Labour peers to vote on adopting IHRA definition of anti-Semitism
Chair of Labour Lords group to put forward proposal at next meeting in September, after the party's NEC rejected it earlier this week
Labour peers are set to vote on a motion to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, day’s after the governing body of the party rejected it.
The Chair of the Labour Peers’ group, Lord Toby Harris, confirmed to Jewish News he will “put to the next meeting of the Group on 5th September that the Group adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its associated examples unamended into the Group’s rules.”
This comes after Labour adopted its new code of conduct on anti-Semitism at the latest meeting of the National Executive Committee, but did not adopt all working examples of the IHRA definition because some were deemed to threaten free speech on Israel.
This sparked anger from the community, with Jewish Labour MP Margaret Hodge confronting the leader Jeremy Corbyn, and reportedly calling him “an anti-Semite and a racist.”.
Before the Labour NEC’s decision, 69 rabbis from across the religious spectrum, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, wrote to the body urging them to adopt the full IHRA definition. The Chief Rabbi warned that should Labour ignore the community’s concerns it would send a message of “contempt” for British Jews.
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