British Labour party event bans Jewish journalists, activists

Organizers of a Labour party event claimed that Jewish journalists were banned because they had “previously misrepresented events, people or facts.” 

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Dozens of Jewish journalists and activists who held tickets to an event with British Labour politician John McDonnell and had previously written about anti-Semitism in the party were prohibited from attending at the last minute but given no reason for the cancellation of their tickets, The Independent reported.

Organizers told the paper that the journalists were banned because they had “previously misrepresented events, people or facts.”

The event featured Jenny Manson, chair of the controversial Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), who is hoping to become a Labour MP in north London, according to The Independent.

Mainstream Jewish organization have denounced JVL “because of its dismissal of concerns about anti-Semitism in Labour,” the report explained.

Manson has often defended people accused of anti-Semitism, the report noted, including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was temporarily suspended by the party after claiming that Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism.

Furthermore, Manson is on record as saying that she “began to identify as a Jew in order to argue against the State of Israel and its behaviour.”

A spokesman for Manson’s campaign confirmed that the event organizers had cancelled the tickets of “tens” of people who had applied to attend, The Independent said.

A spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism, which was barred from the event, said that “the banning of Jewish Labour members from a John McDonnell event tonight is an act of racial segregation that underlines the institutional anti-Semitism now endemic within the Labour Party,” the report continued.

Manson’s “campaign to be selected as a Labour parliamentary candidate in an area of London with a significant Jewish population is surely now impossible if this is her attitude towards her would-be Jewish constituents.

“We demand that Mr. McDonnell withdraw from this event and show that he is able to understand why this situation is a betrayal of every Labour value he claims to hold dear,” the spokesman stated ahead of the program.

“Jenny is a good friend and I am fulfilling a longstanding commitment I gave her to offer her my support in seeking selection as a candidate,” McDonnell, who was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in September 2015, said, The Independent reported.

A recent poll by a Jewish publication in the UK shows that a significant percentage of British Jews would consider emigrating if Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn became prime minister. Another poll indicates that over 85 percent believe he’s an anti-Semite.