Corbyn accused of ‘backtracking’ on adoption of new anti-Semitism definition

Jewish leaders this week accused Jeremy Corbyn of “backtracking” on its adoption of a new definition of anti-Semitism, following a meeting between the Labour leader and community representatives.

Both the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) and the Community Security Trust expressed concern about the apparent U-turn on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition on Wednesday.

The Party’s former general-secretary Iain McNicol had previously suggested that Labour had adopted the “full” definition, including a set of working examples, some of which have been criticised as an attack on free speech.

A Labour Party spokesman this week said the Party would not be adopting the full list of examples but rather developing a more extensive set of its own. However JLC and CST bosses said Corbyn and Formby could not cherry-pick the bits they liked.

“It appears that Mr Corbyn has decided to backtrack on the position the party holds with regard to the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism,” said JLC chief executive Simon Johnson.

“The full definition has been widely adopted by the CPS, the police, 132 local authorities and the Scottish and Welsh governments, and we expect the Labour Party to adopt it in full as well.”

CST communications director Mark Gardner said: “We made our feeling about IHRA very clear in the meeting. We said that its full adoption, with all of its clauses, was important in itself and also as a trust-building measure. It is, therefore, very important that the situation now be clarified as quickly and transparently as possible.”

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