Activities[edit]
In January 2018 LAW mounted a demonstration outside the Labour Party head office in protest against what they felt were politically motivated allegations of antisemitism.
[1] They also welcomed the appointment of
Christine Shawcroft as chair of the Labour Party's Disputes Sub-Committee.
[13]
In February 2018 the group backed
Jennie Formby in her successful bid to become
General Secretary of the Labour Party.
[14]
In March 2018 they leafletted and mounted a counter demonstration against a demonstration outside Parliament organized by the
Board of Deputies of British Jews and the
Jewish Leadership Council against alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party.
[15][16][17]
In April 2018 they mounted a further demonstration, against the expulsion of
Marc Wadsworth for his actions at the press conference for the report of the
Chakrabarti Inquiry in antisemitism and racism in the Labour Party.
[18] They also mounted a crowdfunding campaign, raising
£16,000 for his ultimately unsuccessful defence, calling his expulsion outrageous.
[19] Also in April, the group sent an open letter, with more than 2,500 signatures, to Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn, which blamed some allegations on a combination of supporters of Israel and Zionism with Labour right-wingers and a hostile media.
[20]
In September 2018 they demonstrated against acceptance by the
National Executive Committee of the full list of examples associated with the Working Definition of Antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
[21] The organization organized a fringe meeting at the September 2018
Labour Party conference, where references were made to
McCarthyism and
Orwell's book ‘‘
Nineteen Eighty-Four’’ in relation to the situation within the party.
[22] At another fringe meeting, Greenstein told the audience that the motive behind the campaign against antisemitism was to attack the left and replace Corbyn as leader.
[23] The group handed out
Palestinian flags to delegates for waving in the conference hall.
[24] In September and October 2018, the group called on Labour Party members not to cooperate with exercises by the Labour Party and the
Jewish Labour Movement to obtain examples of antisemitic behaviour by members.
[25]
In January 2019 the group condemned the deselection by the National Executive Committee of Rebecca Gorden-Nesbitt as parliamentary candidate for
South Thanet over tweets relating to accusations of antisemitism.
[26]
In February 2019 Jewish campaigners persuaded a church to decline to host the group's annual conference.
[27]
In March 2019 the group called on party members to support
Chris Williamson MP, suspended for saying that the party had been "too apologetic" in the face of criticism over the issue, by lobbying the party General Secretary, signing a petition or proposing a motion.
[28] The group also held a rally the day before the Labour Party disciplinary hearing of Jackie Walker in support of her and Chris Williamson, at which she was expelled. Speakers included Walker,
Ken Livingstone and Graham Bash, a leading member of
Jewish Voice for Labour and editor of
Labour Briefing.
[29] The location of the meeting had to be changed after the Board of Deputies of British Jews persuaded the original venue to cancel the booking.
[30] One of their members, John Davies, was alleged to be one of those seeking to deselect
Louise Ellman MP, vice chair of
Labour Friends of Israel.
[31]
In May 2019 the group co-organised with the local
Momentum branch a training session on antisemitism for
Reading Labour Party members, addressed by the secretary of Jewish Voice for Labour. Local party officers said that the meeting had no official status.
[32]
In mid–July 2021, Labour Against the Witchhunt along with three other alleged far-left factions
Resist, the Labour in Exile Network and
Socialist Appeal were banned by Labour's
National Executive Committee on the grounds that "these organisations are not compatible with Labour's rules or our aims and values." These factions were sympathetic to former leader Jeremy Corbyn and had been accused of obstructing
efforts to combat antisemitism within Labour. The Committee also ruled that belonging to these factions is grounds for expulsion from Labour.
[33][34] In response, several left-leaning groups picketed the Labour Party's headquarters in
Victoria, London to protest the NEC's decision.
[33]
Critical reactions[edit]
LAW has been described as controversial by the
Daily Telegraph and as far left by
The Times,
[35][36] while
The Jewish Chronicle dismissed it as a fringe organisation.
[37]
Andrew Percy MP, in a speech in the House of Commons, called the group's claim that the series of allegations of antisemitism was a witch hunt a "new smear" and asked MPs to "call out" the group,
[38] while
Wes Streeting MP called the group intimidating, when they demonstrated outside the disciplinary hearing for Marc Wadsworth.
[39] The
Jewish Labour Movement has said that the organisation, along with Jewish Voice for Labour, "ridicule and minimise the real lived experiences of victims of antisemitism”,
[40] and Stephane Savary, a representative of Left Wing Zionists for Labour, has urged the party to expel the organization.
[41] In February 2019, the Jewish Labour Movement called on the
Labour Representation Committee not to work with the organisation or with JVL.
[42]
