Senior UK Labour official: Party is not ‘institutionally’ anti-Semitic

A senior lawmaker for Britain’s Labour party says that while the faction does have a minor problem with anti-Semitism, it is not institutional.

MP John McDonnell’s remarks come as an internal row brewed within the Labour party on how to deal with complaints of internal anti-Semitism experienced by members.

While admitting that there “clearly there is a problem,” McDonnell tells the Sky News television station that “I reject outright that Labor is institutionally anti-Semitic.”

He says figures show that only 0.1% of members have been involved in anti-Semitic incidents.

“It’s a tiny number but it’s still a problem,” he says. “I do not want one anti-Semite in our party, I do not want one piece of evidence of someone being anti-Semitic. We’ve got to eradicate it from our party.”

— Stuart Winer