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Rabbi Avrohom Pinter condemns Labour's failure to deal with antisemitism he suffered

Ex-councillor says he avoided complaining at first out of 'my loyalty to my local party'

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A leading Orthodox Rabbi - and former Labour councillor - has broken his silence to complain to his Jeremy Corbyn for the party's failure to punish antisemitism he suffered at party meetings.

Rabbi Avrohom Pinter said he did not make a complaint at the time of the incidents because of "my loyalty to my local party" but said Labour's refusal to adopt the internationally-recognised definition of Jew-hate had led him to act.

He also said the failure to discipline party member Peter WIllsman for his rant about Jewish "Trump fanatics", exposed by the JC, led him to speak out.

Writing to Mr Corbyn and party General Secretary Jennie Formby, Rabbi Pinter described two incidents at Labour meetings within the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency.

In his letter, in which he also resigned from the constituency General Party, he said these incidents "went unchallenged".

In the first incident in May 2016, the man proposed a motion saying criticising Israel was not the same as antisemitism, and then appeared to conflate Zionism and Nazism. After a row with Rabbi Pinter, the party chair apologised to the motion proposer rather than Rabbi Pinter.

"Despite the attempts of the local party to resolve the matter, not resulting in any solution that reflected the seriousness of what had occurred, I decided, as reported in the press, not to make a formal complaint to the national party,” he wrote in his letter.

Rabbi Pinter also described how, in November 2017, the same person spoke in favour of reinstating anti-Israel activist Moshe Machover as a party member and, in remarks Rabbi Pinter thought were aimed at him - complained of an "conspiracy" that was "designed to silence Israel’s critics and that the trail could be traced ‘to the door of the Israeli embassy’."

Rabbi Pinter was among 68 rabbis, including the UK heads of the Masorti, Liberal and Reform movements, who wrote an open letter to Labour in July, warning of antisemitism within the party and urging it to adopt the IHRA definition.

Mr Willsman, a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, challenged the rabbis to produce evidence of antisemitism in the party, during an angry rant at an NEC meeting, a recording of which was leaked to the JC.

Speaking after the leak, Rabbi Pinter said: "I have personally have experienced some very unpleasant issues within my local Labour party… I was accused of being in the pay of the Israeli embassy.

"I have an affection for Israel, but in no way could you describe me as a Zionist.” 

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