Thread by @Camden_Momentum

PRESS STATEMENT – TUESDAY 4 SEPT 2018
MASS LOBBY: MEMBERS CALL ON LABOUR NEC 
TO OPPOSE FULL IHRA
Outside Labour Party Head Office
105 Victoria St, Westminster, London SW1E 6QT
By Camden Momentum with input from other Momentum groups
For more information contact: Camden Momentum:

Owen Holland or Sam Weinstein:  [e-mail]
On Tuesday 4 September from 9am members of the Labour Party and Momentum are holding a mass lobby of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) which is due to discuss the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism

with all its examples.
We urge members of the NEC to oppose adoption of the examples which would label criticism of Israel as antisemitic.  
This lobby was called at an emergency meeting of Camden Momentum attended by over 110 members from 17 Momentum groups. Labour Against the

Witch-hunt,Jewish Voice for Labour and Labour Representation Committee also called for a lobby and other groups and individuals have responded to the calls.
Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader because he is a socialist, anti-austerity, antiracist, antisexist, anti-war and stands for

an ethical foreign policy based on human rights,including the rights of Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid.
Since Corbyn’s election, Labour’s leadership has been under mounting pressure from the right-wing and the mainstream media to adopt all the examples in the IHRA

definition. They aim to prevent the humane socialist programme Corbyn represents from being put to the electorate.
Palestinians, other people of colour and other antiracists, including Jewish people who oppose Israeli apartheid, oppose IHRA.We have been speaking out in our

thousands but are being ignored by the elites that claim to represent us. We say the examples would censor Palestinians’ right to self-determination, criminalise the Palestinian-led boycott divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) and pose an existential threat to free speech on

Israel. IHRA has already been used to cancel or prevent lawful events at UK universities.
This Lobby is to bring our voices direct to the NEC. The membership must have a say in the code of conduct, especially those of us most likely to face discrimination: Palestinians and other

people of colour, with disabilities, women, and LGBTI members.  
The adoption of the IHRA definition with all its example is opposed by:  
·   Palestinian civil society: Labour Party Must Reject Biased IHRA Definition That Stifles Advocacy For Palestinian Rights.
·

Palestinians in the UK, such as Ghada Karmi: Palestinian member of the Labour Party demands the right to speak about Israel’s racism.
· Over 100 Migrant and BAME groups in Britain: Migrant, Refugee, and BAME Communities Speak out Against Public Silence. Jewish organisations

which support Palestinian rights. The established Jewish organisations which have been calling Corbyn an antisemite, such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Jewish Leadership Council do not speak for the majority of Jews in the UK,

an certainly not within the Labour Party. A letter to the BoD was signed by over 100 distinguished Jewish people protesting their endorsement of the slaughter of Palestinians during the Great March of Return.
·   Legal opinion, including from former judgeStephen Sedley who said:

…"both Jews and non-Jews in the UK are entitled, without being stigmatised as antisemites, to contend that a state that by law denies Palestinians any right of self-determination is a racist state, or to ask whether there is some moral equivalence between shooting down

defenceless Jews in eastern Europe and unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza.’
· Kenneth S Stern who drafted the IHRA working definition for data collection and said that its adoption leads to a ‘chilling and McCarthy-like’ repression of free speech.

IHRA is not universally accepted nationally or internationally as its advocates claim.
Three pro-Israel newspapers, The Jewish Chronicle, the Jewish Telegraph and Jewish News, accuse Labour under Corbyn of‘political antisemitism’ because it criticises Israel, the Jewish State.

The papers say, ‘Had the full IHRA definition with examples relating to Israel been approved, hundreds, if not thousands, of Labour & Momentum members would need to be expelled.’
The IHRA is being promoted precisely to make this happen: purging the Labour Party of its Palestinian

and pro-Palestinian members, including Jewish ones. Many Corbyn supporters have already been expelled, suspended or blocked from standing for office, and some have resigned. If the IHRA in full is passed this will embolden those who seek to smear

Palestinian solidarity activism as antisemitic. Attempts at appeasement like Code Plus (full IHRA with caveats) never work. No one can say they didn’t know.

@threadreaderapp unroll