The United Kingdom’s Labour Party sustained significant loses in a local council election in one of the United Kingdom’s most heavily populated Jewish districts amid ongoing allegations of anti-Semitism against its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and within the party.
Labour failed to take control of the Barnet council in northwest London from the Conservative Party, where 14 percent of the population is Jewish, with some party activists blaming the anti-Semitism scandal as a contributing factor in its loss.
Barry Rawlings, a local Labour official, said his party’s anti-Semitism scandal had “made a difference” in the election results in the heavily Jewish district, the BBC reported.
Adam Langleben, a Labour councillor who lost his seat in Barnet, said allegations of anti-Semitism were the key reason for the party’s loss.
“I spent countless hours knocking on countless doors speaking to Jewish voters who are Labour voters or were Labour voter,” he told BBC. “But they could not vote for a Labour Party that they see as hostile or dangerous to the Jewish community.”
Added Langleben: “And the Labour Party is seen by far too many people in the Jewish community as being racist right now.”
Corbyn has not done enough to address the issue of anti-Semitism within his party. Jewish leaders in the United Kingdom held a rally outside of Parliament in late March saying “enough is enough.” Additionally, Corbyn, who has in the past expressed positive views of the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah, has been accused of having connections to anti-Semites, and ties to anti-Israel groups and figures.
In April, Corbyn also called for Britain to review its arm sales to Israel amid the escalation in tensions along the border between Gaza and Israel. He also attended a Passover Seder with a far-left anti-Israel Jewish group, Jewdas, that has called Israel a “steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of.”