LAAS Comment on the NEC Meeting:
“There can be no caveats, no conditions and no compromises with
racism”
We are disappointed by the decision of Labour’s governing body,
the NEC, to diminish the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism
via the attachment of a “clarification” that risks giving racists
in the party a get out of jail card.
The NEC has been told repeatedly that it needs to adopt the IHRA
in full, without caveats or conditions, if it wants the to begin the process of
dealing with its antisemitism crisis. It has ignored the requests
of the Jewish community and denied the fundamental right of that
community to define its own discrimination.
The says this issue is about free
speech, but in reality, it appears to be about protecting the
freedom of racists to present vile views which should have no
place in any political party. appears to think he can tell
Jews what offends them. Given his own reported track record of
antisemitic comments and actions, we find that ironic in the
extreme.
The NEC needs to revisit this issue once again, remove this new
wording and adopt the IHRA in full – an action that would have to
be just the beginning of a longer process of confronting and
tackling endemic antisemitism.
There can be no caveats, no conditions and no compromises with
racism, and it is an ongoing disgrace that the appears incapable of simply
doing the right thing. Until it does, this crisis will continue
to destroy the fundamental integrity of the whole Labour
movement.
