People who played a role in hounding me out of Labour are in office now, says Dame Louise Ellman

“They had seen me as the Zionist,” she said, adding that Corbyn “was obsessed with anti-Zionism”, viewing Zionism as “stopping the collapse of capitalism worldwide”.

“What had been friendly meetings suddenly changed. I was surprised by how quickly the situation changed.”

She said members of her CLP questioned her “dual loyalty” to Israel and asked how she could represent constituents who had democratically elected her while also “representing a fascist state abroad” [Israel].

Ellman said conspiracy theories circulated within the CLP, including claims that Isis was “funded by Israel”.

As the harassment intensified, Ellman said she required a police presence outside meetings.

Complaints about her treatment led to an investigation by Labour’s National Executive Committee, but she said this was followed by further abuse.

“After this, a campaign followed to dehumanise me,” she said.

She described how members of her CLP refused to say her name, would not hold doors open for her and would not look her in the eye.

“The hate [...] was actually explosive,” Ellman said, recalling the period when she became isolated within the CLP.

Ellman added that the hostility she faced was not solely about Israel. “Some of it was to do with Israel and some of it was to do with other issues,” she said.

She also reflected on earlier controversies in her career, including raising concerns during a 2005 parliamentary discussion about Islamist antisemitism.

“At the time nobody wanted to talk about it and nobody would publish anything about it. I said, ‘I will have to do it.’

“The fact is I took on the Islamists. As an MP I had a platform to deal with it and that’s what I did.”

She added that her Jewish identity played a role in shaping her political priorities. “Because I was Jewish, I was very attuned to other issues which were very difficult for members to take on,” she said.

Ellman left the Labour Party in 2019 over its antisemitism crisis.

She rejoined in 2021 under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Ellman told the Limmud audience that she did not believe Labour was institutionally antisemitic today.

“I do not think the Labour Party is an antisemitic party any more. I wouldn’t be in it if it were,” she said, adding, “that isn’t to say there aren’t any antisemites there.”

Of those who subjected her to the targeted campaign, she went on: “The ringleader was expelled, and others drifted away.” However, some do remain in the party, she said, including some who hold elected office – though Ellman would not be drawn on names. “A lot of the anti-Zionism we are seeing now is actually antisemitism,” she warned.