Labour challenges Jewish groups' version of events after 'disappointing' meeting
3 min read
Labour is at odds with with Britain's two main Jewish groups after a crunch meeting ended with no agreement on how to tackle anti-Semitism in the party.
Sources close to Jeremy Corbyn denied claims by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council that the talks had been "a missed opportunity".
Instead, they said there had been "lots of agreement" during the discussions.
The Labour leader and his closest aides held talks for more than two hours with the two groups to discuss the party's ongoing issues with anti-Jewish racism.
The two groups made six demands in a letter to Mr Corbyn a month ago, including the swift conclusion of long-running disciplinary cases against the likes of former London mayor Ken Livingstone and controversial former Momentum activist Jackie Walker, and for MPs to be banned from sharing platforms with anti-Semites.
But in a joint-statement afterwards, they said: "We are disappointed that Mr Corbyn’s proposals fell short of the minimum level of action which our letter suggested."
Speaking after the meeting, JLC president Jonathan Goldstein said: "We are extremely disappointed that one month after we issued a very sensible and well-thought through series of proposals that not one of them have been given to the Jewish community."
In contrast, Mr Corbyn issued an upbeat statement following the meeting in which he vowed that Labour "will not fail our Jewish brothers and sisters"
A senior Labour source later went further by directly contradicting the Jewish groups' version of events.
They said: "There were lots of areas of agreement. Ken Livingstone and Jackie Walker’s cases are being expedited and should be dealt with by the end of July. The party is looking at introducing time limits, but we need to look at legal issues around this.
"Jeremy made clear he was taking a personal lead on this issue and has clearly and repeatedly said that concerns about anti-Semitism must not be dismissed as smears and people must not be criticised for speaking out about anti-Semitism, and that those who do so do not do this in his name."
The source added: "There was agreement that elected officials should not share platforms with people found guilty of anti-Semitism. Jeremy acknowledged that the Board and JLC are the main representative bodies, and they agreed to a meeting in July. Jeremy said he would seek to engage across the Jewish community."
Meanwhile, Labour's top disciplinary body, the National Constitution Committee, will today hear the case of left-wing activist Marc Wadsworth, who is accused of anti-Semitism towards Labour MP Ruth Smeeth.
He has been suspended from the Labour party since the incident, which took place at the launch of Shami Chakrabarti's report into anti-Semitism nearly two years ago.
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