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The Labor Party broke the law by failing to handle complaints of anti-Semitism and there were “serious flaws” by its leadership, the equality watchdog concluded.
An investigation into anti-Semitism in the party by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR) found him responsible for “illegal acts of harassment and discrimination” and said there was political interference in the complaints.
He said the Labor Party violated the law in three areas: political interference in anti-Semitism complaints, lack of adequate training for those handling anti-Semitism complaints, and harassment of those who complained.
Jeremy Corbyn said the scope of anti-Semitism at work was exaggerated
An unlawful act notice has been served on the party after the findings, meaning the commission can recommend any action necessary to prevent the actions from being repeated or continued.
The investigation found evidence of “political interference” by the office of then-leader Jeremy Corbyn in the anti-Semitism complaint process.
EHRC Principal Investigator Alasdair Henderson said that no one person can be blamed, adding that “it went beyond the role of Jeremy Corbyn” but acknowledged that the period they looked at “was, of course, during the time when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader. “
“And as the leader of the party, and with evidence of political interference from within his office, he has an ultimate responsibility for those failures,” he said.
The former leader accepted the report but said the scale of the problem was not as great as claimed.
Caroline Waters, acting president of the EHRC, said the failures were “unforgivable and appeared to be the result of an unwillingness to address anti-Semitism rather than an inability to do so.”
The report has been well received by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which initially complained to the EHRC about anti-Semitism within the Labor Party, and its chairman, Gideon Falter, called it “groundbreaking.”
“It is the first discovery of illegal acts by the EHRC. It is a harsh critic of the former leadership of the Labor Party,” he said.
“The EHRC report strongly vindicates British Jews who were accused of lying and exaggeration, acting as agents of another country and using their religion to ‘smear’ the Labor Party.”
He added that the report shows that under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership “the Labor Party became institutionally anti-Semitic” and said that it “led almost half of British Jews to consider leaving the country.”
Reacting to the report, Mr Corbyn said Jewish Labor members were right to expect the party to address anti-Semitism “and I regret that it took longer to make that change than it should have.”
However, he added: “The scale of the problem was also dramatically exaggerated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party.”
