Zarah Sultana: ‘I’m a loud and proud anti-Zionist. Print that’
The MP says Corbynism 'capitulated to the IHRA definition of antisemitism'
The MP Zarah Sultana has appeared to call for the new left-wing party she is co-leading with Jeremy Corbyn to become openly anti-Zionist in outlook after suggesting the ex-Labour leader had previously “capitulated to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”
In a new interview, the Coventry South MP, who stands as an independent, discussed the formation of the currently named Your Party with Corbyn stating: “I think we’re in a very different political moment.
“We have to build on the strengths of Corbynism – its energy, mass appeal and bold policy platform – and we also have to recognise its limitations.
“It capitulated to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which famously equates it with anti-Zionism and which even its lead author Kenneth Stern has now publicly criticised.”
Responding to criticism of her rejection of IHRA, Sultana later posted on X: “The smears won’t work this time. I say it loudly and proudly: I’m an anti-Zionist. Print that.”
Board of Deputies of British Jews vice-president Andrew Gilbert had responded to Sultana’s comments, insisting: “The IHRA definition has been adopted by the Government and public institutions in this country and around the world, and is supported by the overwhelming majority of British Jews as it is clear and measured in defining antisemitism.
“Calling the recognition of the IHRA definition of antisemitism a ‘capitulation’ is a grave insult.”
Others, including the political commentator and former broadcaster Paul Mason, pointed out IHRA did not actually equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, as Sultana had suggested.
Sultana had spoken to New Left Review on her hopes for the new party, and her political background.
She said she had seen Palestinians being harassed and abused in the West Bank, after visiting the region on a delegation with her father while she was studying at Birmingham University.
Her claim that Corbynism showed its limitations when it failed to reject the IHRA definition seemed to be a criticism of both her co-leaders and those around him in the Labour Party at the time as they came under pressure to adopt the definition at the height of the antisemitism crisis in her former party.
But there are already signs of tensions with the new Your Party, with Sultana telling New Left Review, “After I announced my resignation and intention to co-lead the founding of a new left party with Jeremy, the leaks against me were almost instantaneous.
“A small number of people who are involved in the party have engaged in anonymous briefings, making hostile and implicitly Islamophobic comments about me to the Sunday Times and Sky News. This behaviour is absolutely unacceptable in any context, but especially one in which we’re trying to create a new political culture.”
Jewish News understands there are also claims that Karie Murphy, Corbyn’s former executive director, is attempting to stamp her authority on the new party and influence decision making.
Other supporters of the party have begun to speak of “Team Corbyn” and “Team Sultana” in a sign of tensions between the two co-founders.
Corbyn was said to have been taken by surprise when Sultana announced she was co-leading the party.
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