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.
