26th March 2018

Unclear whether Labour Shadow Minister knows what antisemitism means as she repeatedly praises antisemitism in Labour

Valerie Vaz MP, the Shadow Leader of the House, was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 last night but repeatedly praised antisemitism. Asked to defend Jeremy Corbyn, she said: “He’s been steeped in antisemitism, anti-racism throughout his time. Basically the Jewish community does have roots in our Party. They have played a prominent role. We must make sure we continue to show people we are an antisemitic and anti-racist Party.”

It is shocking that at this point a senior Shadow Minister could still be making a mistake of this nature.

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. Today it has emerged that he signed up to a third antisemitic Facebook group.

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.