Labour Friends of Israel pull out of party conference over fears staff will be subjected to anti-Semitic abuse
LABOUR Friends of Israel has dramatically pulled out of having a stand at the party conference because they fear their staff will be abused.
It heaps yet more pressure on Jeremy Corbyn who has been accused of woefully failing to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis tearing his party apart.
The shock moves comes after Jewish MP Luciana Berger was given police protection at last year’s conference after receiving a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse.
The LFI had paid for the stall at this year’s five-day long conference in Brighton, which kicks off this weekend.
But they have pulled out at the eleventh hour.
An LFI spokeswoman said: “The ongoing abuse of Jewish party members – highlighted by July’s Panorama programme – and the failure of Jeremy Corbyn to do anything to deter his supporters from engaging in it, means that we have decided it would not be appropriate for us to have a stand at Labour Party conference this year.
“Our staff have faced incidents of antisemitism in previous years and, given that the situation appears to have further deteriorated, we do not feel it is responsible as an employer to put them in this environment.”
The group was founded at a Labour party conference over 60 years ago and usually has a stall for all four days of the event.
But hard-left Labour activists have harassed volunteers at the stall in previous years.
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A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn has proactively addressed antisemitism within the Party, in emails to members, articles, speeches, videos and interviews, and by launching an education programme to deepen people’s understanding.
“He has made it clear that anyone who spreads anti-Semitic poison has no place in the Party and he has brought forward proposals to fast-track expulsion processes, which will be voted on at Conference.
“Labour has taken decisive and robust action, with a more than four-fold increase in the rate at which antisemitism cases are dealt with.”
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