NEC member Wolfson rallies behind Corbyn after anti-Semitism row escalates

A prominent member of Labour’s ruling body has mounted a staunch defence of Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism after the leader provoked anger among MPs when he accused the authors of an independent report on the prejudice of “weaponising” the issue for political gain.

Rhea Wolfson, a Jewish Momentum activist, insisted Corbyn was taking anti-Semitism seriously after a weekend of controversy stimulated by a highly critical report by MPs which accused him of a “lack of consistent leadership” and said the review by Shami Chakrabarti had been “compromised”.

Wolfson, who was elected to the national executive committee (NEC) earlier this year, rallied to Corbyn’s side after 24 hours dominated by the results of the inquiry by the Commons home affairs select committee.

Corbyn condemned anti-Semitism as an “evil” yesterday but also accused Tory and Labour MPs of ganging up against him when he said “politicising antisemitism – or using it as a weapon in controversies between and within political parties – does the struggle against it a disservice”. The claim prompted anger and dismay among the MPs who served on the committee, including Chuka Umunna and David Winnick.

Today Wolfson criticised the report and said she backed Corbyn to tackle anti-Semitism within Labour.

“The report, I think, is problematic. The report had a lot of incredibly positive thing in it – including its attempt to call out Twitter and how it is completely lacklustre in its attempts to tackle the hatred which is facilitated on its platform and also the stuff about language and around ‘Zio’ and those epithets.

“On the issue of the Labour Party I felt the report came across as heavily party political and focused overly on the Labour Party, as Jeremy said. I do disagree with the report when it says Jeremy has not been consistent on [showing] that leadership. I think the fact that he responded so quickly to the allegations that were handed to him of anti-Semitism, and set up the Chakrabarti report, is testament to how seriously he is taking that issue, and I have a lot of faith in him to move forward on this issue.”

The report by MPs, which was published yesterday, set out a series of criticism of Corbyn’s response to anti-Semitism. The inquiry focused on anti-Jewish prejudice across Britain and highlighted several problems within Labour, including the accusation that Corbyn had allowed a “safe space” for those with “vile attitudes”, as well as asserting that the independence of Chakrabarti’s own report had been thrown into question by the decision to award her a peerage and a job in the shadow Cabinet.

Wolfson, who was speaking to the BBC, also tried to quash the suggestion that anti-Semitism is more widely present in Labour and said she had experienced prejudice from the fringes of society.

“My experience in the Labour Party has been incredibly positive. When I recently put myself forward for election for the NEC I did experience quite substantial waves of anti-Semitism online but, again, coming from far right groups, and it continues to this day, but within the Labour Party I always felt incredibly welcome and also supportive particularly during those instances.”