Labour’s ruling NEC tried to keep her report secret, releasing only a summary in May that referred to “difficulties” and “allegations” at the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC).
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Her recommendations included joint training between Labour students and members of the Jewish Labour Movement for all Labour Club officers in dealing with anti-Semitism; creating a “clear line of reporting” for anti-Semitic incidents; implementing proper procedures for investigating complaints of anti-Semitism; and imposing no statute of limitation on anti-Semitic incidents.
Among the new information in the report, which runs to 13 pages, is Royall’s finding that anti-Semitic incidents did occur within the university society, and recommends the normal disciplinary procedures be followed.
Baroness Royall added: “Some Jewish members do not feel comfortable attending the [OULC] meetings, let alone participating”.
The report was prompted by the resignation of OULC co-chairman Alex Chalmers, who claimed fellow members were “throwing around the word Zio” and defending “murder” by Hamas.
However, she said she heard from over 40 Club members and said “much of the evidence I have received about anti-Semitic behaviour relates to their actions outside of the Club activities”. “In some cases, this makes it very hard to verify”.
“However it is not clear to me to what extent this behaviour constituted intentional or deliberate acts of anti-Semitism”.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “The NEC formally accepted the Baroness Royall’s report earlier this year”.
Oxford University has yet to respond to the Independent’s request for comment.
The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) – representative body for over 8,500 Jewish students studying in the United Kingdom and Ireland – said that, despite the “clear acknowledgement” of anti-Semitic incidents occurring within OULC, it remains “a concern” they haven’t been “appropriately addressed” as part of the Labour Party’s disciplinary procedures.
The report also said: “Many students reported that should a Jewish student preface a remark ‘as a Jew…’ they are likely to face ridicule and behaviour that would not be acceptable for someone saying ‘as a woman.’ or ‘as an Afro-Caribbean…'”.
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“I am not part of Labour’s disciplinary process, and where documented evidence of cases of antisemitism by individual members of our Party have been reported to me I have today passed that evidence to the General Secretary for action as appropriate. This raises serious doubts regarding Labour’s sincerity in tackling anti-Semitism within its ranks”.
