Richard Burgon to address controversial Halifax Friends of Palestine group
The Labour MP Richard Burgon is reportedly set to address the Halifax Friends of Palestine group, despite its controversial record.
Mr Burgon, a former Shadow Justice Secretary and close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is due to speak at the group’s gala dinner later this month.
It has been reported that the Yorkshire-based group participated in a rally in September celebrating a terrorist who killed six civilians in Israel, and another rally in August in which the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was heard. The chant only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a State of Palestine – and is thus an attempt to deny Jews, uniquely, the right to self-determination, which is a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Mr Burgon is one of a number of Labour MPs against whom Campaign Against Antisemitism has submitted complaints, which we expect the Labour Party to investigate once it has introduced the anticipated semi-independent disciplinary process.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Richard Burgon is a magnet for controversy. A key ally of Jeremy Corbyn, he previously claimed that ‘Zionism is the enemy of peace’ and then lied about doing so. If he is interested in making amends, withdrawing from this event would be a start. In the meantime, we expect the Labour Party to investigate our complaint against him and other MPs, so that the Jewish community can finally have justice.”
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.
