Jewish Labor members accuse party leaders of trying to censor & # 39; for anti-Semitism training

The anti-Semitism training at this year's Labor conference is likely to be scrapped after Jewish members have accused party leaders of attempting to "censor" the sessions.

The Jewish Labor Movement (JLM) has led courses during the last two conferences, but has withdrawn in 2018 by claiming party officials to claim the removal of elements to be taught in Liverpool the following month.

The independent has been told that Labor specifically omits referrals to high-profile cases such as those of Ken Livingstone, who claimed that Hitler had supported Zionism, and Naz Shah MP, who had been suspended for a series of posts including one it seemed to suggest that Israelis would be deported to the US.

In a letter from The Independent, the chairman of the JLM told General Secretary of Labor, Jennie Formby, that the party had "acted in a way to be the only affiliated Jewish group of Labor. to undermine "and" adds to further tension ".

The party refused to comment on the report on the matter and has yet to confirm that an alternative course provider has been found.

The withdrawal of JLM comes about because the Labor crisis shows no sign of waning, with a former MP suspended from the party this weekend and a survivor of the Munich massacre accusing Mr. Corbyn of being an "anti-Semite" .

In his letter, also sent to the entire national executive committee of the party, JLM Chairman Ivor Caplin said: "You may also know that we have withdrawn to deliver the anti-semitism accounting module at the Liverpool Feast after some of the content censored.

"We assume that the module complies with the code of conduct for anti-Semitism that neither JLM nor the Jewish community have confidence in."

Labor is at the center of a political storm since attempts have been made to rewrite the party's code of conduct to change the definition of anti-Semitism of the internationally recognized version.

Mr. Caplin also said that JLM after the conference sessions & # 39; incredibly disappointed & # 39; was that the party leaders rejected his offer to give anti-Semitism to members of the governing executive and disciplinary body of the party.

He wrote: "It remains unclear how or who will provide this training.

" Without full transparency, the party will once again act in a way to deliberately undermine its formal Jewish affiliation and add to further tensions . "

JLM did not want to respond, but [TheIndependent understands that the first discussions between the group and the Labor officials about the conference training took place at the beginning of this month, shortly before the schedule of the annual event would be completed.

It is clear that JLM was told that it should agree with changes if the training – which had already been given to 2,500 party members – had to be included in the final conference guide, which would be set to print later hours.

A source with a good understanding of the situation said: "The training program was commissioned two years ago by the party and was written in consultation with them and the Jewish community, and was approved by them.

" In discussions related to this year's party conference, JLM was told that the leader's office wanted to have certain things removed. It was not a request, it was an order. "

The party did not respond to questions about whether it requested removal of references to Mr. Livingstone and Mrs. Shah.

Mej. Shah verontschuldigde zich nadat het te voorschijn kwam dat zij een Facebook-bericht had gedeeld waarin hij suggereerde dat Joden moeten worden "getransporteerd" van Israël naar de VS.

De heer Livingstone beweerde dat hij eenvoudig historische feiten had beweerd toen hij beweerde dat Hitler het zionisme steunde "voordat hij went mad and killed six million Jews”.

Some Jewish members suggested the Labour reques t to remove these references was because Mr Livingstone might not have been disciplined under the party’s new code of conduct, which says it is not necessarily antisemitic to compare Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.

A Labour source denied any censorship was taking place and claimed the party had simply requested a “discussion” about the training, as in previous years.

The source said: “JLM were invited to deliver training at conference but they declined.”

Labour has since contacted Jewish educational charities about providing the training instead of JLM.

But The Independent understands at least some approaches have been rejected, raising the prospect that the programme will simply be missing from this year’s conference.

The publication of Labour’s new code of conduct sparked a furious row after it emerged the party had not adopted the full version set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance A lliance.

The new document does not directly include four of the 11 examples of antisemitism listed in the alliance’s definition.

Joseph Glasman, head of political and government investigations at the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “It is unimaginable that they would dare censor the specific anti-racism training delivered by Muslim or black Labour groups, but uniquely in the case of Jews they feel at liberty to censor and distort.”

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