Jewish Labour Peer of the Realm Parry Mitchell is threatening to quit the party if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected as leader.
Mitchell, a member of the House of Lords and former frontbencher under Ed Miliband, slammed the recent internal Labour inquiry into racisim and anti-Semitism led by Shami Chakrabarti.
In a letter to the editor of The Times of London published Wednesday morning, Mitchell called the inquiry — which concluded the party was not “overrun” by anti-Semitism — “insipid whitewash.”
The report found an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” against Jewish members of the party, but that anti-Semitism is not prevalent among the rank and file. British Jews have harshly criticized the report.
Mitchell wrote: “As a Jew, I find the allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party very distressing. Even more upsetting is the way Jeremy Corbyn dismisses what he has permitted to fester at the highest levels of our party.
“I had hoped that the Chakrabarti Report commissioned by Corbyn would get to the bottom of allegations of antisemitism: sadly Ms. Chakrabarti produced an insipid whitewash. Indeed, she seems to have done her master’s bidding to absolve the party of blame. Her prize? The only Labour peerage awarded by Mr. Corbyn.
“Anti-Semitism has no part in a progressive party. I have come to the painful conclusion that were Mr. Corbyn to be re-elected next month, then I will have to resign my membership of the Labour party. I cannot remain a member of a party that goes against such a crucial issue that I hold dear.”
Numerous of prominent Labour Party members were outed by a British political muckraking website for their anti-Israel and anti-Semitic jabs over the past two years.
Among those forced to apologize for his venom was UK Labour politician Muhammed Butt, the Lead for Equalities at London Councils who shared a clip on social media that appeared to show a young girl from the Palestinian Authority in a clash with an Israeli soldier. The clip was captioned: ‘Israel is a terrorist state like ISIS.’
Butt was outed by the UK-based Guido Fawkes political website, which is credited with tracking down and exposing numerous other anti-Semitic posts by British politicians as well
Jeremy Corbyn is being challenged for leadership of the party by Owen Smith. The results of the election are to be announced on Sept. 24.
