UK Antisemitism Watchdog: Labour Inquiry ‘Vague, Meaningless Whitewash’ of Party’s Racism

Via Algemeiner:

The results of the UK Labour Party’s investigation into allegations of antisemitism in the party are a “vague, meaningless whitewash” of racism, a leading watchdog said on Thursday.

Jonathan Sacerdoti, director of communications at the Campaign Against Antisemitism, a UK charity which works to expose antisemitism, said in a statement that the Labour inquiry — the results of which were announced Thursday in a special conference — glossed over cases of antisemitism within Labour and has failed to take the party’s leadership to task.

The Labour inquiry — headed by the controversial Shami Chakrabarti — concluded that while there is an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” within the party, it is “not overrun by antisemitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of racism.” The investigation made 20 recommendations, but did not approve lifetime bans for party members who engage in antisemitic or racist behavior.

According to Sacerdoti, “The Chakrabarti Inquiry presented what it set out to present: a narrow set of recommendations on how the Labour Party should change its rules on racism. It did not examine the disgraceful cases of antisemitism in the party, or their even more disgraceful mishandling by party leadership, including [Labour head] Jeremy Corbyn, who presides over a regime of the lightest slaps on wrists for even the most offensive and deliberate antisemites.”

Instead of recommending suspensions for antisemitic Labour members, “inexcusably, the Inquiry proposes making it harder to suspend antisemites and keeping suspensions secret so as not to affect elections,” Sacerdoti said. 

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