Emily Thornberry says 'sickening' anti-Semites must be kicked out of Labour
3 min read
Emily Thornberry today denounced “sickening individuals” in the Labour party who spew anti-Semitism and demanded they be dumped.
In a hard-hitting conference speech, the Shadow Foreign Secretary said anti-Jewish racists should be kicked out of the party “the way Oswald Mosley was kicked out of Liverpool”.
It came as delegates at the Liverpool get-together voiced their support with the Palestinian cause in an unprecedented debate that saw the conference hall awash with flags of the embattled state.
Labour spent the summer mired in a bitter row over whether an internationally recognised definition of anti-Semitism should be adopted as part of the party's code of conduct.
Jeremy Corbyn was resistant to including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition in full – but was eventually forced to back down due to huge pressure from all sides.
In her address to the Labour faithful today Ms Thornberry raised the controversial issue of members who have been called up for straying into racism in their criticism of Israel.
“If we want to root out fascism and racism and hatred from our world, and from our country, then we must start, we must start, with rooting it out of our own party,” she told the hall.
“We all support the Palestinian cause, we are all committed to recognise the Palestinian State, and I stand here with no hesitation when I condemn the Netanyahu government for its racist policies and its criminal actions against the Palestinian people.
“But I know as well, and we must all acknowledge, that there are sickening individuals on the fringes of our movement, who use our legitimate support for Palestine as a cloak and a cover for their despicable hatred of Jewish people, and their desire to see Israel destroyed.
“Those people stand for everything that we have always stood against and they must be kicked out of our party the same way Oswald Mosley was kicked out of Liverpool.”
At a fringe meeting earlier Ms Thornberry said the row that engulfed the party over the summer was “very unfortunate” – adding: “We didn’t deal with it well.”
She added that Mr Corbyn was “deeply upset” about the entire affair – including claims he himself is racist.
Conference hall chair Rhea Wolfson warned delegates ahead of the Palestine debate to respect others and not to focus on internal party rows over the thorny issue – with most following her advice.
However one member – Hilary Wise from the Ealing Central and Acton party – said she wanted to address “the elephant in the room” or the “campaign of slurs” she said Labour had faced.
“A few are justified, most of them are not. I'm afraid it's an orchestrated campaign,” she fumed.
Steve Lapsley from the Derby South party meanwhile hit out at MPs and other members “who are actively supporting expelled and suspended anti-Semites in our party”.
Jennifer Gerber, director of the Labour Friends of Israel, said: “The debate on the conference floor this afternoon was deeply disturbing but sadly unsurprising.
“One-sided resolutions, denunciations of the world's only Jewish state, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and an abject failure to recognise the existential threats posed to Israel, show that this is a party which is no longer remotely serious about peace.”
There was also some disquiet over members being allowed to wave Palestinian flags in the conference hall.
One member said there was a “double standard” after he was told not to unfurl an EU flag earlier in the day.
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