Labour manifesto 'more pro-Palestinian' than Shadow Foreign Secretary had agreed

The JC understands the Labour Friends of Israel group was leading discussions with Ms Thornberry and others in the party and had insisted the wording of the document "had to change from the draft".

Sources say Ms Thornberry was contacted on Wednesday evening by LFI after the revelation the draft manifesto had an unexpected position on Israel and the Palestinians.

A source confirmed: "Emily had at least tried to push through a more balanced manifesto pledge on Israel. It had been agreed that while there would have still been criticism of Israeli settlement policy, there would also be condemnation of Palestinian terrorist activity.

"But this did not appear in the leaked manifesto that seemed to be written by more leftish individuals with the party.

"To be fair to Emily, she immediately accepted it was not on. She was furious that a manifesto launch could be sabotaged in this way."

Jeremy Newmark, the Jewish Labour Movement chair, has written to all Labour and trade union figures attending today's party meeting in London at which the manifesto is due to be signed off, pointing out the clear change in stance over Israel.

A Jewish Labour source confirmed: "This is not the same manifesto pledge as the one signed off by Emily Thornberry very recently.

"The leak has all the signs of having come from those around Seamus Milne seeking to adopt a more hardline anti-Israel stance.

"The thinking appears to be, if we can get text like this out there in advance, there is more chance of it being accepted at the Clause 5 meeting today."

The letter written by JLM to those attending today's meeting states: "Since the snap General Election was called, the Jewish Labour Movement has been campaigning in constituencies up and down the country, campaigning for the Labour Party as we have done for every election since we affiliated to the Labour Party in 1920. 

"Late last year it was reported by the Jewish Chronicle that just eight per cent of the Jewish community was planning on voting Labour. 

"We have been trying to reverse that trend, campaigning in seats with Jewish constituencies, and making Labour's case within our community.

"We understand the draft 2017 manifesto been reported in the Mirror and the Telegraph. Recognising that it is a leak of a draft, we were nonetheless concerned to hear that it contains a decisive change from the Labour Party's previous positions on Israel-Palestine, which were fair, balanced and broadly well received by all sides. 

"The current draft text appears partisan, imbalanced and is not aligned with existing Party policy (as in the Britain and the World policy commission report adopted by Party Conference last September). 

"The text also stands out because Israel is one of just three countries mentioned. 

"We do not understand why other similar regional conflicts are not mentioned in a similar manner including, for example, Yemen, perhaps one of the greatest humanitarian crises fuelled by conflict at the present time.

"JLM calls on the Clause V meeting to rethink such partisan and divisive approach. "

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