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Labour branch apologises for planned bizarre pub gathering about antisemitism
Stroud Green Labour gathering was due to ask: 'Is it antisemitic to say Naqba denial is bigger problem than Holocaust denial?'
March 13, 2019 17:26
Stroud Green Labour gathering was due to ask: 'Is it antisemitic to say Naqba denial is bigger problem than Holocaust denial?'
March 13, 2019 17:26A Labour branch, whose ex-chair resigned over "shameful" antisemitism, has apologised for a bizarre pub gathering whose agenda included asking whether it is "antisemitic to say Naqba denial is bigger problem than Holocaust denial".
Stroud Green Labour, which of one of the biggest Labour branches in the country, was due to meet in the local White Lion of Mortimer pub on Wednesday evening for a Forum on Antisemitism to discuss this and other questions, including how the party tackles Jew-hate when "many members... see the current crisis as a campaign to undermine Jeremy or make it impossible to criticise Israel".
The suggested agenda included the questions: “Are you an antisemite? What is antisemitism & what causes it?” and “Rebuilding relations with the ‘mainstream’ Jewish community.”
After it caused outrage, the branch tweeted it "wholeheartedly and sincerely apologised" to the Jewish community.
It added the "informal discussion" was intended to combat "vile" Jew-hate but recognised "some of the questions... were offensive and insensitive".
A Labour spokesperson said: ”It's right the branch decided not to hold this discussion.”
In relation to a meeting of the branch discussion forum advertised to members we have sent the following message to the branch by email tonight. pic.twitter.com/9JVMpkNJlh
— Stroud Green Labour (@SG_Labour) March 13, 2019
Local MP Catherine West, who previously angered people by appearing not to act, said: I’m very pleased the local Labour meeting planned to be held last night in my constituency was cancelled and that the organisers have apologised.
"There are no excuses for anti semitism. No ifs no buts."
Joe Goldberg, who quit as a Labour Haringey councillor last year, had tweeted that the pub event was “appalling.”
He wrote: “There is nothing benign about this. This is Jew-Baiting. You must call this out or you are complicit.”
James Austin also tweeted: "Sweet Jesus. There are no words for this. The branch needs suspending.”
Ms West annoyed local party members when her initial response was to simply say it was “disappointing” that the Jewish Labour Movement had suspended its training on Jew-hate.
She said she had “already had discussions with the CLP about running equalities training with a strand focussed on tackling antisemitism”.
Topics listed for discussion at the event included asking whether “people who say ‘black boys are good dancers’ Are they racists?”
The agenda, put together by Stroud Green Labour’s membership secretary Ray Soper, also asks whether it is “actually possible” to rebuild the relationship between Mr Corbyn’s party and the Jewish community.
In an email to party members advertising the White Lion Forum on Antisemitism, Mr Soper said the agenda for Wednesday evening “reflects my own interests”.
Last week, the JC published the damning resignation letter from former branch chair Richard Horton, who quit the party citing the fact that “over the past eighteen months, slowly but surely, all of my Jewish friends have left Labour.”
Mr Horton was re-elected unopposed as Stroud Green ward branch chair in September 2017 but other officer positions were won by party members backed by Momentum, the activist group formed to support Mr Corbyn.
He complained of the “poisonous atmosphere”. Mr Hortonwrote that his last act as a party member was to suggest the Jewish Labour Movement became involved in helping educate members on antisemitism.
But Mr Soper's email says: "The branch meeting on March 6 included a discussion on racism and antisemitism.
"We agreed that the next White Lion Forum would focus on antisemitism. The Forum is an open discussion without speakers at which we invite all members to take part, especially new members and those who do not speak a lot at branch meetings.
"I have attached a list of topics which we might discuss. There will not be time to discuss all of them and I suggest we prioritise a few at the beginning of the meeting. I appreciate that the list reflects my own interests.”
Last October, the Hornsey and Wood Green Constituency Labour Party - which includes Stroud Green - voted to affiliate with the fringe, pro-Corbyn Jewish Voice For Labour group.
