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Labour threatens to drop investigations into antisemitism cases if accusers speak about them publicly

Members warned that if they share details of their experiences with 'third parties or the media (including social media)' they may be subject to disciplinary actions themselves

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Labour has told members who report antisemitism within the party that if they talk publicly about the case, any investigation may not only be dropped but they may be punished themselves.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Labour members who report other people within the party for antisemitic statements or actions are being told to “ensure you keep all information relating to your complaint private and do not share it with third parties or the media (including social media).’

“If you fail to do so, the party reserves the right to take action to protect confidentiality, and we may be unable to consider your complaint further.

"You may also be liable to disciplinary action for breach of the party’s rules.’

In September, Labour’s leadership denied a planned new Code of Conduct for antisemitism would include punishing those it deemed to have made accusations in bad faith, for factional reasons. 

At the time the party’s compliance unit was said to be close to collapsing, with hundreds of investigations into Jew-hate unsolved, and only one person left in the unit to look through cases.

One high profile case which remains unresolved is that of Jackie Walker, a former vice chair of the pro-Jeremy Corbyn Momentum group. 

She was initially suspended from the party in early 2016 over her claims that “many Jews were the chief financiers of the slave trade”.

She was readmitted a few months later, only to be suspended again after she told a Labour antisemitism training event that she had not found a definition of Jew-hate she could work with and claimed Holocaust Memorial Day was not wide-ranging in including other genocides. 

Her second suspension has now lasted over two years.

Labour told the Mail on Sunday it takes “all allegations of antisemitism extremely seriously, which are fully investigated in line with the party’s rules and procedures”.

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