Corbyn’s New Party Fractures Over Antisemitism Dispute
Just weeks after its launch, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party is mired in a bitter feud over the IHRA definition of antisemitism, threatening the party’s bid to challenge Labour and exposing deep divisions on the UK left.
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Just weeks after its launch, Your Party, the hard-left political venture led by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP Zarah Sultana, is unraveling in a bitter dispute over antisemitism.
The clash, centered on the party’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, has exposed deep divisions, threatening the group’s bid to challenge Britain’s Labour Party in its liberal strongholds.
Sultana, the 31-year-old MP for Coventry South, publicly condemned Corbyn’s decision to endorse the IHRA definition, which she argues conflates antisemitism with anti-Zionism. “We must build on Corbynism’s strengths, its energy and bold policies, but also recognize its limitations,” she said today *(Monday). “It capitulated to the IHRA definition, which even its lead author, Kenneth Stern, has criticized.”
The IHRA includes examples like comparing Israeli policies to Nazi actions or holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s actions, which Sultana and other critics view as stifling legitimate criticism of Israel.
Her remarks drew swift backlash from Jewish community leaders. Andrew Gilbert, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, called her stance a “grave insult,” noting that the IHRA definition is widely adopted by governments and institutions globally and supported by most British Jews for its clarity.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism questioned Sultana’s authority to define antisemitism, asking, “If Jews do not have the right to define the hatred that targets them, then who does?”
Alex Hearn of Labour Against Antisemitism accused her of misrepresenting the definition.Sultana, undeterred, doubled down, accusing critics of running a “smear campaign.” “I say it loudly and proudly: I’m an anti-Zionist,” she declared, dismissing allegations of misunderstanding antisemitism.
Her past statements, calling Zionism a “racist ideology” and likening the Holocaust to conflicts in Palestine and elsewhere, have fueled accusations of insensitivity, echoing controversies that dogged Corbyn’s 2015–2020 Labour leadership.
Corbyn, expelled from Labour in 2020 after downplaying antisemitism allegations following a damning Equality & Human Rights Commission report, faces familiar criticism. The report found Labour under his leadership breached equality laws through inadequate handling of antisemitism complaints and political interference by his office. Now, Your Party’s internal rift risks undermining its ambition to disrupt Labour, particularly in urban, progressive constituencies like Holborn & St Pancras, where allies claim Corbyn could unseat Labour leader Keir Starmer in a future election.
The dispute comes amid heightened global tensions over Israel’s actions in Gaza, with the UK’s political left increasingly vocal. Your Party’s anti-Zionist stance aligns with growing international Israel and Jew-hatred, but risks alienating voters wary of antisemitism. For Corbyn and Sultana, bridging this divide will test their ability to unite a fractured left.