Labour has yet again shown it doesn’t care about its Jewish members. Jeremy Corbyn said earlier this year that “there is no place for anti-Semitism or any form of racism in the Labour party”. But not for the first time – and not for the last – Jews who still belong to the party have been sidelined.
The latest cause for disquiet is the decision yesterday by the party’s National Executive Committee. Not content with scrapping the party’s student wing ahead of next week’s gathering in Brighton, the NEC has now agreed new rules concerning the handling of allegations of anti-Semitism and disciplinary procedures for expelling members. Yet it has done so without consulting the Jewish Labour Movement, the Labour party’s oldest Jewish affiliate group. To make matters worse, the debate on these changes is scheduled to take place at conference on Shabbat, or Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. This means that orthodox Jews who want to take part in the debate won’t be able to.
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