Almost seventy rabbis from across the religious spectrum have signed a letter to Labour’s governing body, detailing concerns over the party’s decision to adopt a new code for tackling anti-Semitism.

Faith leaders from communities representing 30,000 households said it is with “great regret” they undersigned the letter, accusing the party of “claiming to know what’s good for our community” in “the most insulting and arrogant way”.

This comes after politicians joined Jewish leaders last week, in condemning a new code of conduct to tackle anti-Semitism as “an extraordinary act of bad faith”.

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Among the senior rabbis who signed the letter, collected by the Jewish Labour Movement, include Rabbi Nicky Liss, Highgate Synagogue and Chair, Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, Principal of the Yesodey Hatorah schools, S&P’S Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck, top Reform leader Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi and Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism, Danny Rich, and Masorti Judaism’s senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg.

Labour followed the government, Crown Prosecution Service and dozens of local authorities in adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism last week. However, it provoked anger by leaving out some of its accompanying examples of contemporary anti-Semitism.

Ahead of Labour NEC’s meeting this week, where it will consider the proposed code, 68 rabbis from the United Synagogue, Strictly-Orthodox community, Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community, Liberal, Reform and Masorti movements, expressed their concerns.

Claiming Labour has “chosen to ignore those who understand antisemitism the best, the Jewish community”, the letter urges the party “to listen to the Jewish community, adopt the full and unamended International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism”.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism said “We know that there is the possibly of change of attitude within the leadership of the Labour Party, and we expect the Leader of the Opposition to show moral leadership in respecting the rights of minority communities to self-define.”

Rabbi Harvey Belovski, Senior Rabbi, Golders Green Synagogue and Vice-Chair, Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue said “The spiritual leaders of the Jewish community have spoken with unprecedented unity on this vital issue, and expect the Labour Party to respond to our concerns by immediately adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism in full.”

After the party’s decision last week, writing for Jewish News, Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby said Labour did not adopt the IHRA working examples because “they do not go far enough for practical use by a political party” and labels the new code the “most detailed and comprehensive” adopted by any party.

This was however questioned by community leaders, with Jewish Leadership Council chairman Jonathan Goldstein, saying Formby’s explanation “defies logic.”

“The notion that these measures are designed to enhance and protect the Jewish community is not something we are inclined to believe especially as no one was consulted in its preparation.

“I’m terribly disappointed we have reached the point where the Jewish community is being singled out by the Labour leadership and treated in a way no other minority would be. If these proposals are formally adopted it would only strengthen the argument that the party has become institutionally anti-Semitic”.

Read the letter in full here:

As British Rabbis, it is with great regret that we find it necessary to write, yet antisemitism within sections of the Labour Party has become so severe and widespread that we must speak out with one Jewish voice.

The Labour Party’s leadership has chosen to ignore those who understand antisemitism the best, the Jewish community. By claiming to know what’s good for our community, the Labour Party’s leadership have chosen to act in the most insulting and arrogant way.

It is not the Labour Party’s place to rewrite a definition of antisemitism accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service, College of Policing, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, National Union of Students, and 124 local authorities, including scores of Labour-held councils, including Haringey and Greater Manchester – but above all else – accepted by the vast majority of Jewish people in Britain and globally.

On behalf of our communities, members and congregants, we, the undersigned Rabbis, urge the Labour Party to listen to the Jewish community, adopt the full and unamended International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism including its examples, and like the organisations listed above, use the IHRA definition alone as their working definition of antisemitism.

Yours sincerely,

Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski, Senior Rabbi, Golders Green Synagogue and Vice-Chair, Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue

Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi, Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community of the UK

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism

Rabbi Nicky Liss, Highgate Synagogue and Chair, Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue

Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, Principal of the Yesodey Hatorah schools

Rabbi Danny Rich, Senior Rabbi and Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Senior Rabbi to Masorti Judaism

Alongside the Undersigned Rabbis: