Accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized in the UK in order to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and his associates, the People's Assembly movement has declared in a unanimous vote on Saturday afternoon.
Who are the Peoples' Assembly?
The People's Assembly was established as a national campaign movement to take action against austerity, cuts, and privatization in the workplace, public services and communities.
The vote took place despite the movement claiming that it is not linked to any political party and that it opposes "any and all claims that it is possible to 'solve the [above] crises by discrimination or scapegoating on grounds of disability, race, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, or identity."
On January 14, the People's Assembly hosted the Jewish Voices for Labour movement and held a meeting entitled "Racism and Antisemitism Campaigning." While it has been confirmed that former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was in attendance during the meeting, it is unclear if he remained present for the vote itself. In attendance was also Laura Pidcock General Secretary of the National Educational Union, Kevin Courtney Member of the House of Lords, and John Hendy President of the Public Commercial Service Union.
A partial clip of the six-hour meeting in which Corbyn can be seen was live-streamed online.
The motion, which was unanimously passed, stated that "the weaponization of antisemitism played a key role in undermining the Corbyn movement and all it offered, not only in terms of addressing austerity but also of hope for a better future..."
In addition to this, the written statement passed around during the assembly's meeting stated "the use of antisemitism to attack those who stand up for the rights of Palestinians continues and is dangerous on many counts, for example, in the way that the near forced adoption of the IHRA so-called 'working definition of antisemitism' has limited free speech, posed a threat to academic freedom and led to a loss of jobs, fears of losing jobs as well as fears from those running venues to hold events in support of Palestinians."
A source who was present at the meeting has stated that of the 16 proposals suggested during the session, all but two passed unanimously, in what the source called "an echo chamber" of an event.
In 2020, the movement - which claims to have no political affiliation - issued a statement expressing its full support and solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn.
Jeremy Corbyn, who served as the leader of the UK Labour Party from 2015-2020 has been the subject of multiple accusations of antisemitism throughout the years. The most prominent incidents that have been subject to scrutiny include calling terror organizations Hamas and Hezbollah his "friends."