Jeremy Corbyn will hold a crunch meeting with Jewish leaders later today to discuss what steps he has taken to address antisemitism in Labour under his leadership.
The meeting is set to be with representatives from the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who say that Corbyn has been slow to act on the recommendations of a 2016 report.
The BBC reported that the groups want disciplinary cases speeded up and elected officials thrown out if they share a platform with offenders.
Labour has said there must be absolute 'zero tolerance' of antisemitism.
Corbyn last month said he was sorry for the pain caused by what he conceded were 'pockets of anti-Semitism' in the party and that he wanted to 'rebuild' confidence among Jewish groups.
Although Corbyn has himself repeatedly condemned antisemitism as with all forms of racism, his critics – including many of his own MPs – have called on him to back up his words with actions, including expelling the former London mayor Ken Livingstone who has been suspended since 2016 for a bizarre claim about Adolf Hitler supporting a Jewish homeland in the 1930s.
Last week, a succession of Labour MPs spoke out about antisemitic abuse they had received.
A report in 2016 by the Labour supporting, Corbyn-appointed peer Shami Chakrabarti called for action to address what it said was the 'occasionally toxic atmosphere' in the party, but it has yet to be implemented in full.
Jewish groups are boycotting a separate round-table discussion today organised by Corbyn amid concerns about the inclusion of the pro-Corbyn group Jewish Voice for Labour, which has accused opponents of using the antisemitism claims to damage Corbyn.
Jenny Manson, a member of the Labour party for 50 years and co-chair of Jewish Voice for Labour, said the report should be fully implemented but added that there should 'not be a witch-hunt'.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it was a 'misery and tragedy' that some MPs have 'received nasty antisemitic comments', she suspected the majority of such comments were made on social media and 'it has not been properly worked out' who made them.
Manson claimed that none of the people in her group had reported suffering antisemitism in the party.
Corbyn himself has been widely criticised for sending an apparently supportive message to the creator of an allegedly antisemitic mural in 2012.
In a message sent via Facebook, he had appeared to question a decision to remove the mural. He later called it 'deeply disturbing' and backed its removal.
