A JEWISH Labour supporter from Dursley has slammed anti-Semitic claims against the party.

Miriam Yagud, 63, who is secretary of the Cam, Dursley and Berkeley Labour Party, said she was dismayed to read a reader’s letter by Royston Gay which appeared in the Gazette on July 18.

It was titled ‘Labour’s anti-Semitism shames us all’.

“I’m very angry about this,” she said.

Ms Yagud said that a misuse of the term ‘anti-Semitic’ has become commonplace, with many of those criticising Israeli actions against Palestinians labelled incorrectly as anti-Semitic.

In basic terms anti-Semitism is hostility to, prejudice or discrimination against Jews, simply because they are Jewish.

And at its heart, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict between the Jewish Zionist project and the Palestinian nationalist project, with both laying claim to the same territory.

“The casual, interchangeable use of ‘Jewish’ and ‘Israeli’ makes all Jews responsible for the actions – good or bad – of the Israeli government,” she said.

“Labour is no longer an uncritical supporter of the Israeli government and it supports justice for the Palestinians.

“Many Jews and non Jews, and the Israeli government, call this anti-Semitism, which is incorrect.”

Ms Yagud said that this misuse of the term anti-Semitic means Labour party members who are critical of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians are being inaccurately described as anti-Jewish and racist.

“Me and my Jewish family and friends and the Jewish communities I have grown up in and belong to, know first hand what anti-Semitism is,” said Ms Yagud.

“I recently visited Auschwitz on behalf of my family who died and survived that horror.

“I learned first hand how institutional racism against Jews enabled the holocaust.

“And I can assure you the Labour Party is not institutionally anti-Semitic.”

Ms Yagud, who grew up in London, moved to Dursley 13 years ago.

She said: “Jews are few and far between here.

“But I have been welcomed into the local Labour party, where I hold an elected position.

“I feel I am a valued member and I have been encouraged to stand as a councillor.

“My being Jewish has not been an issue or a barrier.”

Ms Yagud said she has no doubts about Jeremy Corbyn’s commitment to anti-racism.

“He has been one of the few Labour MPs who is consistently vocal against all forms of racism,” she said.

“I have been a member of a synagogue, a range of Jewish organisations, and a resident of areas of London with large Jewish populations, and I have never heard other Jews criticise Jeremy Corbyn for being anti Jewish.

“Many members of my local party are appalled at the anti-democratic impulse that drives the attacks on Corbyn and party members and we are angry at the accusations of anti-Semitism being levelled against us all.”