The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights NGO, has urged the President of the Social International (SI) to suspend the Labour Party and to launch an independent investigation into the anti-Semitism that is rife within its ranks since Jeremy Corbyn became the UK party’s leader.
The letter to SI President George Papandreou from the Wiesenthal Center’s Associate Dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper read in part:
I write to you on the eve of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, when Jews the world over mourn the mass murder of 6 million Jews during the WWII Nazi Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. When the full extent of the Nazi horrors were exposed to the world after the war, civilized people everywhere made a commitment that anti-Semitism would never again be allowed to threaten the Jews.
Tragically, in 2019, anti-Semitism rages on both sides of the Atlantic, including two recent deadly attacks against synagogues here in the United States. Most synagogues in Europe are guarded by heavily armed law enforcement or police. Despite these measures, Jewish Houses of Prayer have been attacked in France, Sweden, Italy, Germany and beyond.
Against this backdrop is the horrific trail of Jew-hatred and even Holocaust denial within the United Kingdom’s Labour Party. Jews have been made to feel unwelcome in a party whose stated values had served as a historic magnate for Jewish voters. Not anymore. Jeremy Corbyn continues to prove in in word and deed that he is a significant part of the problem, a leader incapable and/or unwilling to stop the extreme anti-Jewish bias burgeoning with the Labour Party’s ranks.”
The late Holocaust survivor, Simon Wiesenthal, was once asked if he was surprised by how many Nazis there were. “No”, he responded, “but I was shocked by how few anti-Nazis there were.…now is the time for the Social International to take a stand against anti-Semitism by challenging a major Western party, whose leader seeks to lead the United Kingdom into the future.” Rabbi Cooper concluded.
