To huge applause (and reluctant clapping from Bill Clinton), Rabbi Michael Lerner told thousands of mourners gathered at Muhammad Ali’s memorial service, that “We know what is like to be demeaned and to have a few people who act against the highest visions of our tradition to then be identified as the value of the entire tradition which is why we… liberal and progressive Jews have called upon the United States to stand up to the part of the Israeli government that is oppressing Palestinians, that we as Jews recognise… that everyone is equally precious and that means Palestinians as well as all the other people on the planet.” He also condemned the mass incarceration of African Americans by “racist police and racist judges.”
Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun Magazine, chair of the interfaith and secular-humanist-welcoming Network of Spiritual Progressives, www.spiritualprogressives.org and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue-Without Walls in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. Lerner was a leader in the Free Speech Movement and was arrested as part of the “Seattle Seven” in 1970 for allegedly inciting a riot. Lerner and Muhammad Ali met as part of the anti-war movement.
Then Director of human rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, looks through the bars of a cage outside the Houses of Parliament as MPs debate the government’s proposed anti-terror legislation, in London, March 9, 2005. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
On 29 April 2016, the Leader of the Labour Party appointed the former Liberty Director, Shami Chakrabarti, as Chair of an inquiry into antisemitism and other forms of racism including islamophobia, within the party. Jeremy Corbyn also appointed Professor David Feldman. Baroness Janet Royall subsequently accepted an invitation to join the inquiry panel as the other vice-chair. The deadline for submissions was 10th June, and the Inquiry will report back by the end of the month. It will:
Consult widely with Labour Party Members, the Jewish community and other minority representatives about a statement of principles and guidance about antisemitism and other forms of racism, including islamophobia.
Consult on guidance about the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and language.
Recommend clear and transparent compliance procedures for dealing with allegations of racism and antisemitism.
Look into training programmes for parliamentary candidates, MPs, councillors and others.
Make recommendations for changes to the code of conduct and party rules if necessary.
Propose other action if needed, to ensure Labour is a welcoming environment for members of all communities.
The context in which the Chakrabarti Inquiry operates
This Inquiry does not take place in a vacuum but as a result of a concerted campaign to suggest that the Labour Party is witnessing a spontaneous upsurge in anti-Semitism.Conveniently this began with the election of Jeremy Corbyn.Those leading the campaign include the media – in particular the BBC, Guardian and Jewish Chronicle – the Zionist movement, Progress and what John Prescott has called the ‘bitterites’ in the Labour Party.
This Inquiry has been put under considerable pressure to conform to the received wisdom that the Labour Party is riddled with anti-Semitism.In Another shameful episode, Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard wrote of ‘the unsuitability of the inquiry’s vice-chair, David Feldman’ because he was ‘a signatory to Independent Jewish Voices whose evidence to last year’s All Party Inquiry Into Antisemitism insouciantly dismissed almost all accepted definitions of antisemitism.’The only member of the Inquiry not to have been criticised by the Zionist lobby and right-wing media has been Baroness Royall who has been welcomed by Joan Ryan, Chair of Labour Friends of Israel [LFI].
‘All accepted definitions of anti-Semitism’ revolve around the discredited Working Definition of Anti-Semitism of the European Union Monitoring Committee.The Jewish Chronicleconcluded that ‘it is difficult to see how Ms Chakrabarti’s inquiry is not tarnished before it has even begun.’
Joan Ryan is explicit that what she calls ‘virulently anti-israel discourse… cannot be separated from the issue of anti-semitism.’To Ryan, ‘anti-Semitism’ is not hatred of Jews as Jews or a belief in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, rather it is opposition to Israel as an apartheid state.Ryan is quoted as saying that: “We will judge the success of this inquiry on its willingness to make the case that while there is nothing illegitimate about criticising the actions of the Israeli government, this must not be allowed to cross the red line into denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and thus the existence of the state of Israel.”
