Mainstream UK highlighted an apparent breach of party policy by frontbencher Stephen Kinnock.
Mainstream UK chairman Ian Austin last week revealed how the Shadow Foreign Minister had appeared to breach Labour foreign policy during a Parliamentary debate.
Now the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies have written to Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy calling for clarity on the issue.
Mr Kinnock called for a ban on trade from illegal settlements during a debate on the “annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories,” held even though annexation was dropped as part of the historic peace agreements between Israel, UAE and other Arab states.
Labour’s official policy does not support a boycott on settlement goods unless Israel presses ahead with annexation, even then it limits the boycott to annexed areas rather than all settlements.
Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Lord Austin said: “Last (month) three Labour MPs lost their positions supporting the party’s frontbench teams for failing to adhere to the party line, so how is it possible that two days later a Shadow Foreign Office Minister argued for measures which clearly contradict party policy?”
He added that while Labour leader Keir Starmer was a “big improvement” on Jeremy Corbyn, it’s clear the Labour party still has “a long way to go” in ending its obsession with Israel.
The Shadow Foreign Secretary has repeatedly spoken out against the BDS movement to boycott Israeli goods but JLC chief executive Claudia Mendoza and the Board’s CEO Gillian Merron are reportedly seeking assurances Labour’s position has not shifted towards an unconditional ban on settlement goods.
Read Lord Austin’s full article in the Jewish Chronicle.