Labour's anti-Semitism crisis in 300 words

The ongoing dispute between Labour and the Jewish community saw the Board of Deputies of British Jews yesterday accuse Jeremy Corbyn of turning the party into a “dark place of ugly conspiracy theories”.

This followed news that Jewish (Labour) MP Ian Austin faces disciplinary action for clashing with the party’s chairman, Ian Lavery, over its failure to fully adopt a widely-backed definition of anti-Semitism.

At its heart, the row embodies a tension between left-wing anti-Zionists and mainstream Jewish communities over the “idea of a Jewish state”, says Vox.

How did the anti-Semitism row begin?

Since Corbyn’s election as leader, the party has been dogged by examples of anti-Semitic conduct in its ranks. In April 2016, Facebook posts by one MP compared Israel to Nazi Germany while former London Mayor Ken Livingstone said during a BBC interview that Adolf Hitler had “originally been a Zionist”.

Then came the revelation that Corbyn had defended an overtly anti-Semitic mural in London that the local council had wanted to remove in 2012.

In response to a public outcry over the issue, Corbyn apologised for “pockets of anti-semitism” in the party and commissioned the Chakrabarti inquiry to investigate. It found that Labour was “not overrun by anti-Semitism” but does suffer from an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” and “too much clear evidence [of] ignorant attitudes”. The inquiry offered 20 recommendations that two years on are yet to be fully implemented.

What has the leadership said?

Labour has repeatedly stated that Corbyn is a “militant opponent of anti-Semitism”.

On the code of conduct row, which centres on the extent to which the party’s code differs from the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition and examples of anti-Semitism, Labour insisted that “while some examples are not reproduced word for word, they are covered in the new code”, reports HuffPost.