Jewish Labour Movement overwhelmingly votes no on Corbyn
The Jewish Labour Movement in Britain has nominated Owen Smith for the British Labour leadership with Corbyn receiving just 4% of the vote.
By DANIEL ALTMANUpdated: AUGUST 16, 2016 06:24Smith and Corbyn(photo credit: REUTERS)
In a landslide vote, 92 percent of the Jewish Labour Movement voted on Monday to support Owen Smith for the Labour leadership.Smith, a Welsh MP, is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the party leadership. In the same vote, Corbyn received just 4% of the vote while 4% voted for “no nomination.”Smith resigned earlier in June from Corbyn’s shadow cabinet before challenging for the leadership. This has caused tensions between the two men as Corbyn has criticized Smith for causing disunity within the Labour Party.There have been several incidents of anti-Semitism in the party since Corbyn has faced took over as leader in September 2015.This led to Smith telling the BBC in July: “We have had a massive problem recently with misogyny and intolerance in the party, anti-Semitism, racism and the awful way in which women in the Labour movement have been treated. It’s been appalling to witness this, heart-breaking.”The Jewish Labour Movement nomination of Smith followed a incident on Sunday in which Michael Foster, a Jewish donor to the British Labour Party, likened Corbyn’s inner circle to “Nazi stormtroopers.”Corbyn in June appeared to have likened Israel to ISIS stating: “Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel than our Muslim friends are for the self-styled Islamic State.”Corbyn launched an inquiry into anti-Semitism within the Labour Party which critics argued whitewashed the prevalence of anti-Semitism within its ranks.