27/11/2019
Both Labour and the Conservatives have come under attack this week for their religious bigotry.
Firstly, the chief rabbi strongly criticised Labour, claiming the party is not doing enough to root out anti-Jewish racism and asked people to 'vote with their conscience' in the upcoming general election.
In an article in the Times, the Orthodox chief rabbi of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the spiritual leader of the United Synagogue, explained that expressing his concerns ranked amongst the most painful moments he had endured. However, he said that "the overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety" at the prospect of a Labour government under Corbyn's leadership.
Corbyn responded by stating, at an event in North West London, "Anti-Semitism in any form is vile and wrong, it is an evil within our society. There is no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism in any shape or form or in any place whatsoever in modern Britain and under a Labour government it will not be tolerated in any form whatsoever."
However, he and his party have been spectacularly incapable in handling the anti-semitism within the Labour Party.
Corbyn was challenged about anti-semitism at the BBC Question Time election special. An audience member referred to a Jewish Labour MP who was heckled out of the room at a Labour press conference and that the Labour leader was then seen chatting and smiling with the heckler. Corbyn's response was to say that the individual who caused the disturbance was someone he'd known for many years and he said hell to him afterwards, "as you would someone you'd known as well, and also you don't know what was said between us."
He didn't say, 'I was remonstrating with him abut his behaviour' or anything similar, just "you don't know what was said between us."
Furthermore, it took almost two years for them to expel the heckler, Marc Wadsworth, from the Labour Party.
Labour face significant criticism from almost all Jewish groups, even from past and present Jewish MPs and Peers.
And yet, Corbyn still fails to acknowledge just how significant the problems are within his party.
Quick on the heels of the rabbi's attack on Corbyn's Labour, the Muslim Council of Britain accused the Conservative Party of "denial, dismissal and deceit" over the issue of Islamophobia. They said British Muslims would, "listen to the chief rabbi and agree on the importance of voting with their conscience"
The Conservatives have said that there would be an investigation into Islamaphobia, but they have been saying this for some time and they seem to be constantly deferring their plans. Additionally, Johnson has said that the review will be widened to encompass all discrimination and this has been criticised by many as a method to dilute the investigation into the actual problem of Islamaphobia within society as a whole, and within the Conservative party specifically.
It has been suggested that they would commence the review before the end of the year, but in one interview Johnson himself said that this was reliant on them winning a majority in the December 12th election.
During The BBC Question Time Leaders' Special, he said that the review would "begin by the end of this year, if we're lucky enough to be returned."
We cannot trust anything that Johnson says. He lies habitually and seems unable to add clarity to any discussion. So many times, the things he says during interviews or campaigning sessions are shown to be incorrect or inaccurate; sometimes he tells bare-faced lies, other times he just fails to understand his own party's policies.
All discrimination is wrong and it is abhorrent that both the Conservatives and Labour are failing to address the problems within politics and the fact that this influences hate and intolerance in wider society.
It is time that all good, decent people sent a message to Westminster that we will not tolerate xenophobia.
How best can this be achieved?
Vote for those parties who aren't guilty of enabling discrimination.
Cast your votes for the Liberal Democrats, or the Green Party. Be part of change in the political landscape in the UK.
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