Jeremy Corbyn said anti-Semitism was “absolutely heinous” (File)
London:
Britain’s main opposition Labor Party suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday after a government watchdog discovered his office had violated equality law by dealing “inexcusably” with complaints of anti-Semitism.
The evolution of the shock came after Corbyn said he refused to accept all the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report, in defiance of the new leadership of the left under Keir Starmer.
“In light of his comments today and his failure to withdraw them afterwards, Labor has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation,” a spokesperson said.
He said Corbyn, who continued to sit as an MP after stepping down as leader, will no longer be included in the ranks of Labor MPs either.
The EHRC has found damning cases where Corbyn’s management team downplayed, belittled, or ignored complaints from Jewish members, and sometimes actively intervened to support favored allies, after a deluge of anti-Semitic abuse online and in meetings party.
Luciana Berger, a former Labor MP who was one of many Jewish members to quit the party under Corbyn, said the report was a justification as she described being threatened by her supporters with acid attack, stabbing and rape.
“The party has facilitated a culture of harassment, bigotry and intimidation against Jews within its ranks. Every step of the way, Jeremy Corbyn has allowed this to happen,” she wrote in a blog.
In one of his first acts after replacing Corbyn in April, Starmer apologized to British Jewry and on Thursday pledged to accept the full findings of the EHRC’s two-year investigation.
“I found this report difficult to read and it is a day of shame for the Labor Party,” Starmer said at a press conference, reiterating his apologies also to Berger and the other Jewish members who left the party en masse.
“I can promise you this: I will act. The Labor Party will never let you down again. We will never fail to fight anti-Semitism again,” he said.
“The Labor Party accepts this report in its entirety and unequivocally,” he said, promising its immediate and “full” implementation.
Corbyn blames the media
Responding to the report, Corbyn said anti-Semitism was “absolutely heinous” and insisted his team had initiated internal changes to tackle the problem from 2018.
But he said he had “not accepted all of his conclusions”.
“One anti-Semite is too many anti-Semite, but the scale of the problem has also been dramatically overestimated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media,” he said. he added.
Starmer declined to say whether he would now kick Corbyn and his allies from the party, but said Labor had suffered a “collective management failure”.
“Those who deny the problem are part of the problem,” he added.
Corbyn was thrown from the backbench to become a Labor leader in 2015 after decades of socialist activism, including for Palestinian causes.
Among its supporters, criticism of Israel has often veered into anti-Semitic tropes and anti-Jewish plots.
“Overwhelming verdict”
“Our investigation highlighted several areas where (Labor) approach and leadership to tackle anti-Semitism was insufficient,” EHRC Acting President Caroline Waters said, presenting the report. 129 pages.
“This is inexcusable and appears to be the result of a lack of will to fight anti-Semitism rather than an inability to do so,” she said.
The commission said that under Corbyn, Labor was guilty of three violations of the UK Equality Act 2010 for political interference in complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those dealing with cases of anti-Semitism and harassment of complainants.
But he stopped before taking legal action, instead ordering Labor to draft an action plan by December 10 to remedy his failures.
Corbyn sparked a leadership election after Labor suffered a pounding in the general election last December, which brought the Tories back to power under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The British Jewish Council of Deputies and two other Jewish organizations said the report was a “damning verdict on what the Labor Party has done to the Jews under Jeremy Corbyn and his allies.”
“We welcome the start of Keir Starmer, but the scale of the challenge that lies ahead should not be underestimated,” they said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
