Image by Getty Images

Image by Getty Images

A Jewish Parliament member in Britain threatened to quit the Labour Party unless it works harder to address anti-Semitism within its ranks.

“Anti-Semitism in any political party cannot be tolerated, and it is for the leadership to make that absolutely clear,” Michael Abraham Levy, a member of the House of Lords, said Monday during an interview on Sky News. “If they don’t make that clear, I will start to question that myself and actually question my being a Labour peer and a proud member of the Labour Party.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Levy’s comments came after a party activist was suspended last week, for a second time, for slurring Jews — the activist said Jews have “big noses” and “slaughter the oppressed” — and two leaders of the Oxford Labour Union Club resigned after leveling charges of anti-Semitism and discrimination against the party-backed organization.

Image by Getty Images

Party leader Jeremy Corbyn responded to Levy’s charges, saying he “clearly hasn’t been listening to the seven times since I became leader I’ve absolutely condemned anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, any form of racism.”

“It is absolutely something I totally passionately believe in and I’m disappointed that Lord Levy has made these remarks,” Corbyn said in an interview on Sky News that followed Levy’s.

Corbyn has been accused of being anti-Israel because of past comments, including describing the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount