UK Jewish community calls for clamp down on antisemitic MPs
Vice president for the Board, Amanda Bowman, said: 'We view with great concern the past conduct of a number of newly elected members of the House of Commons.'
By BENJY SINGERUK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns on Sunday for the upcoming elections.(photo credit: REBECCA NADEN/REUTERS)
The British Board of Deputies, the main representative body of the British Jewish community, has called upon political parties to take action against newly-elected members of Parliament accused of expressing antisemitic views or sentiments, the Jewish Chronicle reported.Several MPs who have been accused of antisemitism have returned to Parliament, including a pair of Conservatives in seats that were taken from the Labour Party in the recent elections.Vice president for the Board, Amanda Bowman, said: “We view with great concern the past conduct of a number of newly elected members of the House of Commons."We would ask all the political parties in question to treat these cases with the utmost seriousness, and use the full range of disciplinary measures as appropriate, from training on antisemitism and the pernicious use of antisemitic tropes up to and including suspension of the whip.”Michael Gove, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said on Sunday that complaints about Tory (Conservative) MP Sally-Ann Hart and her antisemitic comments were “cause for concern,” promising an independent investigation.Ms. Hart took Amber Rudd’s former Hastings and Rye seat, shared a video suggesting that billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros controlled the EU. She was also seen to "like" a comment on social media left underneath the video which read “Ein Reich” – a Nazi slogan.New Tory MP Lee Anderson is said to be an active member of a Facebook group that included conspiracy theories about Mr. Soros, and was used by supporters of Tommy Robinson.In the Labour Party, Zarah Sultana was elected in Coventry South – the Jewish Chronicle reported complaints that she had provoked a National Union of Students vice president to say that she did not “serve Israel as well as you would have liked.”Ms. Sultana also said that she would be prepared to celebrate the deaths of Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair.Back in November, it was found that Apsana Begum – the new MP in Poplar and Limehouse, a constituency in London – had shared a post proposing that the Saudi Arabia’s leaders were “inspired by their Zionist masters.”Claudia Webbe, who won the in Leicester East seat in the recent UK elections, defended Ken Livingstone after saying that Jewish journalists are comparable to concentration camp guards. New Ilford South MP Sam Tarry said that antagonists of Jeremy Corbyn had exploited antisemitism claims.Neale Hanvey was voted in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, a constituency in Scotland, after she was suspended by the SNP over an article that depicted George Soros as a puppeteer, and posted message that, he said, "drew parallels between the treatment of Palestinians and the unconscionable treatment of Jews in Europe during WW2”.A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “These matters are being investigated. Discrimination or abuse of any kind is wrong, and the Conservative Party takes decisive action to deal with any incidents of hatred, abuse or intimidation."We are committed to stamping out the scourge of antisemitism in our society and supporting our Jewish community.“Our complaints process is rightly a confidential one but there are a wide range of sanctions to challenge and change behavior, including conditions to undertake training, periods of suspension and expulsion, and these are applied on a case-by-case basis.”
