A categorical charge produced an uncategorical room: Yes won a narrow majority, but the platform’s voters were arguing over whether Labour’s stance on Israel reflects antisemitism or legitimate criticism of a state. The split was not merely numerical; it was a contest between competing definitions of what the party’s conduct means.
Yes voters tied the label to Labour’s alignment with Palestine, its settlement restrictions and the electoral pressures behind them. The floor’s most-respected Yes case said, “I think a lot of them are yes,” while another argued that Labour’s pro-Palestinian organisation “says enough”; beneath the bluntness was a claim about institutional culture, not every individual member.
No voters made the sharper distinction between Jews and Israel. Their highest-rated argument began, “Criticising a foreign government isn't racism, simple as that,” while another said, “It is wrong (indeed antisemitic) to conflate the state of Israel with the Jewish people.” The two sides often talked past each other: Yes treated policy and political incentives as evidence of a hostile pattern, while No treated the accusation itself as an attempt to make criticism impermissible.
The argument also carried the shadow of the Corbyn years and the subsequent clean-up. One No voice compressed that history into, “Compared with the Corbyn years, no,” while Yes voters argued that formal reforms cannot erase a culture overnight — especially as Burnham’s government has reignited the dispute with its measures on Israel, against a backdrop of record antisemitic incidents.
The verdict was a narrow Yes, but the room’s real division was over whether antisemitism is best identified by declared prejudice or by the political company, priorities and consequences surrounding a party’s actions.
38 Opinions
Anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism, let alone milquetoast criticism of the Western-backed Israeli settler-colonial project. The idea that the modern Labour Party, one of the titans of neoliberalism and of the continuation of imperialism, is somehow anti-Zionist or anti-western is a far-right lie that must be pushed back against.
While recent leadership reformed formal reporting mechanisms, institutional culture cannot be erased overnight. Under Andy Burnham, Labour has renewed policies and rhetoric that Jewish community groups explicitly warn foster hostility and marginalisation. When party directives repeatedly align against the safety concerns of British Jews while hate incidents reach record highs, the problem is not merely historical but is clearly systemic, persistent, and deeply entrenched.
They have like 12 jewish MP's sitting in parliament..... they have been awful at addressing Antisemitism but also antimuslim sentiment but they themselves being antisemitic is a stretch
Jeremy Corbin pushed that agenda, and now Andy Burnham and Ed Milliband seem to be continuing it.
Of course they are .Trying to get Muslim vote is part of it but they have been Antisemitic and Anti American for years. Milliband is running Labour by the back door.
Ask Al Jazeera. They have the receipts. It's a party that's been infested with bad faith actors and Zionist stooges for years. They're only crying foul now because they've been found out
Ask Al Jazeera. They have the receipts. It's a party that's been infested with bad faith actors and Zionist stooges for years. They're only crying foul now because they've been found out
The Labour party is rotten to the core. The huge rise in anti-Semitism from within the labour party over the years is disgusting. All seems like a plan to keep the Muslim vote valid.
Compared with the Corbyn years, no. Starmer to his credit took action to root out antisemitism.
Party has always comprised groupings which are anti-Semitic to a greater or lesser extent. Corbyn’s time was particularly egregious. Now it’s abandoned the indigenous working class vote & is obsessed with the Muslim voting block. If Labour / Fabian’s were totally honest about their plans for a Socialist UK they would never get elected. So they lie often through omission. They have seriously miscalculated throwing their lot in with the Cousins, it will not end well.