Think-tank express ‘regret’ that event included ‘people contesting scale of Labour antisemitism’

The organisers of an event aimed at encouraging “respectful debate about factionalism in the Labour”  after the publication of a report by the barrister Martin Forde have told Jewish News they “regret that people may have used this platform to contest the scale and nature of antisemitism in the party.”

Compass – a think-tank organisation who attempt to encourage compassionate cross-party debate on issues – staged an online event on Monday which aimed to discuss claims made in the Forde Report, particularly around the negative impact of factional in-fighting on tackling Labour’s antisemitism crisis under Jeremy Corbyn.

Forde addressing the online meeting himself, at one stage raising the point that “denialism” over Labour’s problem with antisemitism problem was a concern.

Daniel Levy, the son of Labour grandee Lord Levy, also addressed the meeting, again stressing that “denialism” on the same issue was a problem, while also suggesting that the Israeli government at times used the allegation of antisemitism to silence criticism on the Palestinian issue.

The Labour MP Clive Lewis also appeared as a panelist, and the event was chaired by Baroness Lister.

But Jewish News, who watched the meeting, were alerted to the fact that throughout the meeting, messages appeared in the chatroom openly denying the scale of Labour’s antisemitism crisis.

One participant in the Compass event had previously been expelled by Labour after numerous online posts of hers were submitted.

These included claims Starmer was under the control of “Zionist paymasters” and others  in support of the disgraced ex-MP Chris Williamson, and claims that Israel had mounted a “campaign” against Corbyn.

Another post suggested Corbyn, and every Labour member “wrongly expelled” now. “deserves an apology.”

Others who attended Monday’s event wrote in the chatroom that they “had never experienced antisemitism in 40 years in Labour” while another said the problem was “rare.”

One Compass event attendee bragged how they had managed to join the Jewish Voice for Labour group “even though I’m not Jewish myself.”

Another message,  apparently directed at Labour MP Lewis, stated:”Clive once said to me ‘I’m speaking to the Jews within Labour’.

” I said, ‘so am I, but which of us is speaking to the true representatives?'”

There were also messages put into the chatroom during the Compass event by several JVL officials who had been expelled by Labour.

There is no suggestion any of the panelists were aware of the antisemitism denialism that took place on the chatroom as the Compass meeting took place.

Advance publicity for the event had noted how “last summer the Forde Inquiry reported its finding and recommendations to the Labour Party on the culture and behaviour of party officials in recent years.

“Various leaks had exposed deep factionalism in Labour around charges of anti-semitism in particular.

“Over six months later, little if anything has happened other than the Party machine has ruled out many left wing candidates in selections locally and nationally.  ”

Asked to comment on the chatroom posts by those who denied Labour’s antisemitism problem a Compass spokesperson said:”The meeting with Martin Forde on Monday was designed to create a forward-looking and respectful debate about factionalism within the Labour party and the UK’s wider political culture.

“Attendees’ questions were vetted by our team before they were put to the panel, but due to the volume of messages in the chat (a total of 618 over the hour-long meeting), we were unable to moderate the content of all messages in the discussion.

“Compass deplores any notions of antisemitism and our panel recognised the gravity and sensitivity of this issue in their contributions on the night.

“We regret that people may have used this platform to contest the scale and nature of antisemitism within the Labour Party but maintain that public meetings addressing party culture are necessary.”