Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Dame Louise Ellman announced on Oct. 16 that she is leaving the party, saying that she could not remain in Labour with Jeremy Corbyn leading it, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reports.
Ellman, who has been a Labour member for 55 years, said in a statement that her decision was “agonizing” but she felt like she had to speak out against Corbyn becoming prime minister.
“Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, anti-Semitism has become mainstream in the Labour Party,” Ellman said. “Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out. Anti-Semites have felt comfortable and vile conspiracy theories have been propagated. A party that permits anti-Jewish racism to flourish cannot be called anti-racist.”
She later added that Corbyn has “spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting, anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists” and she fears that Corbyn could “do to the country what he has done to the Labour Party.”
I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997. pic.twitter.com/3BTzUacZvo
— Louise Ellman (@LouiseEllman) October 16, 2019
Ellman’s resignation from Labour comes after the JC reported that a branch of the Labour Party would be discussing a vote of no confidence against Ellman on Kol Nidre. The motion was ruled on Oct. 7 to be out of order.
At least nine other MPs have stepped down from the Labour Party in 2019, many of whom said that Corbyn’s leadership has caused anti-Semitism to be emboldened and fester in the party. Tablet Mag senior writer Yair Rosenberg tweeted, “Imagine what we’d be saying about an American party whose longtime female Jewish elected officials began resigning en masse in the face of bigoted harassment. Now consider that this is happening in one of the 2 major British parties, and people still treat it like a normal party.”
He added in a later tweet: “The British Labour party is putting on a clinic in how to ethnically cleanse your party of pesky Jews. Any progressive around the world who still associates with their leadership is saying that they don’t care about this. Take note.”
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1184577849866539008
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1184584438543454210
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “What Louise Ellman did is a profile in courage and a reminder that we must oppose anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it appears. Thank you, @LouiseEllman, for displaying true leadership.”
What Louise Ellman did is a profile in courage and a reminder that we must oppose anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it appears. Thank you, @LouiseEllman, for displaying true leadership. https://t.co/PdKCKHRHoJ
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 16, 2019
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