Press Statement for Immediate Release                  02-08-2018

     “The Labour Party and IHRA “

“The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region (JRC) take note that Jeremy Corbyn has apologised for  sharing a platform at an event at which Israel and Zionism was compared to the Nazis and Nazism. 

We also note that it took the revelation in “The Times” to elicit such an apology. It is exactly the unjust equivalent of Zionism with Nazism that the IHRA definition of antisemitism singles out as illegitimate criticism of Israel. Yet the NEC of the Labour party, with Jeremy Corbyn’s approval, deleted that from their watered-down definition of antisemitism. 

This comes immediately after the intemperate rant by Peter Willsman about Jewish “Trump Fanatics” and calls to discipline Ian Austin and Dame Margaret Hodge for accusing Jeremy Corbyn of not acting to stamp out antisemitism from sections of the Labour party. It seems that the party has lost its moral compass regarding Jews and Israel.

We therefore urge that the Labour party adopt the full IHRA definition and discipline those members that breach these guidelines. By doing this Labour will reclaim its place as a leading opponent of racism in Britain. “

End 

The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region.