UK Labour MP defends Corbyn, says it’s ‘impossible to eradicate antisemitism’
Despite the fact that 150 U.K. Labour Party members unanimously passed a motion demanding that the party to do more to confront antisemitism, the party’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, defended party leader Jeremy Corbyn and his controversial ties.
U.K. Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby. Credit: Screenshot
Formby said “is impossible to eradicate” antisemitism, and that it is “dishonest to claim to be able to do so” even though she acknowledged it is crucial to “eliminate the evil of antisemitism.”
According to The Jewish Chronicle, a party member responded, “We seem to have gone from zero tolerance to zero concern.”
The 11-point resolution called on Corbyn, who was absent from Monday’s meeting, and Labour leaders to answer questions on the current state of the party’s disciplinary process.
Labour member Ruth Smeeth, who is Jewish, told The Jewish Chronicle that Formby was “refusing to give us a written report” in accordance with the motion, and that her response was “platitudinous, dismissive and far from acceptable.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism blasted Labour leaders for their apparent inaction regarding Jew-hatred.
“When Labour MPs unanimously vote to condemn their own party’s handling of its antisemitism crisis, one would expect responsible, anti-racist leaders to take note, but Labour’s leadership is neither responsible nor anti-racist, seeing its own MPs who stand up to antisemitism as threats, not allies,” said the organization’s chairman, Gideon Falter. “Jennie Formby’s appalling rebuff to her own MPs shows once again that Labour’s leadership has no intention of tackling antisemitism. She is telling her MPs that antisemitism in the party is there to stay, showing that those who do not wish to remain part of an antisemitic institution have but one option: to leave.”
JNS
