Labour Friends of Israel will not exhibit at party conference

Labour Friends of Israel has revealed today it will not have a stand at this year’s party conference over safety concerns.

LFI will not be joining organisations such as the BBC, the British Red Cross and Sky News exhibiting at the five-day conference in Brighton this weekend until next Wednesday.

But the parliamentary group, which did not exhibit last year for the first time in recent memory, will hold a fringe event on Tuesday evening chaired by Dame Louise Ellman MP, with Deputy Leader Tom Watson and Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev speaking.

LFI claimed it would not be “responsible” to place staff on a stand at the five-day conference due to safety concerns after “incidents of antisemitism in previous years.”

“The ongoing abuse of Jewish party members – highlighted by July’s Panorama programme – and the failure of Jeremy Corbyn to do anything to deter his supporters from engaging in it, means that we have decided it would not be appropriate for us to have a stand at Labour party conference this year,” LFI said.

“Our staff have faced incidents of antisemitism in previous years and, given that the situation appears to have further deteriorated, we do not feel it is responsible as an employer to put them in this environment.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Jeremy Corbyn has proactively addressed antisemitism within the party, in emails to members, articles, speeches, videos and interviews, and by launching an education programme to deepen people’s understanding.

“He has made it clear that anyone who spreads antisemitic poison has no place in the Party and he has brought forward proposals to fast-track expulsion processes, which will be voted on at conference.

“Labour has taken decisive and robust action, with a more than four-fold increase in the rate at which antisemitism cases are dealt with.”