Oﬃcial in seat of shadow equalities chief labelled Israel a ‘racist’ state - The Jewish Chronicle

A Labour official from the Shadow Equalities Secretary’s seat branded Israel a “racist” state and called the party’s antisemitism crisis “politically motivated”. Momentum-backed activist Rob Lugg is the vice-chairman of Battersea’s Constituency Labour party and is responsible for heading its campaigns. Battersea is the seat held by Shadow Equalities Secretary Marsha de Cordova who had vowed: “I will root antisemites out of the Labour party, they do not speak for me.” When Labour adopted the full definition of antisemitism, Mr Lugg posted that he was “incredibly disappointed” by the decision. He added: “Israel is and always has been a racist, settler-colonial apartheid state built on stolen land through ethnic cleansing and violence.” Backing the boycott movement, he added: “The fight for #BDS as Labour policy starts now”. In a second post in 2008 to “all Israelis on Facebook” he wrote: “Israel is not a country, it is theft of another people’s land. Victory to Palestine…” He added: “Zionism is poisonous bigotry and imperialist lies and Jewish workers will only be free when they throw off its shackles!” He then wrote: “Victory to the intifada!” In one 2008 post, he insisted there was “no such place as Israel”. In another, posted 10 years later, he claimed that Israel had take the ideology of European nationalism “that was the very root of Jewish oppression and adopted it”. In a separate post, he insisted Israel was an “imperialist state which has nothing to do with the interests of Jewish self-determination but with the interests of the western ruling class”. He added: “The only solution to the Palestine/Israel situation is a one state solution, that state being a secular, socialist Palestine.” However, challenged about his views online, Mr Lugg insisted it was “highly offensive” to be called a “racist without any evidence whatsoever”. In the 2008 post he added: “As someone of Basque descent I am very interested in Jewish culture and history…” and he was “proud of the contribution working class Jewish people have made to London…” A Labour spokesperson said: “Labour takes all complaints of antisemitism extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.” Mr Lugg was unavailable for comment.