Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon attended rally with activists suspended over comments about Jews and Israel
The Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Richard Burgon MP, reportedly participated in a “Standing with Corbyn” rally in Brighton on Monday along with numerous activists who have been suspended by the Party over their comments about Jews and Israel.
In addition to Mr Burgon, who has stated that “Zionism is the enemy of peace” and then lied about having done so, other prominent activists to appear at the rally included Lara McNeil, who represents Young Labour on Labour’s National Executive Committee, and Liam Young, an activist running for the London Assembly.
According to political website Guido Fawkes, participants in the rally included:
- Daniel Harris, who was reportedly suspended from Labour after posting a video of councillors who had stood up to antisemitism adorned with Jewish prayer shawls and skullcaps;
- Alex Braithwaite, who was suspended from the Party over a series of tweets which included conspiracy theories about Israel and the Rothschild family, as well as dismissing Labour antisemitism as a smear;
- Anne Mitchell, who was reportedly suspended from the Party over allegedly antisemitic posts; and
- Mel Melvin, who left the Labour Party (which has not disclosed whether she was expelled or suspended) over tweets claiming that Israel faked a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad against his own people.
In case any further evidence were needed that the Labour Party’s disciplinary process is entirely unfit for purpose, even those who are removed from the Party over antisemitism are apparently still able to participate in its activities. Even more appallingly, senior figures in the Party are evidently happy to associate with them. Clearly, Labour’s leadership cannot be trusted to address the antisemitism crisis, which cannot be solved by those who created it.
On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In recent months, twelve MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Over 55,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”