I was in Hebron when I saw the news that Peter Willsman had been re-elected to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee. The Yachad Student Trip that I was leading was being guided by Breaking the Silence and the participants were experiencing the raw, ruptured city for the first time.

Thinking about those students and the wide variety of others I have argued and debated, I thought about Willsman’s vitriol towards my community. I also thought about the other 70,000 Labour members who decided to cast their ballot for Willsman, returning him to the heart of the Labour Party.

There are many progressive Jews in the UK who struggle to maintain both their progressive values and their views about Israeli politics, feeling the need to hold one back in order to engage with the other. In my attempt to keep one foot in each camp, I have, at times, faced abuse and harassment from within the Jewish community. However, knowing that Willsman, who mustered an apology “for any offence caused”, is seen as a worthy leader by Labour Party members is tough to stomach. And when one considers that Margaret Hodge, a veteran MP, former Minister and Labour activist, can have a complaint filed against her almost immediately after speaking out, I am left bereft.

But this is larger than just one man. The Labour Party has shown continued contempt for the Jewish community’s demands in handling antisemitism within the party. I have been a vocal critic of Israel within the British Jewish community for the best part of a decade, first disturbing the halls of JFS, before finding a home in my youth movement, Noam, and in Yachad. I can disagree passionately with the Israeli government and still fall within the confines of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

One doesn’t even need to share my Zionism to do the same. I encounter many Palestinians whose views on Israel are, when “taking into account the overall context” as IHRA recommends, not antisemitic either. For Labour’s leaders to struggle so immensely with the IHRA definition not only belies the lack of imagination necessary to seem incompetent beside this Tory government, but also shows the disregard shown for the lion’s share of British Jews who see the IHRA definition as the gold standard.

I was not the only person to leave Labour over this incident, and we are joining a long and esteemed list of fellow exiles. Although the party made it clear they did not value our energies and connection, we should not take this as an opportunity to wash our hands and sit back. Rather we should redouble our efforts for the causes we hold most dear, hoping that Labour, now deep in the thralls of a personality cult, may once again be our political home.

Amos Schonfield is the Youth & Student Outreach Worker for Yachad, which he also represents on the Board of Deputies.