British Labour Party Loses Jewish London District After 40 Years
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Following unprecedented protests by British Jews against a major political movement, the country’s Labour party lost in local elections a heavily-Jewish area of London that it had held for decades.
Labour, whose leadership many British Jews believe is ignoring or encouraging the proliferation of anti-Semitism in its ranks, failed in Thursday’s elections to win from the Conservatives control of the council of Barnet, which is a northern borough of London where 14 percent of the population is Jewish.
Labour has never won control over Barnet Council since the borough’s creation as a municipal unit in 1964.
But in West Hendon, which is an area of Barnet, all three Labour candidates lost to Conservative rivals even though Labour had held West Hendon for nearly 40 years, according to The Independent.
The losses in Barnet follow three street protests by Jews against Jeremy Corbyn, a hard-left politician who became Labour leader in 2015. Corbyn in 2009 called Hezbollah operatives his “friends” and Hamas an organization “dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about peace and social justice.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
