UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
UK Labour leader Jeremy CorbynReuters

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, considered one of the world's most foremost experts on anti-Semitism and an op-ed writer for Arutz Sheva, lectured on Monday morning at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs about the major outburst of anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party against the background of Brexit and other important developments in the United Kingdom.

Expanding upon his remarks for Arutz Sheva, he said that "while anti-Semitic incidents in the Labour party continue, media interest about them has largely vanished mainly due to the preoccupation of the media with the aftermath of the British referendum on Brexit."

"The Labour Party continues to ignore the fact that there are strong indications that there is very little sensitivity to anti-Semitism in the party. According to a poll by the Times Daily, only one in 10 members consider that anti-Semitism is a problem.

"The inquiry into Labour Party anti-Semitism by Shami Chakrabarti has hidden more than it has disclosed. In a presentation for the Home Affairs Committee of Parliament, Chakrabarti figured as a kind of a prompter for party leader Jeremy Corbyn, sending him messages while he was being questioned."

"In fact," he added, "the presentation of the Chakrabarti report on June 30 itself created a major anti-Semitic incident. The extreme leftist, Corbyn, who became leader of the party in September 2015 said that Jews were no more responsible for Israeli actions than Muslims were for ISIS. Former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks reacted saying that this statement was demonization of the highest order. Rabbi Sacks also said that the fact that this scandal occurred at the launch of the report into the Labour’s recent anti-Semitism shows how deep it is rooted in the British political Left.

"After rumors circulated that Corbyn promised Chakrabarti a seat in the House of Lords, she was asked about this in an interview by the head of the Henry Jackson Society, Alan Mendoza. She refused to answer the question."

The Labour party anti-Semitism scandal erupted in February after two board members of the Oxford University Labour Club resigned because of anti-Semitism in the organization. Since then, it has continued unabated.

Gerstenfeld mentioned the high percentage of Muslims among those suspended by the party for their anti-Semitic slurs.

"This fact was totally ignored by Chakrabarti even though it was brought to her attention by various people including myself," he continued.

In her report, Chakrabarti discussed at length how disturbed she was when someone was called a "Paki." She did not mention that some of the elected Labour representatives who had been suspended had made remarks that Hitler was the greatest man in history, Hitler was the Zionist God, Hitler supported the Zionists, and Hitler was the teacher of the Israelis.

"Not only that," Gerstenfeld remarked, "she also did not think it was worthwhile to mention that one suspended elected official had expressed the hope that Iran will destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. Apparently, for Chakrabarti this is less disturbing or worthy of mention than a verbal slur calling a Pakistani a Paki."

Dr. Gerstenfeld stressed that Chakrabarti’s document of 28 pages about anti-Semitism doesn’t even include a definition of anti-Semitism.

"This alone already proves that it is a highly unprofessional report," he maintains. The need for such a definition had been brought to Chakrabarti’s attention –by Gerstenfeld himself and also by the umbrella body of British Jewry, The Board of Deputies. "There were so many deficiencies in the report that it mainly shows how not to investigate anti-Semitism."

As for the situation in which British Jewry finds itself, he said: "They have moved from living in the Diaspora to living in Exile without having gone anywhere at all."