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Labour announces new Antisemitism Advisory Board
Leading officials from the CST, Board and JLC have been appointed onto the body
February 10, 2021 17:15
Leading officials from the CST, Board and JLC have been appointed onto the body
February 10, 2021 17:15Leading officials from main Jewish communal organisations have been appointed onto Labour’s new Antisemitism Advisory Board, the party has confirmed.
Mark Gardner, chief executive of the Community Security Trust (CST), Marie van der Zyl, President, Board of Deputies, and Adrian Cohen, a trustee of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), were among the nine names confirmed on Wednesday.
Also appointed onto the Board was Baroness Jan Royall, whose 2016 report into the Oxford University Labour Club found that there had been a series of antisemitic incidents which were well evidenced.
Her report also warned against banning members found guilty of antisemitism for life.
It said: "It is not recommended that where a person is excluded from membership for antisemitism this should automatically be a life ban.
"I recognise that people may change their views and that where that is demonstrable a person may be allowed to seek NEC approval for any future application to join the Labour Party."
The establishment of an advisory board was one of the recommendations of the action plan agreed to by the party following the publication of the damning the Equalities and Human Rights Commission report into the handling of antisemitism allegations last October.
The EHRC told Labour to set up an advisory board of Jewish members to develop educational material on antisemitism - also to advise over the creation of an independent complaints system to deal with disciplinary cases involving antisemitism.
The watchdog found the party had not provided adequate training for those responsible for handling complaints.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence was also appointed onto the newly created Board, alongside Dame Margaret Hodge MP and Jewish Labour Movement chair Mike Katz.
Natasha Engel,a trustee with the Antisemitism Policy Trust (APT), was also confirmed on the body, along with Labour General Secretary David Evans.