UJS President Hannah Rose quits Labour over antisemitism

The head of the Union of Jewish Students has resigned from Labour, citing antisemitism in the party.

Hannah Rose stepped down this week – writing a letter to the general secretary of the party, Jennie Formby, published in the Huffington Post.

The student leader, whose sister Ella was also UJS president, and is now chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, wrote that it was her “Jewish values” which made her join  and “now my being Jewish leaves me no choice but to resign”.

In the letter, she says her position means “I cannot, in good faith, continue as a member of a political party which has deliberately and recklessly allowed antisemitism to emerge, and even more concerningly, flourish”.

She continues, that she didn’t join “to watch racism against Jews make headlines every single day”, and that Labour’s “complete inability and lack of political will” to tackle Jew-hatred has “rendered itself a shell” of what it should be.

“I do not leave the Labour Party because my politics or values have changed, rather because the Party has made clear through its actions that I am not welcome. Words mean nothing when the actions of so many speak louder,” she adds.

Concluding, she says that she will continue to fight for social justice and against racism, but “I now know that the Labour Party is not the place where this battle is fought.”

This comes after a number of young left-wing progressive Jews quit the Labour party, following Pete Willsman’s re-election to the party’s governing body.

At least four left-wing Jews resigned their membership, including Amos Schonfield, who represents Yachad at the Board of Deputies. He said he had put up with the community’s criticism, but that being a Jewish member of the Labour Party was now “a badge of shame”.