Labour Party investigates former councillor after “some Jewish people didn’t learn the lessons of the Holocaust” remark
The Labour Party has begun an investigation after a Party member and former councillor allegedly claimed that “some Jewish people” didn’t learn the lessons of the Holocaust.
It was reported that the comment was made at a Hornsey and Wood Green local party meeting last Wednesday by former councillor Lucy Craig, after a motion was moved in which she condemned the recent actions of the Israeli Government during its conflict with Hamas.
It was allegedly at this point when Ms Craig made a comment blaming Jewish people for the perceived actions of the Israeli Government and claimed that “some Jewish people” had not learnt the lessons of the Holocaust.
An attendee at the local party meeting said: “The mover of the motion Lucy Craig began talking about Israel’s ‘power and wealth’ and then went on to condemn ‘some Jewish people’ who despite the Holocaust were now attacking Palestinians.
“The member who seconded the motion then went on to claim Israel had in fact ‘created Hamas’…both of the speeches caused a lot of anger amongst many members…several people, including myself raised concerns about antisemitism in the speech.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” are both examples of antisemitism.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
