Jewish Labour Movement’s engagement with party ‘under review’

The Jewish Labour Movement’s engagement with the party is “under review” amid concerns over processes to deal with antisemitism.

Writing to its members on Friday, the community’s affiliate to Labour said it is “alarmed about the growing level of harassment and intimidation” taking place within party institutions.

It said the abuse “seeks to further diminish and deny the scale and impact of anti-Jewish prejudice”, condemning motions which criticised Labour’s response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report.

This comes amid reports that Jeremy Corbyn will not have the whip restored by Keir Starmer for at least three months, but it is “reviewable”, according to LabourList. He was suspended on the day the EHRC published its report into antisemitism, which found Labour had broken equality law when he was in charge.

Corbyn caused uproar saying claims of Jew-hate had been “dramatically overstated”, but since walked back his remarks, saying it had not been “exaggerated”, before his suspension was lifted on Tuesday.

The Jewish Labour Movement told its members, in light of Corbyn’s suspension being lifted, that: “Until yesterday [Thursday], JLM Officers were in regular formal dialogue with the Labour Party on a programme of engagement ahead of the creation of the Party’s improvement plan.

“This is now under review as we reassess our confidence in the existing structures.”

It said it has “We have made clear to the Party that amongst other measures, we expect and anticipate.. an immediate confirmation and timetable for the implementation of the independent process for handling disciplinary complaints relating to antisemitism.”

It also called for the “suspension of NEC [National Executive Committee] Antisemitism Disputes Panels hearing new cases for action or referral. We anticipate that all new complaints should be determined by an independent process.”

JLM also urged the party to introduce “accountability for the findings of discriminatory unlawful acts committed” by the party against Jewish members, “which are prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Party’s interests.”

Lastly, the movement says the party should enact an “immediate implementation of a code of conduct and register of political and sensitive interests for Agents of the Party.

JLM also advised its members they should not “feel obliged to attend Party meetings if you are likely to experience unhealthy or discriminatory environments”.

It also called on members to notify JLM and the party about the “discussion of inappropriate motions, the diminishing of the scale of antisemitism and the victimisation of Jewish members” during meetings.