With the appointment of Gordon Nardell QC as his antisemitism czar, Jeremy Corbyn has once again demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to rid the Labour Party of the toxic antisemitic culture that has engulfed it under his leadership.
Mr Nardell was recently announced as the person in charge of overseeing Labour’s disciplinary process on antisemitism, and finally deal with the huge backlog of complaints. However, researcher David Collier has revealed that Mr Nardell counts Elleanne Green amongst his supporters. Ms Green, a prolific and obsessive poster of conspiracy theories, wrote in the virulently antisemitic “Palestine Live” Facebook group she founded that Mr Nardell is: “A man I like and trust…also a non Zionist Jew and a very brilliant mind…this should prove interesting…He has already seen my letter to the Labour Party as I copied him in a week or two ago…so, we shall see…”
Mr Nardell has also been active on Facebook.
In one response to a Labour member’s defence of Ken Livingstone, Mr Nardell commented: “The problem with characterising Ken’s rather crass and ill-judged remarks as antisemitism is that it debased the coin – we no longer recognise real anti-Jewish racism when we see it, and we undermine the party’s ability to tackle it.”
He also liked a post praising the lifting of Jackie Walker’s original suspension for antisemitism, and another claiming that accusations of antisemitism were being made by a group of Jewish Labour members in an attempt to shut down criticism of Israel.
Mr Nardell has also turned his sights on Campaign Against Antisemitism, stating that our work to combat hatred directed at Jews by Labour members is “revolting” and results in antisemitism being “abused and belittled”.
Unsurprisingly, Mr Nardell appears to have locked down his Facebook account after his appointment was announced.
Once again, it is clear that, when it comes to the security of Britain’s Jews, Jeremy Corbyn says one thing for public consumption and does another behind the scenes. The integrity of Labour’s disciplinary process as it relates to antisemitism will remain fatally compromised if it is left in the hands of Mr Nardell.
An independent and transparent disciplinary process should now be instituted in the Labour Party.
