Labour to adopt new antisemitism rules after conference row

Labour is to adopt tough new rules to tackle antisemitism following a heated debate at the party’s annual conference, but some activists have accused the party of policing “thought crime”.

The change comes after Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, pledged that the party would investigate how it gave a platform at a conference fringe event to a speaker, Miko Peled, who said people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust happened.

Senior Labour figures will hope that the passing of the rule change on Tuesday will send a signal that the party is prepared to get tough on anti-Jewish hate speech within its ranks.

The rule change proposed by the Jewish Labour Movement, which has been backed by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the party’s national executive committee, will tighten explicitly the party’s stance towards members who are antisemitic or use other forms of hate speech, including racism, Islamophobia, sexism and homophobia.

(September 26, 2017) The context

Labour has been repeatedly blighted by charges that it has failed to tackle antisemitism in the party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015. Supporters of Corbyn, who has a long history of supporting Palestinians in their dispute with Israel, fear the issue is being used to undermine his leadership.

(February 29, 2016)

Labour launches an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism and bullying after a fractious election of a youth representative to its ruling body.

(March 10, 2016)

Labour expels far-left activist Gerry Downing, who had spoken of the need to “address the Jewish question”.

(March 15, 2016)

Activist Vicki Kirby is suspended by the party for a second time over making alleged antisemitic tweets. She apparently suggested Adolf Hitler might be a “Zionist God” and that Jews had “big noses”.

(March 22, 2016)

Labour suspends Khadim Hussain, a Labour councillor and former lord mayor of Bradford, after he shared a Facebook post that said “your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the 6 million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". He later quit the party.

(April 25, 2016)

Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, apologises for writing a series of antisemitic posts on Facebook including arguing for Israel’s population to be ‘transported’ out of the Middle East. She also resigns as PPS to John McDonnell and after sustained pressure is suspended from the party a day later.

(April 27, 2016)

Labour suspends, but does not expel, former London mayor Ken Livingstone, after making offensive comments about Hitler supporting Zionism while defending Shah.

(June 29, 2016)

A two-month inquiry by Shami Chakrabarti, ordered by Corbyn, urges Labour members to avoid abusive language and references to Hitler and Holocaust metaphors. It is criticised as being too soft on the issue and regarded as compromised because Chakrabarti had just accepted a peerage.

(October 2, 2016)

Jackie Walker is removed as vice-chair of Momentum after criticising Holocaust Memorial Day but is allowed to remain on its steering committee. She was earlier suspended by the party for questioning why Holocaust Memorial Day did not recognise other genocides.

(October 15, 2016)

The home affairs select committee accuses Labour of incompetence in dealing with antisemitism and helping to create a safe space for people with “vile attitudes towards Jewish people”.

(April 3, 2017)

Livingstone again avoids expulsion from the party after a disciplinary panel rules he should be suspended for another year over comments about antisemitism, Hitler and Zionism. Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, accuses Labour of failing the Jewish community by not expelling Livingstone.

(September 16, 2017)

Corbyn backs a party rule change, put forward by the Jewish Labour Movement, that takes tougher line on antisemitic abuse.

Momentum, the grassroots leftwing group that has been Corbyn’s key support base, told delegates in its daily alert on Tuesday that they should vote in favour of the motion. The majority of the delegates at this year’s conference are aligned with Momentum; the group’s backing for the rule change means it is highly likely to pass.

Although the majority of Labour members are expected to back the amendment, there was heated debate after the change was proposed in the conference hall.

Delegate Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, who chaired the controversial fringe event on Monday night, was one of those who spoke against the rule change.

Wimborne-Idrissi, one of the founders of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Labour, said she was concerned the change referenced the “holding of beliefs” as opposed to expressing them. “Holding them? That’s thought crime, comrades, and we can’t be having it,” she said.

Hastings and Rye delegate Leah Levane also attacked the JLM’s change, saying the group did not speak for all Jews in the party.

Levane’s local party had proposed an alternative change, which described anti-Zionism as “legitimate political discourse” that should not be taken as evidence of hatred of Jews, but it said she would withdraw this because “the pressure is too great … We are not going to be risk being seen as the splitters”.

JLM’s Mike Katz, who was Labour’s candidate for Hendon in the general election, said the group did not want to stifle criticism of Israel.

“This spirit of our rule change is that it is outrageous there is nothing in our rule book that explicitly makes bullying, discrimination and harassment of ethnic minorities an offence. If you support another party, you are out. If you engage in hate speech, it is not so clear,” he said.

“This rule change puts it right. Repairing the once-strong relationship between our party and the Jewish community, with so many shared values, is a political imperative as well as a moral one.

“Some people say we are trying to weaponise antisemitism or stifle criticism of Israel. Let’s be clear: there is nothing wrong with legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and illegal settlements. JLM members do it all the time, in strident debate. But you do not need antisemitic language and stereotypes to engage in those debates. That is what we need to deal with.”

Other speakers said the rule change did not go far enough. Zach Murrell-Dowson, a delegate from Bristol North West, said antisemitism was the only form of bigotry where a common response was not to accept the complaint, but to question the motives of the complainant.

“Jewish members have seen Labour party members share antisemitic cartoons or talk about an all-powerful Jewish lobby,” he said. “Those who say they have been silenced merely for criticism of the Israeli government are simply wrong. We can and should have free speech on Israel, but we must confront antisemitism in our party.”

The party was engulfed in an antisemitism row on the morning of the rule change debate, after remarks by Peled, an Israeli-American author, at an event on free speech and Israel. The Daily Mail reported that he said: “This is about free speech, the freedom to criticise and to discuss every issue, whether it’s the Holocaust: yes or no, Palestine, the liberation, the whole spectrum. There should be no limits on the discussion.

“It’s about the limits of tolerance: we don’t invite the Nazis and give them an hour to explain why they are right; we do not invite apartheid South Africa racists to explain why apartheid was good for the blacks, and in the same way we do not invite Zionists – it’s a very similar kind of thing.”

Watson said Labour’s conference organising committee would investigate how Peled had been given a seat on a panel at the event.

“I’m sure these allegations from the fringe, which is nothing to do with the Labour party, will be investigated,” he said. “It is disgusting to deny the Holocaust. These people are cranks, they have no role in the mainstream of politics and we certainly don’t want them in the Labour party.”

Watson said antisemitism “has always been there on the fringes ... But it is a very small number of people in our society, if they get involved in the Labour party we want them out”.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, also condemned Peled’s remarks and gave his backing to the rule change. “I hope the conference votes for that motion because we should have absolute zero tolerance when it comes to the quite disgusting and pitiful antisemitism that sadly we’re sometimes seeing on social media these days,” he said.

A party spokesman said: “Labour condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms and our national executive committee unanimously passed tough new rule changes last week. All groupings in the party should treat one another with respect. We will not tolerate antisemitism or Holocaust denial.”

Responding to the row in a series of tweets Peled said he did not deny the Holocaust, and suggested that Watson and Ashworth were confusing freedom of speech with antisemitism

“Oh boy! … free speech is now antisemitism too... @UKLabour should know better” he said in one tweet.

In another he said: “What is worse, discussing the holocaust - which we know already happened or complicity with genocide in #Palestine?” And in a third he added: “Stifling debate desecrates the memories of millions murdered by Hitler! Why are zionists afraid of free speech?”