Jeremy Corbyn summoned to meet his MPs over antisemitism, but he may not attend as senior Labour figures turn out to defend him
Labour MPs have demanded that Jeremy Corbyn attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party this evening over the antisemitism scandal surrounding him, but it has been reported that he may not attend the meeting.
In the meantime, a number of senior Labour MPs and figures have been sent out to address the media.
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson said: “I am very, very sorry that people feel hurt by this and that is why I think it is right that Jeremy has expressed regret for it”. The Shadow Transport Secretary, Andy McDonald, said that Mr Corbyn “hasn’t got an antisemitic bone in his body”, and the Shadow Leader of the House mistakenly said that Jeremy Corbyn was “steeped in antisemitism”, presumably meaning the opposite.
Over the weekend, Campaign Against Antisemitism filed a disciplinary complaint against Mr Corbyn which:
- Restates our previous, ignored disciplinary complaint from 2016, which charged him with bringing the Labour Party into disrepute for dismissing antisemitism and endorsing the views of his brother;
- Denounces Mr Corbyn over his membership of, participation in, and lies about the antisemitic “Palestine Live” Facebook group;
- Reports Mr Corbyn for his alleged continued membership of the antisemitic “History of Palestine” Facebook group;
- Calls out Mr Corbyn’s lies about a second inquiry into Ken Livingstone’s comments about Hitler supporting Zionists;
- Denounces Mr Corbyn’s defence of a mural that even he now admits was antisemitic; and
- Includes complaints about various other Labour Party figures.
Last night we rejected Mr Corbyn’s attempt to escape responsibility by apologising.
Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Having been caught red-handed four times in the past two weeks, Jeremy Corbyn must take the public for fools if he thinks that he can now start talking about ‘stamping out’ antisemitism in the Labour Party and saying sorry. It is too late. He has squandered every opportunity to address this issue, including by commissioning a whitewash inquiryinto antisemitism whose author he then made the only person he has ever elevated to the peerage.
“Mr Corbyn has spent his political life seeking out and actively defending vile antisemites as well as terrorists whose aspiration is the extermination of Jews worldwide. It is little wonder that contrary to his claims, we are not witnessing ‘pockets of antisemitism’ in the Labour Party, but instead a spreading racist rot is taking hold and it is coming from Mr Corbyn’s hard-left supporters.
“Mr Corbyn says that the solution is for him to pacify the Jewish community and that he will be meeting with us. The telephone has not rung and frankly nor do we want it to. Two years ago we proposed a transparent disciplinary process for Labour to implement: the adoption of that process is the only sign that we will accept that the Labour Party is serious about freeing itself from the grip of antisemites, and the first disciplinary case to be heard under that process should be the complaint we have made against Mr Corbyn himself.”
Today it has emerged that Mr Corbyn signed up to a third antisemitic Facebook group.
This evening at 17:30, members of the Jewish community and friends who stand with us against racism will meet in Parliament Square, to make our feelings known to the Parliamentary Labour Party which will meet at 18:00 to discuss the recent revelations about Jeremy Corbyn. We will be there as part of a broad show of communal disgust and outrage, and to demand that the Parliamentary Labour Party discusses Campaign Against Antisemitism’s disciplinary complaint against Mr Corbyn. We encourage those who are able to attend to do so.
On 8th April at 2pm, the British public will take a national stand against antisemitism in London. Join us – please register for updates on the venue and speakers at antisemitism.org/jaccuse and use our Facebook event to invite friends.
