Veteran ‘anti-Zionist’ activist quits Labour – launching attack on ‘right-wing’ JLM
Jeremy Corbyn-supporting campaigner David Rosenberg attacked Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in online post announcing his departure
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
David Rosenberg – a key figure in the pro-Jeremy Corbyn Jewish Socialist Group (JSG) – has announced he has quit the Labour Party.
In a lengthy blog post, Rosenberg attacked Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, the “right-wing, pro-Zionist” Jewish Labour Movement – and current leader Sir Keir Starmer as he confirmed he had cancelled his direct debit to Labour.
Rosenberg had been a member of the same Islington North local party as former leader Corbyn, and they had regularly appeared at the same events.
But writing on his Rebel Notes blog, the JSG official said that shadow chancellor Reeves “openly rejoices that so many have left, slandering us all as ‘antisemites’.”
He claimed that under Starmer’s leadership the party “has been waging a full scale war, not on the most dangerous right-wing government I have lived under, but on its own members.”
He attacked JLM, with its membership of over 4000 Jewish and ally supporters, as being “an overwhelmingly right-wing, pro-Zionist Labour body.”
According to Rosenberg, despite campaigning for Labour in selected seats in the 2019 election, JLM “wanted Labour to lose, even though they knew this would open the door to a Tory government led by a known racist, Boris Johnson, who would continue a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.”
Rosenberg also used his blog to attack the IHRA definition of antisemitism, claiming it was “chilling free speech by confusing and conflating opposition to Israeli policy or to Zionism with antisemitism.”
Detailing the timescale of his Labour membership, Rosenberg admitted he joined the party “starting with a few years in the early 1980s” which he said “add up to less than 10.”
Rosenberg then added “theydoinclude the last six and a half years.”
Responding to his decision to quit Starmer’s party, one Jewish Labour source said on Monday:”David Rosenberg was very much linked to Jeremy Corbyn and it has clear he made the decision to leave as a result of the former leader’s demise.
“Labour is in a strong place under Keir Starmer who should be applauded for his actions on antisemtism.
“Rosenberg’s decision says more about Labour returning to sensible,moderate values under the current leader, rather than towards the far-left under Corbyn.”
Rosenberg also used his blog to suggest that “I and many other left wing Jews identify with” the political anti-Zionism developed by “a socialist, internationalist andanti-nationalist organisation called the Bund.”
But in reality, the membership figures for the JSG are hard to come by, and it is easier to find former members of the group who have long-since left it as a result of politics few in the community still identify with.
In a further development, the former leader of Haringey Council,Joseph Ejiofor, has been told he will not be able to stand as a candidate in the local elections in May.
As leader of what was dubbed the “Corbyn Council” Ejiofer confirmed he had been “removed as a Labour candidate” in a tweet.
Labour sources have confirmed to Jewish News that a damning Local Government Ombudsmen report into the handling of a proposed housing development, when Ejiofer was leader, has been raised as an issue.
While the report does not directly implecate the former leader, the Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation into some of the allegations.
The Metropolitan Police have confirmed to the OnLondonnew site that enquiries were continuing into “allegations of fraud received in March 2021 that relate to a housing development in Haringey”.
Concerns had also been raised with the Jewish community about Ejiofer’s handling of antisemtism complaints.
He once wrote a supporting statement for Gideon Bull, a Haringey Councillor who used the term “Shylock” at a meeting.
Bull later apologised for the remark, and claimed he did not intend to cause hurt with his reference to the Shakespearean moneylender.
Ejiofer had also shared on social media a claim made by the JSG that “accusations of antisemitism are being weaponised to attack Corbyn and Labour.”
Current Haringey leader Peray Ahmet ousted Ejiofor last May.
In a statement Ejifor, who is believed to be consulting lawyers over his deselection said on Sunday:”I can confirm that the London Regional Labour Party removed me as a Labour Candidate yesterday.
” I shall make a full statement following discussions with my advisers tomorrow.”
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