Councillors readmitted to Labour - The Jewish Chronicle

Two Labour councillors suspended for sharing antisemitic posts and extreme anti-Jewish conspiracy theories have been readmitted after just six months.

The Haringey councillors were placed on administrative suspension in September – a move that prevented them from serving as Labour candidates or standing for the party in elections.

However in a letter to Haringey’s Labour group on Thursday, Council Leader Ejiofor Joseph confirmed Noah Tucker and Preston Tabois had served their suspension and had been “readmitted as members of our Labour group”.

Noah Tucker was suspended after sharing social media posts last June which suggested the US police officers responsible for killing George Floyd had received training from Israeli law enforcement officers.

Cllr Tabois’s suspension occurred after it emerged he posted an article six years ago highlighting the views of UKIP candidate Anna-Marie Crampton, who stood for election to East Sussex County Council.

Crampton was suspended by UKIP for allegedly posting extreme conspiracy theories on the website ‘Secrets of the Fed’.

She was alleged to have posted: “Holocaust means a sacrifice by fire. Only the Zionists could sacrifice their own in the gas chambers.

“The Second World War was engineered by the Zionist Jews and financed by the bankers to make the general public all over the world to feel so guilty and outraged by the Holocaust that a treaty would be signed to create the State of Israel as we know it today.”

Both Cllr Tucker and Cllr Tabois strongly denied charges of antisemitism.

In a second post, Cllr Tabois said conspiracy theories were useful as “an education tool to understand and relate to how governments are run (and) financed”.

Until his suspension, Cllr Tabois was on the slate for the London Assembly elections, due to be held in May.

Cllr Tucker, also readmitted to Labour this week, claimed at the time of his suspension that he was the victim of a smear campaign.

He said: “I am an opponent of racism in all its forms, including antisemitism. Social media posts have been collated, including selective editing, seemingly in a malicious attempt to falsely associate me with antisemitism.

“States and organisations which engage politically are legitimately subjects of discussion and criticism.”

He became a Labour councillor in a by-election in 2016 and was a member of Haringey’s Momentum-led Cabinet until 2019.

In 2016 he posted on Facebook a motion passed by Momentum’s Haringey branch which condemned “summary suspensions” of party members and suggested they were the result of a campaign by the “media, Zionist groups and Israel to undermine the party’s leadership and ‘shut down’ debate on the Middle East”.

In the past, Cllr Tucker has branded the Board of Deputies plan to tackle antisemitism within the Labour Party as “beyond ridiculous”.

In 2018 Cllr Tucker opposed the decision of Haringey Council to formally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and caused a storm of protest when he invited ousted Labour member Jackie Walker to address Tottenham Momentum.

In February, 2019, he defended former Labour MP Chris Williamson who insisted Labour had been “too apologetic” about antisemitism.

In a leaked recording published by Red Road in 2019, Cllr Tucker calls Williamson “one of our best and most honest and loyal MPs” who had been suspended for “the crime of speaking the truth”.

He adds the decision of former Labour MP Luciana Berger and eight other MPs to leave Labour had “nothing whatsoever to do with antisemitism, it has nothing to do with accusations of bullying, nothing at all to do with Brexit” but is about “protecting a foreign policy which is based on promoting an imperialist war”.

Cllr Tucker was also criticised by local Labour MP David Lammy, now Shadow Justice Secretary, for suggesting the Tottenham Constituency Labour Party drop its “zero-tolerance position” on antisemitism.

Former Minister Ian Austin, who quit Labour in 2019 to shine a spotlight on its antisemitism crisis, said: "A six month suspension amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist, given Cllr Tucker's track record and Cllr Tabois' decision to share an extremely offensive antisemitic conspiracy online."

Lord Austin, now chairman of the anti-extremism campaign group Mainstream UK, added: "In the wake of the EHRC's damning findings into antisemitism within the Labour party, the leadership promised a zero tolerance approach. This decision undermines that promise."

Labour has been contacted for comment.