One of the cases of Labour Party investigations of Jewish members that we have submitted to the EHRC is that of 81 year old Diana Neslen.

Our solicitor recently sent a letter to the EHRC, containing the following:

"Our client does not consider that it has received an adequate response in relation to the claims of bullying made on behalf of Mrs Neslen or the letter sent on 23 December 2022 in relation to the Party’s treatment of Stephen Marks. Our client’s experience is that the Party has not provided an adequate channel for members to express their dissatisfaction even in cases of serious distress. Our client therefore seeks confirmation that the EHRC is taking these members’ mistreatment by the Party into consideration as part of its monitoring processes."

See the JVL statement on the EHRC's failure to respond to their submissions: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/the-ehrc-has-spoken-labour-is-no-place-for-left-wing-jews/

Despite being a practising Jew and active Labour Party member, Diana Neslen was investigated by the Labour Party for antisemitism due to her political views on Israel. 

The Labour Party have since dropped their latest investigation but only after Diana instructed lawyers and fought a long campaign against the party for herself and others harassed and bullied by the Labour Party for their views on Israel.  

Diana says: On a previous charge I was  found guilty  of antisemitism because of  my views on Israel.  It is not the place for Gentiles and Jewish zionists to use the Labour Party's mechanisms to attack Jews whose political beliefs they do not share." 

In this video Diana Neslen speaks about the harassment she and many other Jews like her have faced for being an anti-Zionist.

You can watch the video from this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBpi7TBVjcg

For further information on the background to Diana's case, please see our other Crowdjustice site: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/justice-4-labour-party-members/

Please help  support other members like Diana who are similarly being persecuted for their political beliefs.  Legal advice and support is costly so please donate if you can and please share widely.

Thank you.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has today given Keir Starmer’s Labour Party a clean bill of health regarding the “Action Plan for Driving out Antisemitism” it devised following an EHRC report in October 2020. Here is JVL’s statement in response (links to redacted letter and data are within the statement):

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) considers that the Labour Party’s Action Plan on antisemitism has been satisfactorily delivered.

This news is alarming. Jews like us do not feel safe in Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

Since mid-2021, Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) has repeatedly alerted the EHRC to the disproportionate targeting of Jewish members of the Labour Party for disciplinary action over allegations of antisemitism.

Ironically, this targeting of Jews seems to be reinforcing the claim for the success of the action plan in the name of combating antisemitism.

We received responses from the EHRC but no indication that our reports made any difference to Labour’s implementation or EHRC monitoring of the Action Plan.

Our most recent letter of 8 February 2023 referred the EHRC to the latest statistics on Jews targeted under Labour’s disciplinary procedures.

JVL is currently aware of fully 60 Jewish Labour Party members targeted.

We estimate that:

• A full, Jewish member of JVL is at least 37 times more likely to be investigated for antisemitism than an average Labour Party member.
• A full, Jewish member of JVL is 54 times more likely to be expelled than an average Labour Party member.
• A full, Jewish member of JVL is 63 times more likely to be auto-excluded (i.e., expelled for supporting a proscribed group) than an average Labour Party member.
• A JVL Executive Committee member is 462 times more likely to be auto-excluded (i.e., expelled for supporting a proscribed group) than an average Labour Party member.

The campaign against JVL has been relentless. Notably, in 2022, during the Jewish festival of Chanukah, three prominent Jewish members of JVL were expelled from the Party.

These were Naomi Wimborne Idrissi, a JVL Executive Officer, who was thereby prevented from taking up her elected post as the only Jewish member on Labour’s National Executive Committee. Stephen Marks, who had been a prominent voice on Labour’s National Constitution Committee. And Heather Mendick, who worked in Labour’s leadership office in 2019.

More broadly, Jewish members investigated or sanctioned over antisemitism find the experience profoundly oppressive. Indeed, it feels much like antisemitism itself; we feel hated.

Jewish members have been accused on two main counts. First, for challenging the way the Party interprets and purports to eradicate ‘antisemitism’. Second, for criticising the political ideology of Zionism or the State of Israel. But Jews have long disagreed with each other on these points.

It is abhorrent for the Labour Party to effectively designate progressive or socialist Jewish political traditions as antisemitic, with the EHRC’s apparent stamp of approval.

In some Labour Party constituencies, the situation has deteriorated to the point where Jews who do not support Israel or who continue to support former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn have become too frightened to attend Party meetings for fear of intimidation and abuse.

Worse, they believe that such intimidation and abuse will go unchallenged. What’s worse still, this belief is justified. JVL has reported to the EHRC that not a single Jewish JVL member who has complained of antisemitism directed against them has had their complaint upheld.

In JVL’s most recent letter to the EHRC, our lawyers wrote (added bold):

Our client does not consider that it has received an adequate response in relation to the claims of bullying made on behalf of Mrs Neslen or the letter sent on 23 December 2022 in relation to the Party’s treatment of Stephen Marks. Our client’s experience is that the Party has not provided an adequate channel for members to express their dissatisfaction even in cases of serious distress. Our client therefore seeks confirmation that the EHRC is taking these members’ mistreatment by the Party into consideration as part of its monitoring processes.

Already in 2020, a dozen Jewish Labour members subject to disciplinary proceeding over antisemitism decried Labour’s ‘discrimination against Jewish socialists’. In its May 2021 analysis of the EHRC Report, JVL warned of its ‘pernicious implications for freedom of expression’ in the Labour Party and predicted it would embolden those set on stifling dissent. It is deeply regrettable that these concerns have been borne out.

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Following our recent lawyer's letter to EHRC - in yesterday's update - our legal team have today written another.

Stephen Marks was elected to the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party in November 2018. He received an administrative suspension from the Party in July 2021.
This was based on the grounds that Stephen, along with many others, had signed three public petitions/open letters in 2016. 2017 and 2018 respectively.
He wrote to the Party challenging the grounds for his suspension, but never received a response to that or subsequent attempts at communication.
Until last week, 19th December 2022, when he received a notice of summary expulsion. 

Bindmans has written a letter on his behalf to the EHRC which is monitoring Labour’s implementation of its Action Plan against Antisemitism challenging the entire procedure.

They point out that

• all actions pre-dated Stephen’s election to the NCC
• he was one of a large number of signatories to these public documents and that other signatories have not been investigated by the Labour Party
• the charge of undermining the Labour Party’s campaign against racism, which in view of Stephen’s strong anti-racist actions and beliefs, is in fact an example of the Labour Party conflating legitimate criticisms of the Israeli government (expression of which is protected by Article 10 EHRC) with antisemitism.

It goes on to cite words written by Stephen in response to the charges:

“There is a principle of natural justice here, the right to speak up for others subject to accusations which is relevant to all three petitions. I have confirmed with other NCC colleagues that a signature on a statement or petition would not normally be accepted as evidence in a disciplinary case, being merely an expression of legitimate opinion, unless the petition itself contained racist or sexist expressions. Also it is illegitimate not to show ALL signatories as this representation singles me out.”

You can read the full letter here.

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The article by Haroon Siddique, reproduced below, first appeared as part of the Guardian’s rolling news column at 11.24 on 24th May 2022 .

It reports on Diana Neslen’s demand for an independent investigation into what she believes was a campaign of harassment against her for tweets she posted about Israel and Zionism.

It is accompanied by two letters from Bindmans solicitors acting on behalf of Diana Neslen; one a complaint to the Labour Party detailing Bindmans concerns, the other a letter to the EHRC drawing their attention to this letter of complaint

The Diana Neslen case

Haroon Siddique, Guardian, 24th May 2022

Lawyers for an 82-year-old Jewish woman who was investigated three times in three years by Labour for antisemitism have written to the party demanding that it carry out an independent investigation into what it alleges was a campaign of discrimination against her. They suggest her anti-Zionism was a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.

Labour dropped the latest investigation into Diana Neslen, who regularly attends her local synagogue and keeps a kosher home, after she threatened to sue the party for unlawfully discriminating against her based on her belief in anti-Zionism.

The party was investigating her for tweets she posted about Israel and Zionism. Her lawyers, Bindmans, had said the investigation was unjustified and disproportionate, with the only admissible tweet being one from 2017, in which Neslen said “the existence of the state of Israel is a racist endeavour and I am an antiracist Jew”.

A new letter sent to Labour by Bindmans says the party’s governance and legal unit (GLU) has “failed/refused to properly investigate and/or address our client’s complaints under the party’s own policies on bullying and harassment”. It continues:

Anti-Zionist (or indeed Zionist) beliefs that are strong enough to justify protection under the EA (Equality Act) 2010 are most likely to be held by those of Jewish or Palestinian ethnicities, given it is those ethnicities that are likely to be primarily affected by such beliefs. Accordingly, harassment based on anti-Zionist beliefs equates to harassment based on ethnicity, and it is therefore submitted that the party has subjected our client to harassment on the basis of ethnicity.

In 2018, Labour, under pressure to act on allegations of antisemitism. adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA’s) definition of the term. The IHRA definition of antisemitism includes as an example: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour.”

Jewish Voice for Labour, of which Neslen is a member, says it knows of 52 Jewish Labour members, two of whom have since died, who have faced or are facing disciplinary charges relating to allegations of antisemitism.

See also:

Letter of complaint to the Labour Party (redacted)

Letter to EHRC drawing attention to the letter of complaint to the Labur Party (redacted)

We continue to seek legal advice on cases against the LabourParty and in submissions to the EHRC. If you can, please donate - and please share.

We were pleased to have Skwawkbox publish on our case. Here is the article, below, in case you missed it.

“JVL has consistently argued that lumping the occasional real instances of antisemitism together with the multitude of false accusations often aimed at political anti-Zionism diverts attention from the real and growing danger to Jews of the violent antisemitism of the far-right.”

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More than fifty Jewish members have been targeted by Labour. JVL's fourth submission to equality watchdog details the cases of six of them

Jewish Voice for Labour, the organisation representing left-wing Jews in the party - and increasingly those targeted for racist discrimination and forced out of the party - has made a further submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on the right-wing regime's conduct toward Jewish members.

In this fourth document, JVL gives detail on six of the more than fifty Jewish party members mistreated by the regime - at a rate of more than thirty times the average for non-Jewish members and well over two hundred times more for senior members of JVL.

The group's announcement of the new submission says it covers:

- the Party’s process for appointing its Advisory Board on antisemitism;
- its failure to engage with a range of stakeholders;
- its failure / delay in responding to complaints;
- the disproportionate number of actioned complaints taken against Jewish Party members, and in particular Jewish anti-Zionist members;
- its failure to keep complainants updated with the progress of their complaints;
- breaches of the code of conduct on confidentiality and extensive delays in responding to SAR requests.

In each of these areas we have identified actions by the Party which are detrimental to Party members who are at odds with the current Labour leadership establishment.  The pernicious processes are then compounded by bureaucratic incompetence.

The submission reports on the disproportionate number of actioned complaints taken against Jewish Party members, and in particular anti-Zionist members. It examines, in particular, the cases of six Jewish members: Mike Howard, Jonathan Rosenhead, Pam Laurance, Jenny Manson, Stephen Marks and Diana Neslen.

JVL has consistently argued that lumping the occasional real instances of antisemitism together with the multitude of false accusations often aimed at political anti-Zionism diverts attention from the real and growing danger to Jews of the violent antisemitism of the far-right.

The six members whose stories are covered include:

• Diana Neslen, the woman in her eighties repeatedly targeted by Labour. Ms Neslen's legal action forced the party to back down, but she has still seen no response to her own complaints of antisemitic behaviour toward her by right-wing figures and the party bureaucracy, as the 'preliminary issues' section of the new submission makes clear
•  Mike Howard, whose lifetime of activism in the labour, union and anti-racism movements was trampled by the party - and who died, after months of victimisation, without even receiving an acknowledgement of his appeal from the party
• Stephen Marks, an elected member of Labour's National Constitutional Committee targeted by the party for signing petitions - another whose communications with the party have been almost entirely ignored and have seen no action
• Jonathan Rosenhead, an emeritus professor of the London School of Economics who was also targeted by police for his involvement in the protest movement against South African apartheid
• Pam Laurance, targeted for sharing a Facebook article by the well-known Jewish author and musician Leon Rosselson
• Jenny Manson, JVL co-chair, suspended for appearing on a BBC Newsnight programme discussing antisemitism in the Labour party - a programme that led to many complaints that she was bullied by the presenter - and whose suspension was used against her by the right-wing press

The report highlights:

• the complete inaction of the Labour party in cases of genuine antisemitism against left-wing Jews
• the way in which the Labour party has treated questioning the authenticity of right-wing complaints as inherently antisemitic - while it questions and ignores genuine complaints made by left-wing Jews
• the party's repeated breaches under Keir Starmer and David Evans of its obligations and commitments in the report by the EHRC on antisemitism in the Labour party
• Labour's determination to deny left-wing Jews any voice in its supposedly independent and representative 'Advisory Board' on antisemitism
• the fact that Labour currently has three codes of conduct relating to antisemitism - with some contradicting each other
• the fundamental and probably wilful ignorance of the party about what antisemitism actually is and of the breadth of Jewish opinion
• imposing 'antisemitism training' that equates anti-zionism with antisemitism, with the imposed trainers resisting any attempts to make clear that the two are not the same

and much more.

The Labour right's racism is by no means limited to Jewish people - the right has deep-rooted issues with Islamophobia and racism against Gypsy Travellers and the hounding-out of black councillors and candidates. Not only has the party refused to address these issues or discipline those indulging in such racism, but Keir Starmer - who has refused to express any solidarity with abused black and Muslim women MPs - has even promoted some of them to his front benches and Labour officials have trampled on the wishes of members to impose right-wingers with a history of racism as candidates.

But in its treatment of left-wing Jews, the current regime routinely makes clear that it has no interest in genuinely addressing the evils of antisemitism and instead is abusing the idea of antisemitism in order to use it as a factional weapon. In a less corrupted country with 'mainstream' media doing the job they are supposed to do, this would be a huge scandal.

Read the full fourth submission here.

There are lessons to be drawn from our experience of the Labour Party Action Plan on Antisemitism

JVL has made a fourth submission to the EHRC, responding on issues the EHRC highlighted for us. These are:

• the Party’s process for appointing its Advisory Board on antisemitism;
• its failure to engage with a range of stakeholders;
• its failure / delay in responding to complaints;
• the disproportionate number of actioned complaints taken against Jewish Party members, and in particular Jewish anti-Zionist members;
• its failure to keep complainants updated with the progress of their complaints; and
• breaches of the code of conduct on confidentiality and extensive delays in responding to SAR requests.
  
  In each of these areas we have identified actions by the Party which are detrimental to Party members who are at odds with the current Labour leadership establishment.

The submission reports on the disproportionate number of actioned complaints taken against Jewish Party members, often anti-Zionist members. To date there have been 49 Jewish members undergoing a total of 62 investigations. We focus on 6 particular cases involving Jewish members. The lack of understanding of the diversity of Jewish views - and their right to hold them – highlights the lack of understanding of antisemitism.  This is particularly harmful in the area of ‘antisemitism training’ which does not distinguish clearly the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism and does not allow for the exchange of ideas. 

We have consistently argued that ‘lumping’ the occasional real instances of antisemitism together with the multitude of false accusations often aimed at political anti-Zionism diverts attention from the real and growing danger to Jews of the violent antisemitism of the far-right.

We understand that the independent complaints procedure is being implemented in the very near future.  We hope that the EHRC will take note of our concerns as highlighted in this and previous submissions in order to ensure greater understanding of the issues and to introduce fair processes within the new procedures.

Click here for link to JVL blog: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/statement/jvls-fourth-submission-to-the-ehrc/

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We are expecting a response from EHRC to our lawyers following their letters and our submissions. We have therefore written to notify them of the latest developments.

It appears that the new Labour Party disciplinary process commences on January 20th. We are highlighting an increasingly dogmatic misunderstanding of antisemitism by a Party which includes, in its guidance, both the IHRA definition and the NEC code of conduct and Appendix 9 of the Rule Book. In this the Party appears to be overly influenced by certain partisan views rather than taking into account the diverse experience and deep knowledge of antisemitism among Jews.

Jews are being disproportionally targeted: the total number who have been sanctioned according to our records is now 43 and there have been 55 investigations of Jews with alleged antisemitism at the core, more investigations than individuals because several have been investigated serially e.g. Diana Neslen, three times. These are only the cases that Party members have brought to our attention, there may well be others.

There is a newer concern that well known JVL figures are being particularly harshly treated by the NEC Panels that determine the Party’s disciplinary actions.

Noticeable elements are the eight ‘auto exclusions’ of Jews arising mainly from retrospective application of the proscription of organisations with significant Jewish participation such as Labour against the Witchhunt. The term ‘support’ is being applied extraordinarily widely to include, for instance, merely expressing concern about the proscriptions. The intent appears clear – to eliminate anti Zionist and other legitimate points of view challenging influences from the Party.

One Jewish member has received an eighteen-month suspension from the Party. This penalty seems to rest solely on Appendix 9 of the rule book which includes the following text, which has been used by the Party to brand as antisemitic any questioning of its handling of allegations of antisemitism, even the correction of the facts or any explanation of Jewish identity which questions the Party’s assumptions.

"Any behaviour or use of language which targets or intimidates members of ethnic or religious communities, or incites racism, including antisemitism and Islamophobia,or undermines Labour’s ability to campaign against any form of racism, is unacceptable conduct within the Labour Party."

The first investigation was concluded with the Claimant having no knowledge of a right to defence under the NEC Code of Conduct; a request in 2021 to reopen that investigation was ignored.

This harsh sentence as a conclusion to the second investigation includes a component that effectively will exclude the claimant from the Labour Party: a new rule that requires compulsory training on antisemitism.

This training is given by the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). JVL, some of whose members have attended the voluntary open sessions out of interest, has critiqued this training as lacking in depth (it is not ‘education’) and privileging a Zionist viewpoint. See the following article: JVL response to JLM antisemitism training

The view of antisemitism promoted in these sessions is reductive in the extreme; to impose it on Jews who hold a different view of the world based on their own life experiences (in this case of more than eight decades) is surely concerned with humiliation rather than education.

We will update this site again once we have a reply from EHRC.

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