Continuity Corbyn Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey has defied her sponsors, the Unite Union and the Corbynite Momentum group, by refusing to back Salma Yaqoob for West Midlands mayor.
Yaqoob has faced repeated allegations of being anti-Semitic for saying that Zionists “abused the memory of the Holocaust to bolster support for today’s Israeli state and its racist and murderous policies.”
Meanwhile, leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy told the Jewish Chronicle that her position as chair of Labour Friends of Palestine does not prevent her from supporting Israel. She said, “Because I have been involved for the past decade in the cause, I think there is a need for me to demonstrate that I have always and will continue to support the right of Israel to exist.”
Fellow Labour leadership hopeful Keir Starmer blogged on the Jewish News that he would take “personal responsibility” for stamping out anti-Semitism in the party.
Another Labour leadership contender, however – Emily Thornberry – praised current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn this week for “always calling out those people who play the race card.”
Pro-Israel Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips pulled out of the race last week. But she promised the Jewish community that she would “always stand up” and “speak out” against anti-Semitism.
Israeli President Extends Indirect Invitation to the British Queen
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Prince Charles at last week’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial ceremony that he was still waiting for the queen to visit Israel. Queen Elizabeth, 93, has never made an official visit to Israel in her 67-year reign.
Prince Charles said at the international gathering, “The magnitude of the genocide that was visited upon the Jewish people defies comprehension and can make those who live in the shadow of those indescribable events feel hopelessly inadequate.”
He added, “We must never forget that every human is b’tselem Elokim [made in the image of G-d] and even a single human life is k’olam maley [like an entire universe].”
Prince Charles’ son Prince William participated in London’s Holocaust Memorial ceremony, reading a letter recounting how his great-grandmother Princess Alice saved a Jewish family in the Holocaust.
Prince William’s wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, told a survivor at the event that she had told her six-year-old son Prince George about the Holocaust in an age-appropriate way.
The duchess, a keen photographer, took pictures of Holocaust survivors Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank for a Holocaust exhibition. After spending nearly two-and-a-half hours with the survivors and their grandchildren, the duchess described the pair as among the “most life-affirming people” she had ever met.
BBC Correspondent Criticized For Holocaust Coverage
The Board of Deputies has criticized BBC correspondent Orla Guerin for raising the disputed territories in the context of reporting on the Holocaust.
Guerin said about Israel in her report of the Holocaust memorial events last week, “For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”
BoD senior vice president Amanda Bowman said, “In an otherwise moving report on the experiences of a Holocaust survivor, Orla Guerin’s attempt to link the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the horrors of the Holocaust was crass and offensive.”
The BBC defended its coverage.
Meanwhile, the BBC has been cleared of bias by the regulator Ofcom in its “Panorama” program exposing anti-Semitism in the Labour Party last year.
The regulator said, “In our view, the program was duly impartial. As well as highly personal testimonies, it included the Labour Party’s response prominently throughout.”
Charedi Leaders Slam Ofsted
Chinuch UK and the Partnership for Jewish Schools have slammed Ofsted for allegedly flouting government guidelines on teaching LGBT matters in primary schools.
Chinuch UK chairman David Landau told The Jewish Press, “The Department for Education has made very clear to us, both in public and in private, that we don’t have to teach the subject in primary schools. But Ofsted have decided that we do have to teach it. They disagree with the DfE. They have no right. They don’t own educational policy. They own inspection policy.”
He continued, “On the one hand, the government will ignore their judgement. But they cannot change it. The government can ignore it, when requiring an action plan or an enforcement order or not allowing a material change to a school.”
He said, “That’s not good enough really because if a school is marked down and requires improvement, it has many, many implications, including the recruitment and retention of staff, staff morale, and banks won’t lend money to the school. It is grossly unfair. Ofsted always hides behind the law and they manage to squeeze it this way and that way. Actually, they don’t care about our schools.”
Principal of London’s Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School Rabbi Avrohom Pinter told The Jewish Press, “When I speak to non-Jewish colleagues, the issue does not even come up. When they come to charedi schools, Ofsted tends to be obsessed.”
Gateshead’s Keser Girls School, which is a primary school, was recently marked down by Ofsted for not teaching about homosexuals and transgenders.
Holocaust Event Cancelled
London’s Tower Hamlets cancelled its Holocaust memorial after the Board of Deputies intervened. The event was due to be addressed by Glyn Secker of the Corbynite Jewish Voice for Labour. BoD vice president Amanda Bowman welcomed the decision, saying that Secker had a “track record of attacking the Jewish community.”