Former prime minister Gordon Brown has unveiled a powerful video against antisemitism.
Brown, who was Labour chancellor from 1997-2007 and prime minister between 2007-2010, filmed the video in London’s iconic Liverpool Street Station, a place of immense historical significance to British Jews.
He began by explaining the significance of Liverpool Street station.
Liverpool Street station is where Sir Nicholas Winton met the first of 669 children who had escaped from Nazi brutality.
"No ifs, no buts, no qualifications, no caveats." Gordon Brown has a message to Labour supporters: the fight agains… https://t.co/QzKOr12Dmv— HOPE not hate (@HOPE not hate) 1554106705
Next he focused on Labour’s responsibility to rid itself, but also wider society, of antisemitism.
The Labour Party has a long, proud, noble tradition of standing up against prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.
No ifs, no buts, no qualifications, no caveats. It’s an understanding that discrimination that starts with one minority does not end with one minority. It’s a belief that we must never accept the unacceptable and never accept intolerance.
Within the last two years, the Labour Party let the Jewish community and itself down. They should never have allowed legitimate criticism – that I share – of the current Israeli government to act as a cover for the demonization of the entire Jewish people.
Solidarity means standing up for those who are under attack.
Brown ended the video by saying he intends to join Jewish Labour, a group of Jewish Labour members and allies of the Jewish community. He encouraged others to do the same.
Twitter users welcomed Brown's intervention on this topic, praising him for showing solidarity and moral leadership.
This is genuine solidarity. I’d heard rumours that Gordon Brown was releasing a video. No one asked him to stand… https://t.co/OH7V4DCtl0— Peter Mason (@Peter Mason) 1554110296
@_petermason @wendy161966 @JewishLabour Absolutely fantastic!!— JWExTheSpa (@JWExTheSpa) 1554112336
So proud of Gordon Brown today. Please share his message. https://t.co/W8gICFdVLh— Tom Watson (@Tom Watson) 1554110680
Gordon Brown continues to be someone of utmost principle https://t.co/XD2Oo1PkCn— C. (@C.) 1554109345
The stature of *real* leadership that is sorely missed displayed brilliantly by Gordon Brown - and the fact after m… https://t.co/nELezTifR5— Jon Will Chambers (@Jon Will Chambers) 1554109140
Gordon Brown expresses here the very essence of our values as a movement. Please watch it. https://t.co/lG2XqI5kqd— Hilary Benn (@Hilary Benn) 1554121888
Gordon Brown. Unequivocally the best Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party of my lifetime. https://t.co/ZTnCwvf8K0— David (@David) 1554115170
Statistics show that reported incidents of antisemitism continue to rise in the UK. In February 2019 a new report suggested that a debate on antisemitism within the Labour party may have lead to an increase of anti-Jewish incidents.