When @Keir_Starmer spoke on 4 Apr 2020 in response to his election as Leader of the Labour Party, he included the following passage in a sombre address that was rightly dominated by the fact & impact of the coronavirus epidemic ( https://labourlist.org/2020/04/keir-starmer-elected-to-succeed-jeremy-corbyn-as-labour-leader/):

Two paragraphs drew much attention: “But we have to face the future with honesty. Antisemitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities.”

“On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry. And I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us.”

In his remarks @Keir_Starmer refers to ‘Jewish Communities’ & the grief of those various communities. He fails to note that those communities have not all felt the same grief. Some were afflicted by an irrational fear of @jeremycorbyn that was used to help the Tories win in 2019.

An irrational fear is genuine fear without basis in fact. The idea that @jeremycorbyn would take the UK to pogroms & worse had absolutely no basis in fact. But fear is infectious, effective. The campaign against @jeremycorbyn created a fear epidemic that spread far & wide.

With the other candidates for the leadership, @Keir_Starmer had accepted as binding on him the Ten Pledges that the Board of Deputies of British Jews had proposed in Jan 2020 to ‘end the antisemitism crisis’. He has since confirmed that direction of travel with meetings & words.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews was founded in 1760. It does not represent all Jewish Communities in the UK. It does not represent secular Jews. It does not represent the views of @JVoiceLabour. They have their own grief, their own anger: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/response-to-board-of-deputies-10-pledges-document/

In their objections to those Ten Pledges, @JVoiceLabour explain why the Labour Party would be wrong to accept them. The IHRA definition of antisemitism is neither intended nor fit for disciplinary purposes. They recommend the Board of Deputies’ definition: https://mobile.twitter.com/PeriHankey/status/1247789159210606592

The Board of Deputies requires the Labour Party to give the Jewish Labour Movement exceptional status: it would organise ‘education’ about antisemitism & would claim to represent a single supposed Jewish community within the Party. @JVoiceLabour would become a fringe group.

As @JVoiceLabour say, the Jewish Labour Movement does not represent all Jewish communities. They have done nothing to deserve that exceptional status. In the 2019 General Election they largely refused to campaign for Labour MPs: https://www.jewishlabour.uk/general_election_statement_2019

That 2019 General Election was the most important election many of us have ever experienced, a tragic disaster for all of us who hoped & worked for success. We know that the Jewish Labour Movement’s campaign against @jeremycorbyn was effective: they blackened his name.

If @Keir_Starmer moves to grant the Jewish Labour Movement that exceptional status, many will take that as hostile to all who with @JVoiceLabour stand for rights & justice for Jewish people everywhere & against wrongs & injustice to Palestinians & other oppressed people anywhere.

It is true that the Labour Party must deal with the buckets of antisemitism stain that their opponents & some in the media have sprayed all over them. But @Keir_Starmer is making a tragic mistake. He's chosen the wrong way to fight antisemitism. It will do the Party great harm.