever the intention, it will act as a signal for people that some things might no longer be off limits when it comes to racially abusing Jews.”
Critics said the process would certainly become much more blurred and confusing, and claim it is unclear whether what exactly would count as being anti-Semitic under Labour’s new rules.
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A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Code of Conduct adopts the IHRA definition and expands on and contextualises its examples to produce robust, legally sound guidelines that a political party can apply to disciplinary cases.
“The NEC upheld the adoption of the Code of Conduct on antisemitism, but in recognition of the serious concerns expressed, agreed to re-open the development of the Code, in consultation with Jewish community organisations and groups, in order to better reflect their views."
