Jews, antisemitism and Labour – a letter to the BBC

5th December 2019

To Tony Hall, Director General of the BBC
cc: Fran Unsworth and Tracey Henry

URGENT – “Is the BBC Antisemitic?”

We need to register with you our deep concern that, once again, and in the closing stages of an acrimonious election campaign, the BBC’s coverage of antisemitism charges against the Labour Party has been both unbalanced and uncritical. Your reporting today of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM)’s repetition of its flimsily-based charges against the Party that it used to support falls disastrously short of the Corporation’s own formal standards of accuracy and balance.

This represents what we can only call a flagrant breach, and of all times during a general election campaign, of the BBC’s legal commitment to due impartiality and fairness.

Over recent months, and with no remission during the election campaign, coverage of allegations of Labour antisemitism has featured repeatedly in the BBC News, and often as the lead item. In news programmes the allegations have been reported as quasi-factual, with no indication that they are fiercely contested. In more discursive formats such as the Today programme or Newsnight, presenters have consistently adopted a negative, attacking stance towards anyone who questions the basis of the allegations. In complete contrast, those making the allegations, usually based on hearsay rather than personal experience, are supplied with leading questions and softball follow-up.

Jews are as diverse as any other substantial group in society. Yet people whose representative status is highly doubtful are routinely presented by the BBC as ‘representatives of the Jewish community’. Surely you can ensure that your broadcasting staff know the facts and convey them appropriately. The Board of Deputies, for example, has no supervised electoral process – and in any case its synagogue-based membership covers no more than one third of the UK’s Jewish population.  Secular Jews make up at least 50% of British Jews and have no voice through the Board of Deputies.

In particular the voices of the large numbers of Jews who are Party members, who know how atypical the quite rare examples of antisemitic behaviour in the party are, and who are enthusiastic supporters of a Corbyn-led Labour government have been almost entirely ignored. The BBC has allowed itself to be used as a megaphone for deeply contested charges.

The BBC’s Guidelines state that when a partisan political position is put forward, an opposing one, if it exists, should be broadcast too. The Labour Party does have many Jews who support it and who are prepared to speak out, notably in the organisation Jewish Voice for Labour. Our many requests to be able to present our experience and our perspective  are routinely ignored, and in the rare exceptions have never been given equal weighting with the negative voices.

The BBC’s coverage of the JLM’s release of its evidence to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry (into any discrimination in Labour’s processes for handling complaints of antisemitism) is a prime example of the BBC’s systematic imbalance. This deliberately-timed attempted destabilisation of the Labour Party’s position by JLM has appeared in virtually every main news bulletin today, including live coverage – uncontested – of the JLM news conference on BBC News Channel.

The evidence that Jewish Voice for Labour gave to the EHRC inquiry was made public at the time and is publicly available on our web-site. This evidence is directly relevant to your news item but was not even mentioned in today’s extended BBC coverage. It seems that the BBC is treating us as the ‘wrong sort of Jew’.

All Jews are not the same. Asserting that they are is an aspect of antisemitism. The BBC should be ashamed of its record in openness to the multiple voices of British jewry.

By behaving in the way that it has (and today’s JLM coverage is only the latest example) the BBC has, constructively, been contributing to an assiduously promoted anti-Labour agenda.

We look forward to immediate corrective action.

This letter will be published on our website.

Sincerely,

Leah Levane and Jenny Manson, co-chairs JVL

Comments (163)

  • dave says:

    It’s too late now. The BBC has been accommodating the narrative of ingrained antisemitism in Labour for many months if not years. Statements from people like Ian Austin and Margaret Hodge go unchallenged; any Jewish religious ‘leader’ is fawned over; and presenters such as Nick Robinson tweet lies. The Panoroma was probably the most disgusting fiction masquerading as current affairs I think I’ve ever seen on British television.

    But this is no surprise surely.

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  • TM says:

    What an excellent letter! Thank you. Currently the BBC is advertising itself as the trustworthy arbiter of the General Election. It concludes by saying that their coverage gives people “power”. Every time I hear it I roll up in laughter and a little fury. Peter Oborne in his excellent critique of the BBC believes that the Broadcaster is just supporting the Government of the day. I disagree. If Labour under Jeremy becomes Government I can only see from their present record that they will do what they can to undermine him. The BBC is partisan to The Establishment. They are the Establishment. But they should be ashamed of their record of news coverage since Jeremy became Leader. I sincerely hope that honest individuals within the corporation will rebel finding their sleep too disturbed.

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  • Miriam David says:

    This is a brilliant letter of complaint. thank you Leah and Jenny

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  • Eric Goodyer says:

    Perfect – thank you.

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  • Sheena says:

    The bbc is a shameless campaigning vehicle for the corrupt billionaire set and tories who are in league together in order to daily smear the labour movement, the corporation is still appallingly publicly funded by poor British people who are forced to finance this travesty of democracy. I could weep at the blatant bias, lies, misinformation, slurs and character assassinations being used to prevent good kind people gaining power so they can help the millions suffering and dying under this brutal con regime.

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  • Simon Cohen says:

    Excellent and well put! We must hoist them by their own petard. The JLMN document is not really ‘evidence’ at all and it is unprofessional of the media to treat it so. Reading the document I found it to be a gargantuan list of ‘whataboutery’ with many items de-contextualised and significant examples not attributable to Labour members at all. No qualifying remarks were made about the uncertain provenance of online attacks and issues around the ‘cloning’ of twitter accounts and trolling that has occurred.

    Yet again, the mural issue was raked up as if the depiction of bankers ‘as hook-nosed jews’ was an uncontestable, objective reality rather than largely read-in. The foreword to the book ‘Imperialism’ was also served up even though a prominent Jewish professor (Donald Sassoon) had responded to this in the Guardian.

    I got rid of my T.V five years ago whilst watching an anodyne interview with the ghastly George Osborne, whose economic ideology was barely questioned at all. I’d advise as many of you as possible to ditch the licence and use independent news sources.

    Worth noting that Guardian journalists (Marina Hyde, Crace and Freedland) have presented the JLM document as if it were incontestable fact. So the Guardian is back to its old tricks.

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  • TP says:

    The horrendous widespread smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, a life long fighter against racism, is one of the most despicably motivated plans ever. A very dark, devious and devastating example of the depths humans can go to hide their own wickedness and sickening oppressive actions against others, the Palestinians and to hurt anyone that would help them.

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  • Abby Hoffmann says:

    Great statement.. I hope the BBC take on board all your points. For balance and fairness during an election.. As per broadcasting law and convention…

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  • Dan says:

    Well said!!!

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  • Eileen Alderman says:

    Thank for this 💖💖

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  • Joseph Paglia says:

    The BBC will do nothing, just like Boris Johnson will do nothing and ignores invitations to be interviewed. They both rely on some idea that if they ignore accusations, the accusations will eventually go away, the BBC is complicit in a right wing biased agenda, they know perfectly well what they are doing, if ever they did have a code of practice they adhered to, such as neutrality, they certainly don’t have it now, they are up to their necks in corruption.

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  • Jenny Kassman says:

    Well done and thank you! This letter describes so well the disgraceful bias of the BBC’s coveraage – which has been in evidence on a number of other issues too – of the issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party. I suspect, though, the BBC’s reply – if there is one – will be entirely predictable!

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  • alison webster says:

    I am of the opinion that a large number of the working class after many years of paying a fee to these establishment mouthpieces would be extremely happy to see them closed down and broken up..they are not to be trusted in any way re: socialism and the people who by and large pay their extortionately large salaries…The antisemitism they have pushed with zero evidence to back it up is ongoing.At least if they are no longer assumed to be honest and then join the ranks of the other media providers who no one believes or trusts then they will be on an equal footing.The entire management are linked to the tory party it’s a farce really isn’t .

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  • Renate. says:

    Thank you for your efforts. It’s a well written letter. I think your support will be needed when the report is published.

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  • Ruth Muller says:

    Thank you very much Leah and Jenny!!

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  • Ann Kramer says:

    Thank you.

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  • Kathleen Shaw says:

    Excellent letter!

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  • Richard says:

    This sums is an absolutely brilliant summary of what has become of BBC news. I can’t listen to Radio 4’s morning ‘news’ show: “Todaily Mail’ any more!

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  • Rachel Lever says:

    The letter from JVL’s co-chairs Leah Levane and Jenny Manson deals well with the BBC’s knee-jerk obedience to instructions it receives, day in and day out, from the anti-Corbyn hate campaign run by a particular section of the Jewish community under a variety of hats.
    But that hate campaign and its coverage by the BBC now has a different context altogether.
    At one time the BBC maybe hoped to replace Jeremy Corbyn with a figure from the right of the Labour Party. And that person might perhaps have now been up against a more or less traditional Tory.
    But now with just days to go to the General Election, Jeremy Corbyn remains Labour’s leader, and is the country’s only hope against Boris Johnson, who has set out in his Manifesto a constitutional time-bomb that has been described as “a danger unlike anything in modern British history”. Warnings are trending from Gina Miller, Armando Iannucci, Hugh Grant, Nick Boles and others (#page48), and The Independent newspaper, who are sounding alarm bells to warn about a major threat to our bedrock democratic infrastructure: an independent judiciary and parliament’s supremacy over government. The Human Rights Act is also under threat.
    We are literally hours away from the showdown, and hardly anyone knows about it.
    Just when we need information, analysis and warnings in our news headlines, and a broad alliance to save our democracy, there has been silence on this from the BBC, which seems to be stuck with last season’s vendetta against Corbyn and Labour. Is no-one doing an elementary journalistic job of even reading the Tory Manifesto? Is no-one at the BBC aware of the choice we now face? Without that knowledge, we can’t even evaluate whether we should be alarmed or at any rate be better safe than sorry.
    This is shocking and seems to indicate the lack of a strategic compass: we cannot afford the BBC’s dereliction of its main job at a time like this.

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  • Jacqueline says:

    Will you please take action, Mr Hall, on the biased reporting you embark on regarding antisemitism in the Labour Party? The Chief Rabbi took centre stage for some days to complain about ‘the poison’ within the Labour Party, seemingly encouraged by Mr Corbyn. There was no balance. It is grossly misleading and dangerous to allow such biased reporting and you are viewed more and more as a Tory mouthpiece. Are you? It certainly seems so.

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  • Carole Robb says:

    I hope this will be read and acted upon by the BBC. It is not too late to put the record straight.

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  • Jim Newsham says:

    Excellent letter & comments…good to not take the appalling BBC lying down…

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  • Bob Walker says:

    An excellent distallation of the atrociously one-sided coverage of this issue.

    As a former employee of the corporation, working in the BBC World Service which had s good reputation for news coverage, it brings me great sadness to see this episode in BBC News unfold. I hope someone, somewhere in the higher echelons of the organisation read this and reflect deeply on the way they should conduct their reporting going forward.

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  • Terence Mandrell says:

    Ensure that this letter is sent to the Mirror, Guardian and the Independent.
    Let’s see who will have the courage and integrity to publish it.

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  • John Hall says:

    Should we be bombarding the BBC with letters asking them, in the words of Carole Robb, “to put the record straight”. – A campaign for someone to organise? (Sorry, not me)

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  • John Hall says:

    Should we, and our many contacts, be writing to the BBC in order to “put the record straight”?

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  • Jim McNeill says:

    Well said…I still hope that there are staff in the BBC who have integrety and will fight for balanced reporting.

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  • Teresa Steele says:

    As a paid up supporter of JVL this last four years have opened my eyes to corruption I never would have believed. There is no justice and the BBC, it would appear, thinks it’s paymasters will protect them. I am disheartened by the lies being bandied about and I hope that more and more people are seeing through the lies.

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  • John Vickers says:

    Dont expect anything else from the Tory Part Propaganda machine where the bulk of those controlling its output are either members of the Conservative party or have come up through the Conservative party… Perhaps they believe that their peerages would be at risk under the Labour Party…. I for one would hope that when the Labour Party DO get elected that they initiate a Root and Branch clear out of those running the BBC (Tory Part Propaganda machine) who wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped them in the face…

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  • Jason Evers says:

    I fully endorse the views of JVL against the continued & repeated bias of the BBC.

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  • Allan Howard says:

    As Malcolm X said:

    “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

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  • Dave Lewis says:

    Thank you JVL, for putting this letter together and sending it to Tony Hall. You have been a consistent and coherent voice on this issue when consistency and coherence have been sadly lacking from those who smear Labour & Jeremy. Keep up the good work.

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  • David Roger says:

    An excellent letter . Shame we need the BBC to broadcast it ! It’s uo to us to share all the facts in it

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  • John Webster says:

    The attitude of the BBC in denying the contribution of Jewish Voice for Labour is a clear example of BBC antisemitism.

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  • different frank says:

    You will get a stock answer back.
    The BBC does not care anymore.
    https://i.imgflip.com/3fju7f.jpg

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  • Philip Ward says:

    I think JVL should publish a general statement debunking the fake “antisemitism” campaign and defending the labour party and indeed its much-traduced membership from the libellous charge of “institutional antisemitism”. We should also state what we think of the EHRC “investigation”, and the fact that the organisation is operating outside the bounds of its terms of reference and should criticise the media for failing to investigate properly all the charges and for treating any denial of institutional antise itosm as itself antisemitic (a classic method used against alleged witches). It should seek as a many signatures as possible from its membership and supporters, in order to try to get as much publicity as it can before the election.

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  • Trevor Easton says:

    It is high time for the BBC to openly demonstrate its support for fair, unbiased and well researched quality political journalism.

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  • Pauline Ryan says:

    Agree with the above comments BBC Redress this balance URGENTLY.

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  • Linda Craig says:

    Excellent letter. It is unconscionable that the BBC, our public broadcaster, paid for by us, should be headlining these hugely contentious claims without allowing Jewish members of the Labour Party to question, and at times refute, said claims.
    This would be bad journalism at any time, but during an election campaign it verges on the sinister.

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  • Dave Smith says:

    It would appear that opposing the methods used by the Israeli government against the Palestinians is anti Semitic. I am opposed to Zionists as I am opposed to all right wing politics, this does not make into a Jew hater.

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  • Jaine G says:

    An excellent letter – truly grateful to you for giving voice to my own concerns – can you set up a crowdfund so we can put it as an advert in every newspaper in the country, please? So people who don’t use the internet can start to see how biased the BBC has become and no longer serves their best interests.

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  • Charlie says:

    Is it possible to report the BBC to the EHRC on the basis of antisemitism in its representation of “the Jewish community” and the large number of Jews this marginalizes and, by implication, denigrates? This seems to me to be much closer to any definition of institutional discrimination than the claims made against the Labour Party. Would the BBC have records of its editorial decision making process viz-a-viz applications from JVL to represent Jews who support Labour under Jeremy Corbyn and dispute the claims of JLM etc.? Could these be requested under the Freedom of Information Act and used as part of this submission?

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  • Sian Rider says:

    A copy of this letter needs to go to Ofcom – pronto – if it hasn’t already.

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  • Donal Hughes says:

    Not on BBC news yet. Was your letter marked private and confidential? I’ll check the Guardian later.

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  • Liza Dresner says:

    Perfect letter. Thank you Leah and Jenny. Hope you get a response but I doubt it!

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  • Martyn Wood-Bevan says:

    The BBC seems utterly corrupt and dishonest, promoting a very inaccurate view of the matter, in parallel with the worst aspects of our Billionaire owned MSM!

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  • John Parsons says:

    Excellent. Thank you

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  • Ruth Seglow says:

    Excellent letter! So glad you have done this. But will the BBC respond? Let’s wait and see…

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  • Ann Bonner says:

    Absolutely my experience too. My views have never been reported by any media and especially the publicly owned BBC should reflect all voices not just the unelected minority represented by the Beth Din a self appointed group representing a minority of British jewery.

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  • John Dunn says:

    Well said Leah and Jenny! Love Jewish Voice for Labour and your interventions, they shed so much light on this matter.

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  • Gloria says:

    Even on the radio, Woman’s’ Hour, Margaret Hodge was given a very long platform to pontificate about this question and try to make us feel sorry for her. There was no dynamic, just Hodge with our ears all to herself!

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  • Alan Hudson says:

    Thank you for publishing this. A welcome breath of fresh air. What can I do to support your stand? I am a (non Jewish) member of the Labour Party.

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  • Erica says:

    What the false anti-semitism campaign is doing amounts to an assault on British democracy. We all knew they would save the worst till last so as to inflict maximum damage on Labour’s electoral chances. The BBC is not only complicit but has become one of the main drivers of this agenda.

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  • David Ware says:

    Thank you for standing up for Jeremy Corbyn and the Party.

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  • Michael Chandler says:

    The absence of balance and professionalism in the BBC coverage of the antisemitism controversy mirrors the anti-Labour treatment of election issues by the BBC in general but it has probably been more damaging. What is beyond doubt is the BBC commitment to getting a Johnson government elected. The corporation has no effective monitoring or policing of standards, it is virtually unaccountable so there is no way of getting the organisation under control and reformed. There needs to be a national campaign to expose its rightwing bias and abolish the licence fee so that it can be broken up and restructured in to a mix of subscription services. I no longer want to pay to receive Tory propaganda on television and radio.

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  • Chris wallis says:

    At last! Hoorah!

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  • Michael Evans says:

    Brilliant and clearly accurate. Shame on the BBC.

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  • Shark Skin says:

    Those asking BBC to correct the record, please understand this. It is too late to publish a retraction or an apology once the original statement has been aired and taken hold in an audience. Once an idea has taken hold in the audience, a simple retraction is ineffective. I think most media executives with enough experience to run a large corporation such as the BBC already know this. Firstly, being reckless with reporting during election campaigns should be a crime punishable by imprisonment. Secondly, any retraction must be timely and at least 10-fold (an arbitrary figure) the original scope of the original false publication for it to get sufficient traction.

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  • well said it’s about time the bbc new.s was brought to book over its one side view

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  • Robin Ellwood says:

    I endorse every word of this letter I have been appalled by the bias shown by the BBC and their readiness to smear Mr Corbyn who is certainly not a racist or antisemite .

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  • Carol says:

    Excellent letter, I hope they read it and digest it , BBC you should be ashamed of yourselves,

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  • Mary Scurr says:

    Thank you both for such a brilliant well argued letter. I would love it to be sent to as many press & tv organisations as possible

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  • Earl O’Keeffe says:

    An excellent and necessary contribution.

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  • Bruce Gomersall says:

    Agreed, totally.

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  • Alexis says:

    As a secular Jew, proud of my lefty Jewish heritage, I fully support this letter and the Labour Party. I will not be paying any BBC licence fee until we get some balance from the BBC. Thank you JVL, Leah and Jenny, for being our voice.

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  • Jennifer Joy-Matthews says:

    The BBC has become a national disgrace. It’s political coverage is so biased. If you discuss this with some members of BBC staff, it is clear that they have been indoctrinated by groupthink and are completely unable to recognise their bias. Their local news coverage is slightly less biased.

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  • I agree wholeheartedly with the contents of this letter and thank you so much for writing it. Something has to be done.

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  • Adrian Litvinoff says:

    Thank you for taking our indignation forward in the form of a complaint against the BBC. If Tony Hall doesn’t get a grip on this he will be complicit.

    In my town of Leamington Spa we have been demonstrating publicly against the anti-Corbyn, anti-Labour propaganda for the last 2 weeks and attracting quite a bit of support from the public. This is my letter on the same topic published in the Leamington Courier https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157086170858440&set=a.155624658439&type=3&theater&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&notif_id=1575122312618039

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  • Solly Jacquesson says:

    Thank you JVL for your excellent letter to an anti- labour Tory supporting biased BBC!!! The BBC has got into the habit of telling lies and subtle lies like Boris Johnson who is of course shameless about his lies.

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  • Dennis DeGroot says:

    In Full agreement. BBC is failing and actually enabling real Antisemitism in society by crying wolf. See reception at Nick Hancocks hustings when he brings the subject up.

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  • Linda Lindan says:

    Excellent letter which I fully endorse! Can a campaign run alongside this?

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  • Harry Ritchie says:

    Perhaps this letter of response is a little late in coming, I left the labour party years ago because of tony blairs pursuit of fame through warmongering. Having decades of active membeship, at ward, constituency, local and general election agent level prior to my leaving, I very quickly tired of the claims of antisemetism, knowing only too well they were unfounded, in my view frequently manufactured from deliberate misinterpretation of comments made. For example the Ken Livingstone issue ? I knew then this was the very thin edge of a not so long wedge. Many of the charges are quite simply, made up ! It may not have happened in all wards, but before tonys’ “modernisation”, in our ward, active members would visit new membership applicants, a sort of sounding out process. Modernising meantall appications went straight to head ofice without any scrutiny, so who can say people didn’t join in order to attack from within. Keep up the good work of challenging, keep a close eye on all those mp’s who resisted Corbyns candidature as leader. Maybe even learn a lesson from johnson and turf them out of the party, remove the whip, they’re useless anyway.

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  • Sylvia choudry says:

    I am not Jewish but was living next to jews growing up in salford ,and started work at 15 working for a lovely Jewish man who took us as we came and helped all with problems remember him with love not many can say that about there first employer, the jews I met growing up were mixing with all other religions and I remember going in the houses helping when it was some time of year that thay cant do certain things , that mixed to enjoy christmas ect, BUT the jews I’m hearing about saying labour is picking on them need to man up iv been on receiving end as I’m married to a muslim but u stand your ground to the person doing to you , I hate Israel for what it’s doing but do not blame all jews for the murder and stealing of land ,I’m 70 so have a memory from child hood of story’s being told to me by parents of my friends so I dont think thay wanted anyone else to go through the same, but in PALESTINE it’s happening the Rabbi that attacked JC is not a man of god ,as a kid and growing up I thought jews were nice people the last few years made me think again it really shock me just like ISIS I’m sorry for us all having to take the flack for others of our religion ,but Jeremy Corbyn does not deserve to be called antisemite I know iv gone on abit sorry have a good life x

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  • peter gland says:

    Stop paying your licence by the masses might be the answer

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  • An excellent letter. Thank you for doing this. I love the BBC but its coverage of so-called antisemitism in Labour has been disgraceful.

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  • Robert Cass says:

    Yes it is a classic example of picking the views of one type of Jew, to damage the Labour Party. Zionists are allowed to force their cause, destroy Gaza and just push for that agenda. They cannot ever be questioned. There never is a balance for the other 60/70% of Jews.

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  • Lynne Edwards says:

    I never truly realised the extent of the BBC bias until this year.
    I’m both shocked and saddened that a public broadcasting organisation, that we pay for, has been taken over by right wing extremists and Tories. The whole tenor of discussion is around the threat Jeremy Corbyn poses to the British establishment.
    The Spectre of antisemitism is constantly and unfairly whipped up as a distraction from the aims of the Labour Party and criticisms of the Conservatives.
    What is wrong with seeing all people as equals, improving the lives of the many and having fair opportunity to participate in society for all?
    Alternatively, we could have more ignorance, racism and poverty, more homelessness, more alienation and exclusion!!!
    The extent of individual wealth in this country is obscene, yet apparently rich is never rich enough!

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  • Simon Hinds says:

    Well done!

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  • John Greenshields says:

    About bloody time.Welldone

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  • Richard Samson says:

    Good letter. Appalling BBC news and current affairs team. Heavily infiltrated and totally mercenary. In all likelihood, beyond salvation.

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  • robert dunthorne says:

    The BBC did not report that the Chief Rabbi who raised the recent concerns congratulated Johnson on winning the Tory Leadership

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  • As a British Jew and the child of two families that lost members during the Nazi reign of terror as well as to Soviet efforts to eradicate dissent I am appalled by the BBC’s misreporting of the facts about Labour. As a matter of fact, I believe that the total lack of evidence is calculated and represents the extent to which the BBC has been subject to a takeover by the very corporate culture whose interests it represents. I do not see any reason at all why the BBC should receive any public funding while undermining the very fabric of society, namely its trust and truth, for its corporate masters. Laura Kuenssberg is a shining example of this new breed of journalism being promoted on all sides and I happily await the day workers on the lower end of the pay scale at the BBC throw her under a bus.

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  • Alex Shaw says:

    Do those extremists that propagates this lie, for party-political reasons, realise that it may generate genuine anti-Semitism among the larger body of people who know that there is no systemic anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. It will do an injustice to the larger body of moderate Jews.

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  • Dave says:

    History will show the BBC failed to protect both democracy and Jews in the UK. They allow their service to push out message that both fill the Jewish community with unneeded fear and to none Jews like me make me fearful to meet Jews – First and foremost make me examine people I meet questioning if they may be Jewish, and that’s something that’s never entered my head in 60 years but as a proud Labour fan I am now fearful. Not fearful for myself, but fearful that a) I might offend and b) fearful that my innocent words might be twisted. And what if I should make an enemy of a Jew? (god I’m even scared of type the word Jew as I’ve seen that twisted to suggest AS meaning).
    I would love to say I love all jews but that would be dishonest as to be HONEST I’ve never given the Jewish community much thought till 3 years ago and now the vast majority of that thought is negative sorry.

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  • Neil McMillan says:

    Finally you have come out fighting in a public domain, None of the MSM will state the truth so this needed doing. As a Corbyn Labour supporter I am heartily sick of countering accusations of anti-semitism by people on the right and anyone who wants to just dismiss us as bigoted communist cranks.

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  • Michael Hitchcock says:

    Hi everyone, as a member of the Labour Party I’m so discussed with the BBC news tv and radio coverage of anti Semitism in just the Labour Party, Racism is everywhere, why just the Labour Party, me and my wife joined the Labour Party because JC, we feel sick and angry at the bbc , the racist are calling the anti racist, racist, when we hear prominent Jewish voices speaking up for the Labour Party it fills us with hope , I think the very terminology anti Semitic has been weaponised by the bbc, sky , ITV, good luck with your complaint ❤️And respect to all of you Michael Hitchcock x

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  • The BBC seems to be doing everything it can to accuse the Jeremy Corbyn, in particular, of being anti-Jewish when he patently is not. He is against the actions of the apartheidt government in Israel and all cases of loos of human rights whoever is causing it to whom. The JVL has made the case against the BBC and its project of destroying Jeremy Corbyn abundantly clear and I applaud the clarity of their vision and determination not to be swayed by Netanyahu’s propaganda machine.

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  • Peter Gates says:

    But still the BBC repeats this behaviour. It brings the entire electoral process into dispute.

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  • The BBC is and always has been the voice of the British establishment. Born in the womb of the British state. It was equally horrendous in the miners strike. At Orgreave it reversed it’s coverage of police attacking the miners and the miners reaction so as to suggest that it was the police who were reacting.

    We need a mass non payment of the license fee campaign as part of a campaign against them.

    Good letter

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  • Jani says:

    Leah,
    Well written,
    Your response to BBC is great and deserve to be treated as a statement.
    (All Jews are not the same. Asserting that they are is an aspect of antisemitism. )

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  • We all know this is just propaganda but it is true that the BBC ignore all the positive contributions Jeremy Corbyn has made against anti semitism which is widely available. What makes really angry is the way these smears are creating a culture of racism that is dangerous.

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  • John Grounds says:

    I fully support this letter. Let me give you one example of BBC bias. John Humphrys stated on radio 4 that the IHRA definition of AS had been adopted by most countries. The important thing is that Humphrys was doing his usual dissing of Corbyn and used this in the context of the discussion. This was a complete fabrication and sadly all the BBC did was state they didn’t quite get it right. Well I’m afraid they have spent the last few years not ‘getting it right’. In my view an independent investigation is needed into its behaviour around this issue.

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  • Patricia Duncan says:

    I am not Jewish, but I had noticed the bias and the aggressive questioning by interviewers. Your letter clearly states how I feel. Now the Beeb should shut up on this matter once and for all. We are NOT interested in hearing any more spin.

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  • Anthony Tobin says:

    Has a formal complaint to the BBC been made? There has been little or no coverage of Islamophobia in the the Tory party compared to the mountain of accusations against Labour.
    I am not an expert by far, but have yet to see any proven examples of anti-semitism within the party. Being critical of the Israeli war on Palestine is NOT anti-semitism.

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  • Michael Corrie says:

    I have been complaining to the BBC for many days about their behaviour and they have the cheek to answer me back with more lies saying how IMPARTIAL they are
    This is a government controlled station and should be ashamed to call themselves journalists/reporters

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  • Norma says:

    This is a Fantastic letter I have tweeted many times to various media channels about this imbalances, particularly to the BBC.
    It is my deep sense of fairness and justice that invokes me to speak out about this, that no other Jewish perspective is rarely or never heard, there is no challenge to any of the allegations made and no reference to the diverse Jewish communities they are always portaged as “one community” with one over arching representative either the BoD or a Rabbi.

    I support all Jewish people in their fight to be given due respect and recognition of their diversity their views and their political views on all matters.

    I only hope that the BBC will finally give a voice to your alternative opinions and views on this AS agenda that has been relentlessly pursued against Labour, and in particular In my opinion to the point of aggressive harassment on every platform on the media radio and press.

    Thank you for writing to the BBC

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  • Emma says:

    Thankyou.I have been raising the lack of balance issue related to the anti semitism coverage against labour and Mr.Corbyn and the lack of balance in hearing alternative views and voices such as views from jewish voice for labour which have not been covered/interviewed enough in and on some of the media.Have not yet had any responses.

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  • Kevin Hartwell says:

    I agree. The BBC, especially Laura Kuensberg have been particularly virulent in their coverage of this election. Bias beyond belief!
    Time to stop.

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  • brian morley says:

    I have nothing but contempt for the BBC. The so called analysis and so called impartial reporting that has been shown on the BBC has been the main aim of the BBC since Corbyn was democratically elected as LABOUR PARTY LEADER. The proof of the BBC bias is evident in the way this message will be dismissed by those in control at the BBC. There is no such accountability to all viewpoints evident in everything that is transmitted.
    Up until about 2 years ago I was prepared to accept some level of impartiality. Then, on a Victioria Derbyshire morning programme I saw the insidious way that a discussion about antisemitism was delivered and controlled to promote one viewpoint. If you want a further description I can give further details, but I was so shocked that an issue could be presented in such a way while pretending to be an impartial presentation that it woke me to realise that there was a significant agenda in operation.
    At that point my awareness was raised to realise that the BBC was not to be trusted. I can see no future as seeing the BBC as a valid or reliable source of information. Since that time I have seen regular bias as the BBC acts as a propaganda voice in an overt, covert, insidious, vitriolic and dangerous manner.
    I see no real difference from the ‘voice’ of Saudi, Russian, Israeli etc etc controlled propaganda as compared with the BBC. It is just that the BBC seems to have a slightly more subtle approach in delivering its message. There are many who could elaborate on this to give a far more detailed analysis than I have given. I doubt that their voices will be given any serious airtime and analysis on the BBC.

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  • Philip Jones says:

    I am so relieved to see at last your voice to be heard with such clarity.Lets hope the media will take note.

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  • Annie Kelly Simkins says:

    I was canvassing today for the Labour Party, when a middle-aged middle class couple started shouting loudly at me. They were fired up about Antisemitism, which they card Racism. I tried to speak the calmly, to no avail. There information was all from the TV and Radio, they were a bit confused, but ardent in there view of JC. This was distressing for both them and myself. All because they had heard repeatedly this very warped view of reality

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  • June Simmons says:

    BBC Bias is nothing new – it’s credibility is on the wane. I believe they owe JVL airtime to make a full reply to the propaganda pumped out 24/7. In the likely event that they don’t, Channel 4 news, although only once a day, must have BBC and Sky looking over their shoulders as people grow increasingly sick of gross distortion too often presented as ‘fact’.

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  • Cath Jones says:

    Thank goodness for JVL. Without you there would be few credible and appropriate voices supporting fairness, balance and decency in this issue of charges of antisemitism in the Labour Party. I thank you for your tireless pursuit of shining a light on the machinations of the actors in this dark issue. You are a vanguard against this vicious attack against the party and in particular against a life long anti racist campaigner and our Leader, Jeremy Corbyn. I stand beside you all.

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  • Ed says:

    What concerns me most about all this is the BBC’s promotion of fascism. We all know what this is about, it’s Labour’s recognition of Palestine that’s the problem. That decision was made by Ed Milliband after the appalling war crimes Committed by Israel in 2014 Operation Protective Edge. It was clear at this point Israel had abandoned the two state solution. The continuous pressure on Labour by JLM to support Israel’s blatant fascism against the Palestinians has taken the form of an endless smear campaign. Any criticism of Israel’s crimes is immediately repackaged by JLM and the media as AS. This in itself is fascism aided and abetted by the UK. The BBC are openly promoting this. We are becoming a fascist state and who would have thought that the world’s only Jewish state would be driving this sickening process? We have to accept, those purporting to represent British Jews are a malignant force, a disgusting evil, surreptitiously relentlessly pushing to convert Jews into the unthinkable: far right fascists. The BBC is busy, knowingly accelerating and amplifying this process.

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  • Douglas Macari says:

    An excellent letter exposing the deep corruption and, indeed, embedded antisemitism at the BBC. The BBC’s failure to practise journalism and instead turn itself into an unquestioning conduit of the Conservative party’s propaganda machine means that it now constitutes a severe threat to democracy in this country.

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  • Teresa Kasafir says:

    Well said. The AntiCorbyn, AntiLabour media should be ashamed of their denigration of a man who has fought against discrimination of any sort throughout his political life. To call Corbyn ‘antisemitic’ is lying. A dirty tricks campaign against a man who has always been true to his principles.

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  • Fred Read says:

    I have emailed the BBC on many occasions concerning anti-Labour statements on the lunchtime and evening news from so-called political journalists. Last week Laura K when talking about Labour policy said you will need to get your cheque books out to pay social care if Labour win and then showed a handful of jewish people holding up anti-Corbyn placards. I ask why.

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  • Catherine Newall says:

    I fully support this letter which accurately documents the disgraceful, criminal bias of the BBC. This public institution is shamefully ignoring its responsibility to provide a voice for all its consumers and is not facilitating democratic accountability. Members of Palestine Solidarity Campaign have been challenging BBC for years with letters of complaint about biased reporting and have consistently
    received their standard response claiming impartiality at all times! They cannot be allowed to keep getting away with is flagrant misuse of their position in the mainstream media.

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  • Hartash Dale says:

    I regard the BBC news and current affairs coverage as a wing of Conservative Central Office with a revolving door of senior emplyees between the two. Its also an echo chamber for headlines from a evidently biased press. In a gross dereliction of duty the BBC rarely provides any coverage of what the issues experienced by the people of this country, instead just analysing how Westminster should be reacting to them. It does not tell “truth to power” but serves to put forward the ideology of those in power. I along with a growing group of people find the BBC is not “my BBC”. Profounddisappointed

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  • Leonard Morrison says:

    On today’s Andrew Marr show, the BBC has doubled down, prompting John McDonnell to accept the validity of representation by the JLM specifically. They have clearly decided to totally ignore the JVL’s letter.

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  • Alan Sanford says:

    Bang on, thank you, we need a new word/definition for vilification of individuals and groups as antisemitic to undermine those groups individuals, by Jews… This is an evil similar to heresy and its disgusting.

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  • Tan says:

    Well done. I always listen to your opinion for guidance and it gives me hope. Thanks for speaking out.

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  • Eve Turner says:

    Thank you JVL. I have been seething during this Election An excellent letter. It’s outrageous that the BBC and others decide who speaks for all Jews. These organisations represent the establishment and certainly not myself and other progressive jews.

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  • Jean Callaghan says:

    The media and broadcast industry have a responsibility to provide fair and equitable balance of social affairs including politics. We the public pay hour wages and you therefore be serving the public fairly. You should give a public apology to the Labour Party…the apology should be done as robustly as the negative news which have been reporting.

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  • Pat Mc Ginley says:

    We are forced to fund the propaganda-wing of the ruling elites via the compulsory BBC tv licence. It’s obviously impossible for any state broadcaster to be impartial and unbiased. BBC World Service – formerly named BBC Empire Service – is the largest worldwide news and current affairs agency, and boasts 49 million followers on its BBC News Facebook page, the largest by far of any other worldwide news agency. Demanding money under the false pretence the BBC is impartial and unbiased is obviously criminal fraud. Demand an end to the fraudulent fee!

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  • Rachel Sharp says:

    I am not a jew, and resigned frrom the labour party over its Brexit stance.but I have been disgusted by the BBC’s coverage of anti-semitism in the party, its silencing of the Jewish voice for labour , its failure to draw any insight from recent PHD’s and books and articles which have used well evidenced research which has covered both the media onslaught ,the incidence of AS within political parties and the general poulation. The JVL letter is excellent and spot on. BBC bias is clearly endemic and frightening.

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  • Morag Davies says:

    This letter is clear and to the point, but too long. It could be shortened with no loss of meaning.

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  • Arn Dekker says:

    Many thanks for your letter to the BBC, I fully support it. The reports of anti Semitism within the Labour Party always seem to lack specific evidence.

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  • Daymien James says:

    It is sickening to see our? BBC pandering to Tory sentiments
    And giving Johnson airtime when And where he chooses
    Shame on you. How unprofessional

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  • Angela Singer says:

    Jewish people are being used as a stick to beat Corbyn with. This is part of an orchestrated campaign against Corbyn. We knew the establishment would be out to get him and the media has been its willing tool.

    They couldn’t get him on women, or on money so they have used the Jews. As a Jewish person, I am incensed about that.

    How many more children will go hungry, how many more souls will have to sleep on the streets and how much more knife crime are we all prepared to suffer under this morally bankrupt Tory mob, which no longer dares to call itself the party of law and order?

    Corbyn is a decent man who wants to restore Britain as a good place to live in for everyone. He isn’t smooth and he doesn’t think politics is a joke. He is right when he says the Labour Party represents hope for desperately needed change.

    Labour policies are not radical. They are the decent standards that my lucky generation grew up with.

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  • Lui Lewis says:

    The bias the BBC broadcasts is relentless, aggressive and totally blatant, they behave as a propaganda machine to brainwash the unsuspecting public.

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  • Gordon.Hodgkinson says:

    Do you think the BBC or any other of the media would announce this?

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  • Kevin B. Curran says:

    It’s about time that the BBC was held to account. We have no control over the written news media but as a public broadcaster the BBC has consistently failed the test of balance. In contrast the JLMl letter is restrained and objective and the bee needs to respond.

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  • S Chatting says:

    I came across your letter, and just wanted to say how refreshing it is to read a critical contribution to the antisemitism debate from Jewish members of the Labour Party. I am neither Jewish nor a member of the Party, although I support its policies. I have too been angered and saddened by the lack of balance in the BBC’s political reporting of both this and other issues, especially over the past few weeks of the election campaign. It does indeed seem that there is a bias against Labour and a willingness to focus uncritically on the claims of antisemitism within the Party while ignoring racism (whether antisemitic, Islamophobic, or anti immigrant) within the Conservative Party. Thank you for drawing attention to the BBC’s inherent bias – I wonder if your letter will make it on to the BBC News? I won’t hold my breath.

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  • N Georges says:

    Corbyn is genuinely far more humane and caring than anyone in the Conservative party. If you bothered to look you would have found much more cause for concern re Antisemitism in the Conservative party than the Labour Party. The constant unjustified vitriol against Corbyn is being orchestrated purely because of his support for the UN declared Illegal Occupation of Palestine.
    You have been manipulated into this position and as a result have bought a huge and unjustified influence to bear on our Democratic Election Process on an issue that possibly effects less than .5% of the British population and when compared to the realities of far far worse examples of racism against of colour, sex and Islamophobia completely pale into insignificance.
    Your constant biased reporting, just like the Russian interference in US and here in GB, has totally skewed the election results over a matter that does not affect 99% of the electorate.
    How have you let yourself be so totally manipulated?
    Make it your duty to Genuinely investigate what Israel is doing in the West Bank of Palestine.

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  • Peter Perry says:

    Sadly, it appears to me, that The BBC is, and always seems to be, Pro-Tory and Anti-Labour, in this, and in other aspects of the General Election. I could cite the case of editing news reports on Prime Ministerial debates and other news items, in favour of Boris Johnson, and against Jeremy Corbyn. It is quite blatant and noticeable.

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  • Antony Brown says:

    I dislike Corbyn and will not be voting for him, but i have seen nothing to support the allegations of anti-semitism rather than anti-Zionist opinion. I also think it is a disgrace how the news media are so biased to the Tories advantage. During the BBC leaders debate, Fiona Bruce totally passed over a question from a young man to Boris Johnson. The question on “why not release the report on Russian interference” was later repeated by the young man, his attempts to get an meaningful answer where then harshly suppressed by Ms Bruce, letting Boris off the hook.

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  • James Bickerton says:

    Well said! BBC coverage of the election has been appallingly one-sided! What a shame that the once noble and objective BBC has become the glove puppet of corrupt Conservatives and the rich media moguls.

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  • Quentin Stamp says:

    Well said.

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  • Les Jackson says:

    The BBC is riddled with examples of bias against the Labour Party. Take Politics Live, there’s always an imbalance in the name up of the panellists, some weeks there is not one Labour Party spokesperson invited into the studio. Jo Coburn always shouts down anyone giving a Labour point of view and the favourite subject is antisemitism and hardly ever raises Islamaphobia .

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  • Liz Wood says:

    Thank you.

    Are the charges of antisemitism due to criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, criticism made even by some Israeli Jews?

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  • Jean Crocker says:

    Thankyou so much. I don’t know what we would do without Jewish Voice for Labour

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  • David Lightfoot says:

    I heartily commend this letter to the BBC. May I suggest that you lodge a formal complaint for discrimination against the BBC at the European Court or the Council of The EU on the grounds that you have set out and under European laws protection all citizens of member states.
    Perhaps even pursuing such a course of action, will bring about the desired changes.
    Yours in solidarity

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  • Paul Brooks says:

    That’s a brilliant letter, I have noticed the BBC are totally anti-Corbyn in their biased approach to The Labour Party, like you so rightly said this is most definitely not impartial in the closing stages of the general election!

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  • Heather says:

    Thank you for writing to the BBC I am totally exasperated by the BBCs behaviour. thankyou.

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  • Paul says:

    Those that rule { the World ) do not want change and will fight against it in myriad ways to control their position.

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  • chris curson says:

    This has been long overdue should of been put out for all tv and television channels to air.

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  • Tony says:

    Great letter.

    I se that the Simon Wiesenthal Center has joined in the witch-hunt against Corbyn. Absolutely disgraceful.

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  • Patricia Wheeler says:

    I support JVL although I am not Jewish. In my opinion this whole fabrication of ant-Semitism in the Labour Party has come from Israel and is being spread in the UK by Israel’s agents (or dupes?) here – including the BBC. I have been a Labour Party member since 1961 and have never come across any anti-Semitism in it. A person with anti-Semitic prejudices would simply not want to join, or stay in, the Labour Party. Israel’s problem is that the Labour Party campaigns for the rights of the Palestinians, so it cannot contemplate the possibility of a leftwing government in the UK, its longtime ally, that would undermine its position.

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  • Sandra GIBBONS says:

    Very well put but the damage is done !

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  • Miranda Pinch says:

    It is a sad fact that the BBC and other media outlets divide Jews into two camps. The Conservative, right-wing Jews who often are also supporters of Israel and those other Jews, including myself, who believe that equating Judaism with the actions of the Israeli leadership is the greatest antisemitism of all. I know I am not alone in receiving abuse from those right-wing Jews for my desire for human rights and equality for all in the region, yet the BBC, along with most of the mainstream media totally ignores this along with our testimony.

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  • Janis Garbutt says:

    Thank you I’m absolutely gutted how they are treating Jeremy Corbyn and using the Jewish communities in such a terrible way. They must be capable of sourcing his solidarity with Jewish communities and his life long commitment to anti racist in all walks of life. Weaponisation of antisemitism is racist and dangerous.

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  • Sue Baker says:

    I totally agree the press and tv have used the issue of antisemitism to try to weaken the labour party

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  • Colette Bidwell says:

    I agree with everything written above and think it is about time the BBC actually listened and broadcast responses to this letter. It’s proganda they are about and the license fee is paying for it, no democracy seen or heard.

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  • Vanessa and Frank Rambridge says:

    I hope that the EHRC WILL find Labour innocent when they have finished investigating. That when they do find Labour innocent, the MEDIA will then broadcast its findings true to the EHRC

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  • JanP says:

    I fully support the JVL letter to the BBC. However I feel the damage has been done, using anti semitism as well as other weapons, regarding this election. If Labour gets in, one of the first things they need to do is to tackle the bias in the BBC, root and branch. If the Tories get in we already know that the BBC itself will be under threat, but there will not be many left who would be willing to fight for it. Well done for everything you do. In solidarity.

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  • Hilary Gould says:

    Is the BBC worried about the threatened loss of its licence fee by a Tory government I wonder.
    🤔

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  • Richard Snell says:

    This is a brilliant letter, which only repeats with simple eloquence so many of us have known about the BBC since the first accusation of anti-Semitism was thrown at Corbyn by certain Labour Party members pretty well as soon as he won the second leadership election he was made to face.
    The BBC’s behaviour towards those Jews who support Corbyn, and not least those who support his oppositon to Israel’s Palestinian policies, has been deeply insulting. Its dismissiveness, its condescension, has been so blatant the only reason it has not become a matter of public concern has been because the BBC has used its privileged position not to report on itself, a trick played by almost every other mainstream news broadcaster.
    I would have hoped that this letter will make a difference, but the BBC’s obviously prejudiced position makes it unlikely: as well try to teach a sloth to write.

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  • Lee says:

    What an excellent letter, expressing just how disappointed and angry many of us Jews in Britain, who don’t agree with the mainstream “antisemitism” narrative feel about being effectively gagged and ignored.

    I never thought I’d come to think of it as featuring in Animal Farm – but to paraphrase one of Orwell’s most famous quotes, since Corbyn has become party leader, at the BBC it would seem “All Jews [might be] equal….but some are [definitely] more equal than others!”

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  • Di Donnelly says:

    The BBC bias has been so blatant, genuinely discerning voters do realise this, though sadly there will always be voters who prefer fluffy personalities, everyone likes the “class clown”.

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  • L pitt says:

    That was a amazing letter and I completely understand the feelings that you have mentioned! I also feel that the bbc have shown a awful bias attitude to many of us who are not followers of the Labour Party ! Also the rudeness to other political parties from their representatives who supposedly should be impartial ! To a point I can not watch their programmes any longer .
    The news that should be reported is filtered so badly that they are not fit for purpose to many people! I expect to be shown what is going on. In Europe more than what going on in far flung places ! Their main reason for their attitude is the fear of losing funds from the Eu ! I am totally disgusted with the bbc !

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  • Jill Phillips says:

    Amongst the ‘Social Groups’ associated with Labour’s NEC (National Executive Council) is the Jewish Labour Movement. Its 2 objects are:
    “To maintain and promote Labour or Socialist Zionism as the movement for self-determination of the Jewish people within the state of Israel.” and
    “To support, develop and promote political activists who work to enable the objects and values of the Jewish Labour Movement.”

    One of its UN-stated objectives is to silence both individual Jews and such Groups as the “Jewish Voice for Labour” representing Jews supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s Unique Manifesto of Knowledge, Concern and Kindness, whose (totally ethical) views are slammed as being antisemitic.
    The Jewish Labour Movement neither represents knowledgeable, concerned and kind Jewish people as a whole, nor is it even-handed in its far too powerful place on Labour UK’s NEC (National Executive Council).
    It could, on the other hand make quite a valuable contribution to the Conservative NEC; especially if it widened its perspective to incle Knowledge, concern and kindness towards Moslems – and Palestinians.

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  • Brendan Gallagher says:

    The chief Rabbi Deserves a gold medal from the Tory Party for his mass panic among the Jewish community lie nae whopper!
    I myself have heard the same voices on different radio stations with different stories of’panic’ amongst the jews which of course had no Truth in it whatsoever
    Yours sincerely

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  • Gillian Barrett says:

    The BBC is disgusting
    They made the Labour party look racist when Torie party are worse than anyone for that…..I nor my family will ever watch BBC 1 or BBC2 again…i am utterly ashamed and disgusted

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  • Dr James Turner says:

    The coverage from the BBC has completely filled me with dismay, prior to the election.

    Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly answered critics and acknowledged that antisemitism does indeed exist in the Labour Party. His support for Jewish people is long lived and well documented. However, your ‘balanced’ coverage often ignored, or gave significantly less prominence to examples of antisemitism in the Conservative Party. There also seems to be a blind spot in drawing attention to this and incidents of Islamophobia and racism from Conservatives. Some of these were from Boris Johnson himself.

    As a Catholic, I recognise that the Pope is the figurehead for all Catholics worldwide. It is easy to assume the the Chief Rabbi in the UK might similarly represent all Jews in this country – but you should clearly know that he is figurehead to only about 40,000 of the 240,000 Jews in Britain. The impression his intervention gave was that this is a belief which all Jews subscribe to. However, his motivation as a ‘friend’ of the Conservative Party should also have been examined. (Did he really dine with Theresa May the night before she became PM?) He conveniently seemed to ignore the possibility of similar problems in the Conservative Party.

    Your [BBC’s] pre-election coverage often allowed accusations to be repeated and were rarely fully explained or examples given. No-one in the Labour Party is pretending that there is not a problem, but I see it being dealt with and there are now processes in place which will be developed and improved with time. Also, independent studies suggest the scale is not as large as you suggest.

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  • Helen Goldring says:

    I hope you get the corrective action you are seeking, but I somehow doubt it. X

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  • Bilal Ali says:

    Can I ask what is the difference between this group and the Jewish Labour Movement?

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    • Mike Cushman says:

      All the difference in the world. JLM is part of the World Zionist Organisation and a sister organisation of the Israel Labor Party (the party that initiated the settlement programme and has close links to the Israeli military) and has been a fierce opponent of the Corbyn Project and has regularly issued exaggerated and often quite false smears about Labour antisemitism.

      In contrast, JVL’s statement of principles says:

      “Our political priorities are universal human rights and dignity; justice for all; freedom of expression; and democracy in the Labour Party.

      Our mission is to contribute to making the Labour Party an open, democratic and inclusive party, encouraging all ethnic groups and cultures to join and participate freely. As such we aim to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism including antisemitism, broadening the party’s appeal to all sections of British society. We take inspiration from the long history of Jewish involvement in the socialist and trade-union movements and in antiracist and antifascist struggles, including the anti-apartheid and civil-rights movements.

      We stand for rights and justice for Jewish people everywhere, and against wrongs and injustice to Palestinians and other oppressed people anywhere. We uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities, such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. We oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards or discrimination against Jews as Jews.

      At a time of profound divisions in Jewish communities, JVL offers a space to explore and debate the many questions (personal, social, cultural, political) that are important to us as progressive Labour Jews”

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  • nora knight says:

    totally agree with this letter, the bbc have got a lot to answer to

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  • Lynne Moody says:

    I agree wholeheartedly with the above I hope we see an END to the BBC totally untrustworthy to give non-bias news.
    Allowing Laura Kuenssberg to lie, there’s a whole catalogue
    of complaints but what is the point.
    I will be canceling my license fee forthwith

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  • Margaret West says:

    Thank you for this ..

    I agree with you that your organisation and its views is hardly ever mentioned by the BBC and I see that other media outlets have dismissed you as “fringe”.
    Since so far as I know your organisation is the only one which requires members to be Jewish I can only infer that this dismissal is itself antisemitic .

    It seems to me that there are two BBCs – where the first is the organisation which produces excellent and well researched documentaries. Examples of these are the recent one on Northern Ireland and previous ones on Venezeula, on Saudi and on the rise of Putin where after watching these I have felt informed of often complex issues and institutions.

    In contrast BBC news is often superficial and worse still biased and this leaves me angry and confused. This is not confined to the BBC but is true of commercial outlets and a particular example was the continuous coverage of “Corbyns anti-semitism” during the summer of 2018 but when this “news” cut into the Commercial breaks we were faced with desperate pleas from Aid Organisations and Medics working in the Yemen while being bombed by the Saudi. However this war was pretty much ignored otherwise. I was puzzled too as to when and how criticism of Saudi Human Rights had segued into them being our best friends

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  • Elaine Jacobs says:

    My email of 4/12/2019 to [email protected] — to which I have yet to receive an acknowledgement:

    “If you want to drop a word in the ear of the nation, then this is the programme in which to do it.” [A quote from the Today programme’s website.]

    The Today programme this morning was unashamedly batting for the anti-Corbyn Jewish Labour Movement by dripping its poison in the ear of the nation.

    The deadline for submitting information or evidence to the EHCR inquiry into antisemitism in the Labour party was 31 July, according to its website. One wonders whether this deadline has been extended so that the JLM could profit from BBC Panorama’s shockingly one-sided “investigation” (Is Labour Antisemitic?), aired in July.

    Since the EHCR report has not yet been published, the BBC has clearly acted on a press release (later described as “a leak”) from the JLM — whose only motive seems to be to oust Jeremy Corbyn from his position as democratically-elected leader of the Labour party.

    Similarly, the BBC’s motive for providing the lawyer acting for the JLM a platform to regurgitate its obnoxious accusations could only be to discredit the Labour party and its leader during this election campaign. Submissions to an inquiry are not news!

    It is up to the EHRC to judge whether the JLM’s submission should carriy any weight; and it should be allowed to pursue its inquiry without outside interference. Justin Webb did not mention Jeremy Corbyn’s immaculate record of standing up for Jews; nor did he provide any instances of Jews standing up for him. I can provide you with several instances.

    This is not news! John McDonnell’s brilliant speech and q&a yesterday was news — but that was not reported.

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