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Richard Silverman West Ham CLP
I have sent the following submission to the Labour Party's NEC in preparation for its discussion on the IHRA definition of ant-Semitism
I would like to submit the following points to NEC before it takes a decision on its definition of anti-Semitism
I have sent the following submission to the Labour Party's NEC in preparation for its discussion on the IHRA definition of ant-Semitism
I would like to submit the following points to NEC before it takes a decision on its definition of anti-Semitism
I have some credentials on this question. My grandparents were penniless refugees from pogroms in the Tsarist Russian empire, driven from their homes by riots, slaughter and arson. Soon afterwards, my maternal grandfather was the victim of an anti-Semitic murder in Liverpool.
My father Sydney Silverman was a left Labour MP for 33 years until his death, personally responsible for introducing the historic private member’s bill which abolished capital punishment. At the time of the holocaust, he was a Zionist. In 1940 he was elected chair of the British
1/ For those tweeting #BackNECcode I recommend you read the code you are backing (thejc.com/comment/analys…) and the code you are rejecting (holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/…). You may be surprised. There are 2 important changes in the NEC code which may make it *worse* for free speech
2/ First, the NEC Code *leaves out* perhaps the most important line for free speech in the IHRA code: that “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”. There is no similar statement in the NEC Code.
3/ Second, the IHRA includes illustrative examples of antisemitism, as you probably know. But it precedes them with: “Contemporary examples of antisemitism … could, taking into account the overall context, include…”. So they “could” be examples, taking into account “context” 
