Zarah Sultana previously expressed support for antisemitism definition she now opposes
Anti-Israel MP expressed support for IHRA in 2019 survey
Anti-Israel MP Zarah Sultana “willingly” expressed support for the IHRA definition of antisemitism during the 2019 general election, despite now accusing Jeremy Corbyn of “capitulating” to those who support it.
Jewish News has learned that the Coventry South independent MP, now co-leader of a new left-wing party alongside Corbyn, expressed support for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of Jew-hate after taking part in a survey.
Sultana was one of the 18 Muslim Labour MPs at the time to express support for IHRA.
Sources told Jewish News there had been no objection to the definition expressed by Sultana at the time.
Some pro-Palestine organisations have claimed that IHRA conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism and is designed to silence those campaigning against Israeli oppression.
An initiative by the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism and Lord Mann invited MPs to sign up to the definition after the General Election that year.
“The result was 637 parliamentarians personally signed up to the definition in what is believed to be the largest collective parliamentary support for any non-parliamentary document in modern times,” the Antisemitism Policy Trust, which provides the secretariat for the APPG, said.
It is now understood the only Labour MP not to back the IHRA definition in the 2019 survey was Graham Morris.
Speaking to the New Left Review, Sultana has now claimed that Corbynism “capitulated” to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
She also said it “equates” antisemitism with anti-Zionism, although there is nothing in the definition to confirm this claim.
Sultana also claimed “lead author Kenneth Stern has now publicly criticised” the definition. He had been involved in early drafting of the definition, but was not the lead author of the eventual agreed definition.
The Board of Deputies this week called her words on IHRA “a grave insult”. Sultana also posted on social media that she was a “loud and proud anti-Zionist.”
Despite feeling confident enough to speak out on Zionism, Sultana has also expressed concern about pitting Jewish and Muslim communities against one another and instead standing in solidarity with each other.
In a 2023 Commons speech she said: “For me, the fight against Islamophobia and the fight against antisemitism are part of the same struggle: the fight to live in the world where everyone, no matter their race or religion, is able to live in dignity and freedom.
“I believe that we are made stronger not by not pitting our communities against each other, but by uniting our struggles and finding solidarity and safety.”
Sultana’s latest interview on IHRA has sparked renewed claims of disunity and splits within the new party she has set up with Corbyn, which is provisionally titled Your Party.
Jewish News has approached Sultana for comment.
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