144 Jews who felt safe in Corbyn’s Labour Party In August 2018, JVL put out a Call for Testimonies about whether Jews felt safe in the Labour Party. We received 144 testimonies from Labour Party members of Jewish heritage. They were submitted within little more than a week of the ‘Call’ being published. They are members of scores of constituencies spread right across England and Wales. They include responses from Holocaust survivors and children of Holocaust survivors; from refugees from the Nazis; and from children and grandchildren of refugees from the Nazis and pogroms. Some are from regular attenders at Orthodox and Reform and Liberal shuls as well as others from secular Jews; some describe themselves as Zionists others as anti-Zionists; some are strong supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, others are more sceptical; some are long-standing Party members, others are Jews who were attracted to join by the vision laid out by Jeremy Corbyn. They are more diverse than they are homogenous except in one crucial aspect: they all felt safe, welcome and valued in the Corbyn-led Labour party as Jews; their many experiences of antisemitism are elsewhere. Sadly, more than a few no longer feel safe and welcome in Starmer’s Labour Party and have recently left The responses have been anonymised as, bizarrely, speaking out about not being subject to antisemitism as Jews risks disciplinary action in today’s Labour party. The testimonies were sent with the intention that they be submitted to the EHRC. However, we did not seek and do not have permission to disclose witness identities in the public record. We therefore requested that EHRC safeguard the confidentiality and privacy of those who volunteered to testify. They were submitted to the EHRC but there is no reference to them in their report. The call read: Labour Jews, Speak Up! A Call for Testimonies The misnamed Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has stated that its goal is the eviction of Jeremy Corbyn from public life. To this end, the CAA has referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) alleging 'institutional antisemitism'. The Chief Executive of the EHRC already stated in 2017 that Labour 'must do more to establish that it is not a racist party'. She did so on the basis of hearsay that had not been investigated and in fact was false. Notwithstanding its reckless and cavalier record on this issue, the EHRC's judgement is likely to carry weight in public discussion. The CAA is now soliciting testimonies from Labour Party members in support of its complaint. The Time Is Now for the Silent Majority of Labour Jews to Stand Up and Be Counted! Resist the Cynical Attack on the Labour Party! Resist the Trivialisation and Instrumentalisation of Antisemitism! Defend Our Party and Its Democratically Elected Leadership! If you believe Labour is being misrepresented and traduced, now is the time to speak up. We need your testimonies about your experiences in the Labour Party to submit to the EHRC. Please note: While we have edited these testimonies to remove identifying information we have not edited them for spelling and grammar 1. Name: Female CLP: Wales Labour membership no.: Jewish heritage: Yes Time in Labour Party: 3 years Testimony: I write to give my testimony. I've only been in the party for three years but I've never heard a single antisemitic comment or experienced any hostility against Jewish people in Labour Party circles. I've attended meetings where Israel and the Palestinian cause were discussed with great reasonableness and courtesy and there has certainly been no antisemitism. Two things for context - first, it's only recently that I've learned that the term 'Zionist' has been appropriated by right-wing racists as a term of racial abuse. Of course it has a much longer history as a political term to describe certain ideas about Israel and I have heard the term used often by both Jews and non-Jews in this sense. Secondly, to be clear about my 'credentials'. My name is Jewish, my father's father was Jewish. The latter lost cousins in Auschwitz and had family property appropriated by the Nazis. The family has been 'secular' and intermarried for three generations and I have never been in a synagogue. Nonetheless I think I have a fair idea what antisemitism looks like. 2. Name: Male CLP: Labour membership no.: Jewish heritage: Yes Time in Labour Party: 12 years (1992-2001; 2015- ) Testimony: I was a Jewish member of the Labour Party from 1992 until 2001, when I left because of Tony Blair’s attacks on single parents. I re-joined in 2015 after Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership and restored the Labour Party on a path towards democratic socialism. I have attended many meetings and conferences over these years and not once have encountered any personal anti- semitism towards me, nor have I even witnessed a single anti-semitic comment. That does not mean there are no anti-semitic people in the Labour Party of course, it just means I have never experienced any. I have, on the other hand been critical myself of (and heard others criticise) Israeli domestic and foreign policy when I saw its persecution of its Palestinian population and its aggressive militarism. If that means I hate Jews, then logic has been turned on its head. 3. Name: Female CLP: North London Labour membership no.: Jewish heritage: Yes Time in Labour Party: 30 years Testimony: I have been a member of the Labour party on and off for about 30 years. My membership number is xxxx. I have always felt welcome in the Labour party and at no time have I ever suffered any antisemitism. However it is vital in this context to accept that many people in the labour party justifiably are critical of Israel and of its ideology Zionism. In my view their sensitivity to robust criticism should never be mistaken for antisemitism which is prejudice against Jews as Jews. Israel is a state and not a protected characteristic under equalities law. Zionism is a political ideology subscribed to by both Jews and non Jews and its adherents must recognise that like all political ideologies it is open to debate which could get heated. This can never be anti-Semitic even if many Jews feel offended. That is the price we pay for free speech. 4. Name: Male CLP: Notts Labour membership no.: Jewish heritage: Yes Time in Labour Party: Testimony: I am a Jewish member of the Labour Party and currently Press Officer for the xxx CLP, one of the largest in the East Midlands. I have had a lifetime of activism in the Labour Party, the Trade Union movement and innumerable national and international campaigns and was employed as a fulltime TU Organiser until my retirement. I have also lived in several different parts of the country, including London, Birmingham, Brighton and Nottingham, my present home. I believe this breadth of experience makes me particularly well able to comment on the current allegations against the Labour Party in general and Jeremy Corbyn in particular. In terms of antisemitism generally, I have personally experienced this in the past, from being physically threatened as a child to hurtful and inaccurate stereotypes as an adult. Those in the recent past have been very much rooted in ignorance rather than outright racism and those responsible have often been shocked to realise how their words could be interpreted. At this point, I need to say quite unequivocally that I have never had an antisemitic statement made either to me or in front of me by any member of the Labour Party. Does this mean there are no antisemites in the party? No, it doesn’t: there are antisemites everywhere and antisemitism isn’t going away anytime soon. What it does mean is that it is extremely uncommon in the party and certainly not “institutional”. It is my strongly held view, borne out by direct observation, that the “crisis” in the Labour Party has been created by an assortment of people with a range of ulterior motives, using antisemitism as a battering ram. Some of these are clearly related to a fundamental antipathy to the party, particularly the allegations from the Jewish Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council. It is telling that the former Chair of the JLC is now the Chief Executive of the Conservative Party and also worth noting that the antisemitic attacks on Ed Miliband (and his father) came from the political right, not the left. Other current allegations come from people who are extreme pro-Zionists or are strongly opposed to any leftward movement by the Labour Party. In other words, this issue is about about politics, not antisemitism. It is absolutely crucial that the distinction between criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinian people and outright antisemitism is maintained: they are not the same thing, despite the possibility of some overlap. Allegations of racism of any sort are very powerful and must not be made without supporting evidence or as a means of closing down and important political debate. I am happy to enlarge on any of these points on request. 5. Name: Male CLP: Labour membership no.: Jewish heritage: Yes Time in Labour Party: Testimony: Dear Sir or Madam, I would like to say that I am appalled to learn that Jeremy Corbyn has yet again been unfairly accused of antisemitism and my Labour Party of institutionalised antisemitism. I find this ludicrous. I am Jewish, a 92 year old Labour Party Member, and supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.