Left-wing Member of Parliament from England refuses to acknowledge antisemitism

British MP Diane Abbott has reignited controversy by reaffirming statements denying that Jews suffer from racism. In a recent interview with the BBC, Abbott maintained that she doesn't regret her 2023 comments, in which she stated that Jews, Irish people, and Roma people can experience prejudice, but not racism.

The most serious issue is not only what she said then, but that she now repeats it unashamedly: “There must be a difference between racism, which refers to color, and other types of prejudice. You can see a Black person and recognize them immediately. You can't do that with a Jew.”

Abbott had already been temporarily suspended from the Labour Party for those remarks in 2023, although she was reinstated after apologizing.

Instead of taking responsibility for her words, she now chooses to publicly reaffirm them, insisting that her statements are “correct” and that she is the victim of a witch hunt for being a “Black woman and left-wing”.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party acted decisively by suspending her again and stripping her of her seat as a parliamentary member of the caucus, leaving her as an independent.

“There is no place for antisemitism in the Labour Party,” stated Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. However, this is not the first time that sectors of the party have been accused of antisemitism, and repeated cases cast doubt on how deep the commitment to eradicating anti-Jewish hatred truly is.

Various organizations, such as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, strongly condemned her words: “To claim that white people are not subject to racism is wrong, a distortion of history, and an insult to the victims and survivors of horrific persecutions. Antisemitism and antigypsyism are forms of racism that remain deeply rooted to this day.”