In my last blogpost I said I was considering abstaining in the Labour leadership election, my mind was pretty well made up but I left myself to persuasion. Within a few hours my decision was reinforced when I learned that ALL candidates had signed up to the abominable demands of the Board of Deputies 😠 I’ve since received an email from my CLP asking if I would be attending the meeting to decide which candidate to endorse. This is my reply:

No, I’ll be abstaining! I can’t vote for any candidate that accepts the 10 demands of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to do so would imply that I agree with them. Far from doing so I have argued all along that you can’t appease someone who is never satisfied, and this shows how right I am! Dissident Jewish voices go unheard (at least one has resigned because of this), free speech on Israel will be stifled, and there’ll be a witch hunt against anyone the BoD decides is antisemitic.

I feel that if enough members abstain in the leadership election the hierarchy will realise that their authority comes from us, the members, not the Board of Deputies!

I won’t be at the meeting and I’m not proposing a motion but I would like this statement to be read out to inform the debate.

I could go into greater detail about what’s wrong with the 10 Demandments but there are plenty of people, including Jews, who are doing that already. Here’s an example.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews wants to erase Jewish voices like mine from Labour politics https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2020/01/13/the-board-of-deputies-of-british-jews-wants-to-erase-jewish-voices-like-mine-from-labour-politics/