CAA submits complaint to Ofcom over Channel 4’s segment claiming International Definition of Antisemitism “silences” criticism of Israel, with no input from any mainstream Jewish representative

Campaign Against Antisemitism is submitting a complaint to Ofcom regarding a segment on Channel 4 News that aired last night that was devoted to criticism of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Speakers during the segment repeatedly stated that the Definition “silenced” debate about Israel, which is precisely the “Livingstone Formulation” that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed was used to victimise Jews in the Labour Party to such an extent that it broke equalities law (Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant in the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party). In using this antisemitic formulation, the segment breached Ofcom’s guidance on harm and offence.

The failure to include a single representative from the mainstream Jewish community – in which there is a consensus in favour of widespread adoption of the Definition – represented a failure by Channel 4 News to show due impartiality in its programme, which is also a breach of Ofcom’s guidance.

The segment lasted almost ten minutes.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is extraordinary that Channel 4 News could have devoted an entire segment to discussing defining antisemitism without including a single representative of the mainstream Jewish community. If the programme had done, it might have realised that it was promoting the antisemitic ‘Livingstone Formulation’ that was used to such unlawful effect in victimising Jews in the Labour Party. It is precisely this sort of ignorance of what antisemitism looks like that makes widespread adoption of the Definition so important.

“We are submitting a complaint to Ofcom in respect of this outrageous segment, which serves only to confirm to the Jewish community that Channel 4 News is incapable of covering sensitive issues with due impartiality.”