WATCH: Luciana Berger applauded for speech during anti-Semitism debate
Liverpool Wavertree MP given ovation after heartfelt plea to tackle Jew-hatred during a discussion on
Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, gave a deeply personal account of the almost endless anti-Semitic abuse she has suffered since her student days, during Tuesday’s discussion on anti-Semitism in the Commons.
Her words prompted Birmingham MP Jess Phillips, a rising star in the party, to applaud her in solidarity. “I was 19 when I received my first piece of hate mail,” Ms Berger said. “It described me as a dirty, Zionist pig.” Four people have so far been convicted since 2013 for the anti-Semitic abuse directed at her as an MP, three of whom have been imprisoned: in the wake of one of those convictions, she said, an American far-right website had launched a hashtag, “Filthy Jewbitch campaign”.
Ms Berger said she made no apology for holding her own party to a higher standard. “My party urgently needs to address this issue publicly and consistently”, she said. “Denial and prevarication are not options”.
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