Wiesenthal Center: Labour’s Rejection of Antisemitism Definition-Open Invitation to Anti-Semites

July 10, 2018

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced Britain’s Labour Party’s refusal to endorse the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as hypocritical and a slap in the face to the UK’s Jewish community.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center said, “Jeremy Corbyn’s-led Labour Party’s refusal is an open invitation to anti-Semites and anti-Jewish activists to find a welcome within England's political mainstream and has negative implications for world Jewry."

Mark Weitzman, the SWC’s Director of Government Affairs who as the Chair of IHRA’s Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial introduced and steered the Definition to its adoption by IHRA, adding, “Labour’s refusal to accept a definition that has been endorsed by the European Parliament, officially adopted by the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, and 135 municipal authorities, is a clear signal of the party’s refusal to deal with the reality of anti-Semitism in its ranks.

"Their utter disregard of the voices of the Anglo-Jewish community, with the exception of a few lock-step anti-Zionist radicals, exposes the Party's shameful hypocrisy on this issue, as was its decision to ignore the accepted legal definition of hate crimes established by the MacPherson Judicial Inquiry—with input from victims—and subsequently adopted by the National Police Chiefs Council.”

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).