In an interview with Jewish News, Labour leader says he will not tolerate abuse of protesters

Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the vilification and abuse of Labour MPs who attended Monday night’s demonstration against antisemitism in the party.

As leaders of the Jewish organisations that staged the protest told him that they would not meet him until he intervened to halt the attacks on social media, Corbyn said he was profoundly concerned by any abuse.

“People have the right to speak out and the right to demonstrate,” he told the Jewish News in his first ever interview with a Jewish newspaper. “I will not tolerate abuse of people for their beliefs.”



“Any abuse that’s done is not done in my name,” he added.

He also rejected the idea – put forward by a rival demonstration by the Jewish Voice for Labour on Monday – that the reason for the main protest was to smear Corbyn himself.

“Of course it’s not a smear, it’s perfectly reasonable to raise any question about one’s public profile activities,” he said. “I don’t see that as a smear.”

But his remarks failed to silence his critics. “It’s massively underwhelming,” Richard Ferrer, the editor of the Jewish News said. “He’s squandered a wonderful opportunity to speak to the Jewish community in a week when they needed it most.”

In the interview, Corbyn was challenged repeatedly to condemn the way MPs who attended the protest have been attacked. He responded that at its best “social media is the most wonderful of communication, at its worst it has a multiplier effect of the nastiest and most negative comments possible”.

He defended the Jewish MP Luciana Berger, who had first revived the controversy about the antisemitic east London mural and who has been a particular target.

“Luciana has suffered terrible abuse and I support her ... it’s just not acceptable,” he said. “She should not be abused.”

He revealed that an email was being sent to all party members overnight, repeating the message of the letter he sent to the leaders of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council on Monday.

He also defended David Lammy, the Tottenham MP who went to the protest to support Jewish constituents. He may now face a challenge from his constituency party. A Tottenham Labour members Facebook page is carrying posts demanding that he is deselected.

Some of his party members claim Lammy has “stabbed them in the back” by attending the demonstration, which they regard as an anti-Corbyn rally. One wrote that the protest was focused on Corbyn’s leadership, not antisemitism, while another said they wanted a candidate in the next election “who wants Labour to win”.

But Corbyn described Lammy as a friend and someone he admired.

His interview will be seen partly as a response to Jonathan Arkush and Jonathan Goldstein, the leaders of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, who are challenging Corbyn to “be seen and heard” leading the work to tackle antisemitism in the party.



“Those Labour party members and Labour-supporting blogs pushing the abuse are largely doing so in your name,” they said. “They need to hear you say, publicly and your own voice, that we had every right to protest about antisemitism, and that Labour MPs had every right to support us … that anyone directing abused, intimidation or threats at those of us who oppose antisemitism is damaging your efforts to eliminate it.”

The Skwawkbox, a leftwing blog, emailed several MPs, including John Woodcock, Ian Austin and Wes Streeting, challenging them to prove they opposed all racism in a way that implied their opposition to antisemitism was only a way of attacking the party leadership.

One email attacking Stella Creasy demanded evidence of Walthamstow MP “publicly denouncing Islamophobia, publicly denouncing racism towards black people or participating in demonstrations against Islamophobia and racism towards black and other ethnic groups”. Creasy says she is now having to deal with “organised abuse” at a local level.

Goldstein and Arkush have set out a list of demands for party reform, including a quicker and clearer approach to disciplinary cases, a ban on appearing on the same platform as suspended members – who include Ken Livingstone and the former vice-chair of Momentum, Jackie Walker – and on providing them with a platform. Anyone breaching the rule would themselves be suspended and, if an MP, lose the party whip.

The letter falls short of naming those they want suspended, although Arkush specified Livingstone and Walker on Tuesday.

In his interview, Corbyn insisted the investigations into allegations of antisemitism made against Livingstone must follow due process.

However, he said the case should be decided before the two-year anniversary of his first suspension, in the middle of next month. That would leave barely two weeks to resolve a case that has dragged on since 2016.

As Jennie Formby, the new general secretary of the party, prepares to start work after Easter, Labour insisted that most allegations of antisemitism had been dealt with. According to the Corbyn interview, only 60 remain outstanding. He said the party would employ in-house lawyers to speed up the process, and reiterated that enacting the recommendations of the Chakrabarti report – published in June 2016 – would be Formby’s priority.

Many MPs are still shocked by the strength of feeling demonstrated on Monday night against Labour’s failure to act on antisemitic conduct. Many of them want it to be a turning point for the party and the Corbyn leadership. Some believe it could be a potent symbol of the kind of government that an incoming Labour party would run – reminiscent of Tony Blair rewriting clause four as a token of his determination to run a centre-left government.