Antisemitism

Susan Hall AM proposed, and Andrew Boff AM seconded, the following motion: 

“This Assembly believes that antisemitism has no place in our city. This Assembly acknowledges the Mayor’s work with Jewish Londoners to make the capital safer for all its citizens by tackling antisemitism and believes that the Mayor should continue to take all actions available to him to tackle this crime.

The Mayor has invested more than any other Mayor to tackle hate, intolerance and extremism. This includes the Shared Endeavour Fund, which supports projects delivered by civil society groups including The Anne Frank Trust UK, The Union of Jewish Students, Maccabi GB, Salaam Peace and The Arc Theatre Ensemble.

This Assembly passed a motion in June 2021 calling on the Mayor to take action against antisemitism.

The previous motion set out five actions which the Mayor could take to help tackle the worrying rise in antisemitism. Since then, the Mayor has published his Police and Crime Plan which outline his strategy towards tackling all forms of hate crime. This Assembly recognises that tackling antisemitism requires more than just a police response – education of Judaism and history of the holocaust is imperative, as is ensuring the Government’s approach in policies to different cultures is welcoming.

There is a worrying rise of antisemitism across the UK and Europe. In London, the MOPAC Dashboard shows that 849 antisemitic hate crimes were reported in London last year – a 45% increase from 2020’s total. Further to this, The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 1,254 antisemitic incidents in London, rising by 33% from 2020’s total of 941 London-based incidents.

This Assembly reiterates its calls on the Mayor to continue to take responsibility for tackling antisemitism in London by implementing the following actions:

• Continue working with London’s Jewish Communities, commission and publish a specific strategy for tackling antisemitism in London;
• Conduct a review of the robustness of all MPS responses to all reported incidents of antisemitism in 2021;
• Ensure the strongest possible action is taken by the MPS against all examples of antisemitism displayed in London in recent weeks, and make clear that such behaviour will not be tolerated in the future;
• Ensure all police officers remain impartial and do not make political gestures whilst on duty, committing to full and thorough investigations of incidents where reports of such behaviour emerge;
• Request the Metropolitan Police Service to provide a confidential report on a quarterly basis to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Police and Crime Committee, outlining high profile antisemitic incidents that have taken place and what action has been taken; and
• Ensure that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, as adopted by the Mayor and Assembly, is strongly enforced.”

Following debate and upon being put to the vote, the motion was agreed unanimously.