Antisemitism Rises Again in the British Labour Party
Barring some impressive political accident, Keir Starmer of the Labour Party is on track to become the U.K.’s next prime minister after an election later this year. This week, such an accident may have arrived.
Labour leaders in recent days have had to distance themselves from two parliamentary candidates who have been accused of antisemitism. Azhar Ali, who is running in a by-election for the safe Labour seat in the northern town of Rochdale, was caught on tape last year suggesting Israel had allowed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to proceed as a pretext to invade Gaza. Mr. Starmer dithered for two days after this tape was released by the Mail on Sunday last weekend over whether to allow Mr. Ali to remain in the party. He finally withdrew support when the Mail released a longer recording that revealed Mr. Ali had also inveighed against “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters.”
Graham Jones, Labour’s candidate for a seat in Hyndburn in the next general election, was taped at the same event referring to “f— Israel.” Mr. Starmer has also stripped Mr. Jones of his eligibility to represent the party. Critics inside and outside Labour are calling on Mr. Starmer to discipline other Labour politicians as well. At least one of these politicians heard Messrs. Ali and Jones deliver their remarks at that event and didn’t challenge them. Others have made different objectionable statements about developments in Israel and Gaza.
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This week’s antisemitism scandals put all that work at risk. But the greater danger to Mr. Starmer’s electoral prospects isn’t his politicians, it’s his voters. Post-Oct. 7, Labour’s antisemitism problem has been the tendency of anti-Zionism and outright antisemitism to bleed into each other. That’s especially true within Britain’s Muslim population—which has become an important part of Labour’s base. Particularly in Rochdale, where Mr. Ali’s connections within the large Muslim community were viewed by the party as an electoral asset.
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