We are pleased to inform you that the EHRC has responded to our offer and invited us to make further submissions in respect of matters within the Labour Party Action Plan. Our legal team at Bindmans, have been  working with us in reviewing the effect of the Action Plan on the processes relating to the investigation of alleged antisemitism..

JVL had already, in Feb 2021, emphasised the risks and limitations of a narrow, unrepresentative, consultation  among ‘Jewish stakeholders’ and, instead of providing useful education, the narrow framing of what many consider partisan ‘training’ from one source, the JLM, with its close affiliation to Israel.

We have also argued that the consultation should have included far wider participation including Muslim and, in particular, Palestinian views regarding the Party’s interpretation of antisemitism and its reliance on the heavily contested IHRA document.

JVL considers that the disproportionate targeting of Jews, with the spurious and offensive charges of ‘antisemitism’, arise from the Party’s recognition that our questioning of their interpretation carries some weight.   There is some indication that this is a planned policy of purging dissenting Jewish voices.

JVL is therefore working on a fresh submission to EHRC addressing all these issues, expanding from the lack of representation of the Advisory Board appointments to the wider issues of the disproportionate targeting of left wing Jewish members, on burgeoning injustices and bureaucratic chaos of the processes. Astoundingly, to date, ten of the eleven current JVL officers have been accused of antisemitism and over 50 investigations of Jewish members of the Labour Party are taking or have taken place.

With this in mind, we have decided to close this CrowdJustice site, with its narrower focus, and to open a new site to make wider legal submission to EHRC.

Many thanks to all who have donated to this fundraiser. Those funds have now been utilised.

We refer you to our new crowdfunder – https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/jvl-submission-to-ehrc-on-lp – and invite you to donate if you can and to share widely.

Thank you.

Following a lack of engagement with our concerns regarding the appointment of the Advisory Board and other matters raised in our submissions to the EHRC of 5^th and 29^th August, JVL has submitted a new letter of complaint to the EHRC via our solicitors – Bindmans LLP – making it clear that The Action Plan has failed to consider or reflect the views of ‘Jewish stakeholders’ widely and Party policy “would appear to be having the opposite effect to that which was intended; namely the exacerbation as opposed to elimination of the mistreatment of Jewish members by the Party”.

We point out that “the Party is disproportionately targeting and disciplining Jewish members that question the Party’s interpretation of antisemitism, as compared with non-Jewish members”.

The EHRC made recommendations to the Labour Party that ‘Jewish stakeholders’ should be consulted on the Action Plan and the failure for any such consultation and the lack of our representation on the Advisory Board highlights that the Labour Party has failed to engage with the spectrum of Jewish stakeholders. The EHRC, in response to our original letter, has in fact side-lined our complaint by treating it as commentary on the EHRC’s previous investigation rather than as a submission of a new complaint.

We are calling for a new investigation into the behaviour of a party machine that has specifically targeted left-wing Jews in its purge of left-wing members.  JVL points out in this latest letter that on the latest figures, five times more Jewish than non-Jewish Party members have faced complaints of antisemitism resulting in a level of persecution more than 200 times higher for JVL officers than for non-Jewish party members and 33 times higher for rank-and-file members of JVL.

There is a particular concentration on visible JVL activists and currently eleven out of the seventeen JVL committee members have been accused of ‘antisemitism’.  

JVL considers that the Party’s deliberate attempts to exclude JVL from its ongoing engagement with Jewish communities is deeply unfair and amounts to discrimination of a subset of Jews on the basis, for instance, of their political opinions regarding Israel and Palestine and their concerns about the Party’s interpretation of antisemitism. Such potential discrimination, arising after the investigation and Report, is indicative of the Party’s increased hostility towards certain Jewish Party members, which is directly contrary to the intended outcome of the Report.

JVL are offering to assist the EHRC in its ongoing monitoring of the Action Plan in order to highlight particular areas of concern where it would appear to be having the opposite effect to that which was intended: namely the exacerbation - as opposed to elimination - of the mistreatment of Jewish members by the Party. JVL has made it clear that we would welcome a meeting with relevant representatives of the EHRC to discuss our concerns.

Engaging legal advisors to express our concerns is costly but we think the principles are worth fighting for.

We are aware that there are many demands on our supporters’ pockets. But we ask that you donate to this action if you can and share the link to this page widely with all your relevant networks.

Link to relevant articles on JVL website:  

2021.https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/how-labours-claim-of-countering-antisemitism-has-resulted-in-a-purge-of-jews/

https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/supplementary-submission-by-jvl-to-the-ehrc-and-the-forde-inquiry/

As you may recall when we set up this crowdfunder, JVL instructed solicitors to set out its concerns regarding the Advisory Board on antisemitism and request the party confirm:

• the process and criteria that was followed to appoint the Advisory Board;
• whether any groups outside the Party were involved in the appointment process. If so, which groups were involved and what was the nature of and reason for their involvement; and
• the basis upon which the Party maintains that this process was appropriate and not discriminatory, and in accordance with the Rule Book, despite the exclusion of core stakeholders.

Despite various chasers from JVL’s legal representatives, the Party did not respond for over six weeks. When the Party did finally respond, it provided a blanket rejection of all of JVL’s concerns and refused to answer the questions raised concerning the process. The Party likewise refused to engage with our concerns regarding whether JVL’s exclusion from the Advisory Board amounted to a potential breach of the Equality Act (EA) 2010, appearing to deny that the EA 2010 or other equality considerations applied to the appointment of the Advisory Board at all:

“The establishment of the Advisory Board is plainly a matter for the Labour Party to manage, and the implication in your letter that the Labour Party has somehow acted arbitrarily, capriciously or irrationally in the establishment of the Advisory Board, or otherwise in a manner contrary to its rules, is entirely lacking in substance and is completely refuted.”

JVL is extremely concerned that the Party would already appear to be failing to engage properly with its equality duties in order to pursue factional political objectives. 

JVL has attempted to engage with the Party on multiple occasions in respect of the Action Plan’s education and training programme to identify and tackle anti-Semitism. Given JVL’s track record in providing education, it is well-placed to assist with this aspect of the Action Plan. However, the Party has refused to involve JVL at all on this issue, simply asserting that JLM (Jewish Labour Movement) is providing the training. This is further evidence of a pattern of failure to engage with the wider spectrum of Jewish voices.

JVL has not been included or consulted as a “Jewish Stakeholder”, so the Advisory Board does not reflect the breadth of Jewish communities to which its members belong. It therefore cannot re-establish the trust and confidence of all Jewish people as it excludes some key communities: JVL, Charedi community as well as non-Jewish British Palestinians.

We are therefore now making a submission to the EHRC, stating these concerns, bearing in mind the Party’s stated commitment to implement the EHRC recommendations in line with its Action Plan. The LP is obliged to act fairly and in accordance with the EA 2010.

We continue to incur legal fees with this progression, so call upon you to please donate if you can, and to share widely.