Melanie Phillips
Israel National News, Nov. 3, 2023
At a campaign event in Minneapolis, Refom Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg shouted at U.S. President Joe Biden: “As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.”
When Sir Keir Starmer became leader of Britain’s Labour Party after the hard-left Jeremy Corbyn was unseated, he vowed to rid it of the antisemitism that had exploded under Corbyn’s viciously anti-Israel leadership.
He purged the party’s most egregious antisemites and embarked on serious bridge-building with Britain’s Jewish community.
Many British Jews decided as a result that the party was once again a safe harbor. Now, however, in the wake of the Hamas pogrom on Oct. 7 and in the war that has followed, they have discovered that the Labour waters are still teeming with sharks.
True, Starmer is holding the line he took from the start, standing alongside Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in support of Israel’s right to defend itself against existential attack. But Starmer is under enormous pressure from a large section of his still widely anti-Israel party to withdraw that support.
Calls for a ceasefire have come from the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar; the Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan; and the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. At least 13 shadow ministers have also joined calls for an end to the fighting, and 23 of the party’s local councilors have resigned. … Source
